Notable Voyagers Part 39

Neither of the expeditions was successful. Captain Ross sailed up Davis's Straits into Baffin's Bay, pa.s.sing the entrances to Smith's and Lancaster Sounds, across both of which he was persuaded that a lofty range of mountains extended. These he called Crocker Mountains. The openings, he was convinced, were merely the mouths of deep inlets.

Lieutenant Parry differed entirely from his commanding officer, and deep regret was expressed by many on board that an opening, by examining which important discoveries might have resulted, should have been abruptly quitted.

The reports brought home satisfied most scientific men that an opening existed through Lancaster Sound. On the following year, therefore, the Admiralty fitted out an expedition, which was placed under the command of Lieutenant Parry, who had Mr Beechy as his lieutenant.

As Parry takes the highest rank amongst arctic explorers, it is proposed to give a sketch of his three voyages to the polar regions in search of a north-west pa.s.sage.

The expedition being determined on, two vessels, the _Hecla_, of three hundred and seventy-five tons, carrying fifty-eight men, and the _Griper_, a gun brig of one hundred and eighty tons, with thirty-six persons on board, were forthwith got ready for sea. Both vessels were strengthened as much as possible, and stored with provisions for two years, including an ample supply of anti-s...o...b..tics, and everything which could be thought of to enable the crews to endure the extreme rigours of a polar winter. Captain Sabine accompanied Lieutenant Parry as astronomer, and Mr Beechy as lieutenant. Among the midshipmen were Joseph Nias and James Clark Ross, who became eminent arctic explorers.

The _Griper_ was commanded by Lieutenant Siddon, and his first lieutenant was Mr Hoppner.

The two vessels sailed from the Nore on the 11th of May, 1819, and having rounded the Orkneys, stood across the Atlantic. Having contrary winds, they made but slow progress. On the 18th of June they first fell in with icebergs, flying amid which were numberless petrels, kittiwakes, tarns, and other winged inhabitants of the northern regions. Some of these bergs, of which fifty were seen at a time, were of great size.

The heavy southern swell dashed the loose ice with tremendous force against them, sometimes raising a cloud of white spray, which broke over their tops to the height of more than a hundred feet, accompanied by a loud noise, resembling distant thunder. As the _Hecla_ was drifting on with a southerly current, she was nearly nipped by a detached floe, which drove her against a berg aground, one hundred and forty feet high, where the depth of water was one hundred and twenty fathoms, so that its whole height must have exceeded eight hundred feet.

Parry at first attempted to force his way north and west, amid the ma.s.ses of ice, in the direction of Lancaster Sound; but as the vessels were sailing on, the floes suddenly closed round them, and on the 25th both were so completely beset that it was impossible to turn their heads in any direction. Here they were fixed, though in no danger, until the morning of the second day, when the violence of the sea loosening the ice, it was driven against the ships' sides with such force that, had they not been strongly built, they would probably have been destroyed.

At this time, from the crow's nest, upwards of eighty-eight enormous icebergs were seen, besides many smaller ones. The vessels being at length freed, Lieutenant Parry came to the resolution of abandoning the attempt to reach Lancaster Sound by a direct course, and instead steered northward along the border of the great ice-field, in the hopes of finding open water farther to the north. He steered on that course until he reached lat.i.tude 73 degrees, when he resolved upon making a determined push to the westward.

A favourable breeze springing up, the ships stood on among the detached floes, through which they were warped by securing ice-anchors with hawsers to the more solid pieces ahead. Before they had made much progress, a thick fog came on, which prevented the open lanes ahead being seen. Still they continued to make way, sometimes dangerously beset by ma.s.ses of ice; yet by persevering efforts, they first got into one lane, then into another, till, the fog clearing, they saw only one long floe separating them from the open sea. The ice-saws were therefore set to work, and with great labour cutting through the floe, they had the satisfaction of seeing the sh.o.r.e clear of ice extending out before them. They now steered for Lancaster Sound, and on the 30th of July they gained its entrance. As they sailed on, under a press of canvas, westward, the mast-heads were crowded by officers and men, eagerly looking out to ascertain if the supposed mountain barrier lay across their course.

The sound continued open, and it was calculated that the two sh.o.r.es were still thirteen leagues apart, without the slightest appearance of land to the westward.

Again and again a report was received from aloft that all was clear ahead, and the explorers began to flatter themselves that they had fairly entered the polar sea. Several headlands were pa.s.sed, and wide openings to the north and south. With a strong breeze from the eastward, running on until midnight, they found themselves in lat.i.tude 83 degrees 12 minutes, nearly one hundred and fifty miles from the entrance of the sound, which was fully fifty miles in breadth. The _Griper_, which had fallen astern, joining the _Hecla_, they together reached lat.i.tude 86 degrees 30 minutes, when two other inlets were discovered, and named Burnet and Stratton; and then a bold headland, to which the name of Fellfoot was given. A lengthened swell rolling in from the north and west, gave them hopes that they had now really reached the wide expanse of the polar basin, and that nothing would stop their progress to Icy Cape, the western boundary of America.

While their hopes were at the highest land ahead was seen, but it proved only to be a small island. Very soon afterwards more land was seen, with a broad inlet, named Maxwell Bay. Still the sea stretched out uninterruptedly before them, but their hopes fell when, in a short time, they saw to the south a line of continuous ice.

Shortly afterwards an open pa.s.sage appeared, through which it was hoped the ships would make their way westward. On proceeding on, however, the explorers discovered, to their sorrow, that this ice was joined to a compact and impenetrable body of floes, completely crossing the channel.

They had therefore to haul their wind and stand away from it, for fear of being caught in the ice, along the edges of which a violent surf was beating.

As soon as the weather, which had been thick, became clear, an open sea, with a dark water sky, was seen to the south. In the hopes that this might lead to a pa.s.sage, unenc.u.mbered with ice, the commander steered for it, and shortly reached the mouth of a large inlet, ten leagues broad, with no visible termination. The names of Clarence and Seppings were given to the two capes at its entrance.

Avoiding the ice on one side, the ships entered a broad open channel.

The coast was dreary in the extreme, while the irregularity of the compa.s.s showed that they were approaching the magnetic pole, and increased the difficulties of navigation. They had run one hundred and twenty miles up this inlet, to which the name of Prince Regent was given, when the ice was found extending across it. Standing out of it, Parry steered across the channel, until he came off another broad inlet, leading north, which was called Wellington Inlet.

The great channel through which they were pa.s.sing was called Barrow Straits, in compliment to the promoter of the expedition. The wind again becoming favourable, the ship sailed triumphantly along; three islands they successively pa.s.sed being named Cornwallis, Bathurst, Byam Martin. The compa.s.s had now become perfectly useless, and they judged that they had pa.s.sed the magnetic meridian at about 100 degrees west lat.i.tude, where it would have pointed due south instead of north. The cold also greatly increased, and thick fogs enveloped them. They had also to saw a pa.s.sage through a thick floe.

Still forcing their way on, they discovered a large island, to which the name of Melville was given. Though the wind failed, by towing and warping, on the 4th of September they reached the meridian of 110 degrees west from Greenwich, in lat.i.tude 74 degrees 44 minutes 20 seconds, and became ent.i.tled to a reward of five thousand pounds, voted by Parliament to the first British ship's company who should obtain that meridian. To the bluff headland where the observation was made the appropriate name of Bounty Cape was given.

Encouraged by their success, they continued their course, until it was crossed by an impenetrable barrier of ice. In vain for a fortnight they attempted to pierce it, until about the 20th the young ice began to form rapidly on the surface, and Parry was convinced that a single hour's calm would be sufficient to freeze up the ships in the midst of the sea.

Reluctantly, therefore, he was compelled to return, not without encountering great danger and difficulty. On the 24th he got off a harbour on the western side of Melville Island. A large floe, two miles wide, guarded its entrance. To get through this floe, it was necessary to form a channel with the ice-saws. To do this two parallel lines were first marked with boarding-pikes on the ice, at a distance from each other of somewhat more than the breadth of the _Hecla_. Having cut along these lines, large pieces were detached by cross-saws, and then again cut diagonally, in order to be floated out. Sometimes the boat's masts and sails were placed on them to hasten their movements. In two days the channel was cut, and the ships carried in and anch.o.r.ed in five fathoms of water, about a cable's length from the beach. At first the ice round them was every morning cleared away, but it was soon found that the task was useless, and the two ships became frozen up for the winter. They were immediately unrigged and housed over, snow walls built round them, and other plans adopted for keeping out the cold.

As they had ample provisions, preserved meat and concentrated soup were subst.i.tuted for salt beef, and beer and wine were served out instead of spirits. They also had sour-krout, pickles, and vinegar. Every day the seamen were mustered and compelled to swallow a certain quant.i.ty of lime-juice in the presence of their officers, while their gums and shins were examined to detect the first appearance of scurvy. The stove for baking was placed in a central position, and by other arrangements a comfortable temperature was maintained in the cabin. At a distance from it, however, and in the bed-places, steam and even the breath soon turned into ice, which had to be carefully sc.r.a.ped away. To amuse the people, a newspaper was started, under the editorship of Captain Sabine, and a school was established, at which many of the men, who had never before handled a pen, learned to write well. Plays were acted, a fresh one being performed every fortnight, sometimes by the officers, and sometimes by the men. The theatre was on the quarter-deck, where, however, the cold was often as low as freezing-point, except close to the stove,--a position eagerly sought for.

Lieutenant Beechy became stage manager. The theatre received the name of the North Georgian, and was opened on the 5th of November, with "Miss in her Teens." The ships' companies were highly delighted, and Lieutenant Parry took a part himself, considering that an example of cheerfulness, by giving a direct countenance to everything that could contribute to it, was not the less essential part of his duty, under the peculiar circ.u.mstances in which they were placed.

It was by this means that Parry established a character for ready and happy expedients, accompanied by a sound judgment, which kept alive the active powers of the mind, and prevented it from falling into the worst of all conditions,--a state of morbid torpor. His plan was completely successful, and the crew, as well as the officers, were as happy as, under the circ.u.mstances, could possibly be expected.

One of the first works carried out, after the ships had been made snug for the winter, was the erection of an observatory, at a spot convenient for communication with the ships; and a house was also built on the beach, for the reception of the clock and other instruments. The walls of this were of double plank, with moss between, so that a high temperature could be kept up in it, without difficulty, by a single stove. To induce the men to take exercise, the band played, and they tramped round the deck to the music. While thus engaged, one day, what was their dismay to see the house containing the valuable instruments on fire! The crew, without stopping to put on their extra warm clothing, hurried to the sh.o.r.e, pulled off the roof with ropes, knocked down a part of the sides, and, by being thus able to throw in large quant.i.ties of snow, succeeded in extinguishing the flames. So bitter was the cold that, though thus actively employed, the noses and cheeks of all the men were white by frostbites. The medical officers were compelled to run from one to the other and rub them with snow, in order to restore animation; even thus it was found necessary to cut off several fingers of one poor fellow, and sixteen others were added to the sick list.

Hunting excursions were organised, and reindeer, musk oxen, partridges, and ptarmigan were met with. Some of the former were killed. No bears had been seen, until one day Captain Sabine's servant being at a distance from the ship, a huge white monster started up and pursued him.

The man ran as fast as his legs could carry him, until he got on board, when the bear, coming close to the ship, was shot at and wounded, but notwithstanding made its escape. It was the only one seen during the long stay of the ships on that desolate sh.o.r.e. The animal tribes disappeared early in the winter. On the 15th of September a herd of deer was seen lying down, except a large stag. This, after the rest had risen, guarded the herd in their flight, frequently going round them, sometimes striking them with his horns to make them move faster.

On the same day the last covey of ptarmigan was met with. What no one would have expected to see in that frozen region--three specimens of a caterpillar were obtained one of which, as an arctic curiosity, was brought to England.

For some months the crew retained excellent health, but early in January the gunner showed symptoms which indicated scurvy. The immediate cause appeared to be a collection of damp which had formed round his bed-place. At once all the anti-s...o...b..tics were put into requisition, such as lime-juice, pickles, spruce beer; a quant.i.ty of mustard and cress had also been raised from mould placed over the stove-pipe, which rapidly grew. So successful were these remedies that, in nine days, the patient could walk about. The only animals remaining were a pack of wolves, which nightly surrounded the ships, although they cleverly avoided being captured. A beautiful white fox, however, was caught and made a pet of, and became very much attached to the commander, in whose cabin it took up its quarters. Every day, indeed every hour, had its allotted duties. On Sundays divine service was invariably performed, and a sermon read on board both ships, the men attending with evident satisfaction. The officers, unless when there was wind, took walks on sh.o.r.e, but were not permitted to go beyond two miles from the ship.

After the ordinary duties of examining the berths and bed-places, the crews had their suppers, and the officers went to their tea, and after this the men were allowed to amuse themselves with games of various kinds, as well as dancing and singing, until nine o'clock, when they had to turn in, and all lights were extinguished. The officers employed their evenings in reading and writing, with an occasional game of chess, or a tune on the flute or violin, until half-past ten.

For forty-eight days they were entirely deprived of a sight of the sun, the long-continued night being lighted up only partially by the moon and occasionally by the aurora borealis. Thus the months went by until the middle of May arrived, and the ptarmigan began to appear. A considerable number were shot, their flesh having a beneficial effect on the crew. Under the snow was found an abundance of sorrel, a most potent antidote against scurvy. Footsteps of deer were seen, the animals evidently moving northwards. As soon as the cold decreased, the commander made an excursion across Melville Island, on which the vegetable productions were dwarf willow, sorrel, moss, gra.s.s, and saxifrage.

Captain Sabine fell in with a ranunculus in full flower on the western side of the island, evidently the most genial. The crew had in the meantime been employed in cutting away the ice from round the ships.

Soon after the commander's return, on the 15th of June, from his excursion, the ice in the offing began to move with a loud grinding noise, and by the middle of July the thermometer rose to 60 degrees, the highest point it reached in Melville Island. By the 24th everything was ready for sea, but still it seemed very probable that the two ships would be much longer detained, while it was known that in eight or nine weeks from that period the navigable season must come to a conclusion.

Before the expiration of July the thermometer again fell, and the pools of water froze over in the night, but there were channels through which the boats could pa.s.s. On the ist of August, however, the outer ma.s.s of ice suddenly broke up and floated out. With eager haste the anchors were weighed, the sails spread, and the two ships, after being shut up for ten whole months and a part of September, sailed out of Winter Harbour, and stood round the sh.o.r.e of Melville Sound. They were still not free from danger, as the ma.s.ses of ice were whirling about in all directions. To avoid them the ships stood close into the sh.o.r.e, but at length, off a point of land surrounded by hummocks of ice, some vast ma.s.ses were seen driving down upon the _Hecla_. The _Griper_ was in the same dangerous predicament, and there appeared every probability that she would be nipped and destroyed. Escaping these dangers, they pushed their way westward until they arrived at very nearly the most western point of the island, when all further progress was barred by the density of the ice.

The commander having consulted the officers of both ships, it was agreed that any further attempt to proceed in that direction would be useless.

It was also arranged that they should run back along the edge of the ice, to look out for any opening which might lead them to the American continent. None, however, was found, and on the 31st of August they repa.s.sed Lancaster Sound.

They now, not without some risk of being frozen up after all, made their way to the southward, and on the 28th of October came in sight of Fair Island and the Orkneys.

The commander reached London on the 3rd of November, 1820, after an absence of eighteen months. Out of both ships' companies only one man, who had left home in ill health, died; the rest returned in excellent health and strength.

Scarcely had Captain Parry returned than it was resolved to fit out another expedition without delay. For this purpose the _Hecla_ was again commissioned, and as it was considered that vessels of the same size were best calculated for the work, the _Fury_, of three hundred and seventy-seven tons, was appointed to accompany her instead of the old _Griper_.

Several of the officers who had served in the former voyage were again employed, and Commander Lyon was appointed to the command of the _Hecla_, while Commander Parry took charge of the _Fiery_. Among the midshipmen were F.R.M. Crozier and James Clarke Ross, both of whom were arctic explorers of note, the former ultimately destined to perish in the realms of ice.

The two ships were accompanied by the _Nautilus_ transport, filled with stores and provisions, to be transhipped on arriving at the ice.

Parry was directed to proceed towards or into Hudson's Straits. He was then to penetrate to the westward until he should reach Repulse Bay, or some other part of the sh.o.r.es of Hudson's Bay to the north of Wager River, or some portion of the coast which he should feel convinced to be a part of America. Failing this, he was to keep along the line of this coast to the northward, examining every bend or inlet which should appear likely to afford a practicable pa.s.sage to the westward.

The three ships sailed from the Nore on the 8th of May, 1821, but it was not until the 14th of June that they came in sight of the first iceberg, or until the 2nd of July that they reached Resolution Island, the valleys of which were filled with snow, while a dense fog hung over the land, rendering the scene before them indescribably dreary and desolate.

In a short time the ships were surrounded by no less than six hundred and fifty-four icebergs, one of which rose to two hundred and fifty-eight feet above the sea. Among them were large floes, which were turned round and round by the strong tides and currents rushing in from the ocean. At the same time, fearful as they are in appearance, they are less dangerous to approach than those aground, against which a ship is liable to be carried with the whole force of the tide.

Captain Lyon, on one occasion, having fixed an anchor to a ma.s.s of ice with two strong hawsers, both were carried away, and the anchor broken off as if it had been made of crockeryware. The ships were here separated to the distance of eleven or twelve miles, and became closely beset by the ice, where they remained for eight or nine days. During nineteen days only seventy miles were made. At length they reached, on the 21st, the Savage Islands. Next afternoon a loud shouting was heard, and shortly afterwards a large number of natives were seen paddling their canoes through the lanes of open water, or occasionally drawing them over the ice. These were chiefly kayaks, rowed by a single man.

There were also five oomiaks or women's boats, of considerable size, formed of a framework of wood and whalebone, covered with deer-skins, and having flat sides and bottom. One of these contained no less than twenty-one women, boys, and young children. They were of a wild tribe, and evidently more debased than those of the Greenland sh.o.r.e. They laughed, and shouted, and skipped, and then commenced traffic with the greatest eagerness, some of them stripping off the skins which formed their only covering, until they were almost in a state of nudity; the women, however, always retaining their breeches. They drove, as they fancied, a hard bargain; yet, being ignorant of the value of the skins, they raised shouts of triumph when they exchanged them for a nail, saw, or razor. Hideous as were the old women, some of the children looked almost pretty, although, being thrown carelessly into the bottom of the boat, they more resembled young wild animals than human beings. The men were especially addicted to practical jokes. One of them, getting behind a sailor, shouted l.u.s.tily in his ear, then gave him a hearty box on the other. Captain Parry formed a very unfavourable opinion of the moral character of these natives, who seemed to have acquired, by an annual intercourse with our ships for nearly a hundred years, many of the vices of civilisation, without having imbibed any of the virtues or refinements which adorn it. Notwithstanding all obstructions, the expedition, early in August, came in view of Southampton Island, at the entrance of Fox's Channel, and from thence forced its way to Repulse Bay, through which it was supposed that a pa.s.sage westward existed; but, after it had been thoroughly explored, Captain Parry proved that the land round it was continuous. The appearance of the land was not altogether uninviting. It rose to seven or eight hundred feet, and there was the usual vegetation found in the arctic regions. Reindeer and hares were plentiful, as were ducks and other birds. In one spot were the remains of no less than sixty Esquimaux habitations, consisting of stones laid one over the other, in regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter. There were besides about a hundred structures,-- fireplaces, store-houses, and other rough enclosures, four or five feet high,--used to keep their skin canoes from being gnawed by the dogs.

Getting out of Repulse Bay, Captain Parry commenced a career of discovery along an unknown coast. An inlet was discovered, on which the name of Gore was bestowed. At the mouth of the opening the valleys were richly clad with gra.s.s and mosses. The birds were singing, the b.u.t.terflies and other insects displaying the most gaudy tints; so that the seamen might have fancied themselves in some happier clime, had not the mighty piles of ice in the frozen strait told a different tale.

While the ships were at anchor, hunting parties were sent out, and the game laws of the preceding year were strictly enforced, by which every beast and bird was to be given up for the general good, the capturer only retaining the head and legs. The head, however, was sometimes greatly extended, so as to include several joints of the back-bone. At length the explorers found themselves among a complete labyrinth of islands, amidst which strong currents set in various directions, while fogs and drift ice made navigation perilous in the extreme. Successive ma.s.ses a.s.sailed the _Fury_. At one time her anchor was dragged along with a grinding noise, two flukes being broken off. She was afterwards carried forward by a violent stream amid thick mist, while it was found impossible to steer her in any direction.

At length the ships emerged into the open sea, but a strong northerly gale compelled them to run before it, when, on the 6th of August, they found themselves close to the spot where they had been on the 3rd of September. Still Captain Parry persevered, examining every opening, in the hopes that each might prove a pa.s.sage into the polar ocean.

Lyon and Hoppner Inlets were surveyed. When near the sh.o.r.e, a number of Esquimaux came off to obtain some iron tools. The behaviour of one of the fair s.e.x created considerable surprise. She had sold one boot, but obstinately retained the other. At length the suspicions of the seamen being aroused, she was seized and the buskin pulled off, when it proved to be a receptacle of stolen treasure. Besides other articles, it contained a pewter plate and a couple of spoons.

The end of September was now approaching. The summer was far from genial, and now, at any moment, the icy hand of winter might grasp the ships. Pancake ice began to form on the surface of the ocean. As the ships rolled from side to side, the ice clung to them in vast ma.s.ses, and the various pieces which were tossing in the sea around became cemented into one great field, which threatened every moment to bear down upon them and dash them to pieces.

As it was important, without delay, to secure the ships for the winter, a small island lying off the northern point of the entrance into Lyon Inlet was fixed on. The distance was about half a mile, but the soft state of the pancake ice rendered the task not a very laborious one, though often dangerous, as it bent like leather beneath the feet of the seamen as they were working. At length it was accomplished, and the two ships were frozen in for another winter.

As there was no time to be lost, arrangements were at once made for pa.s.sing it comfortably. Both ships were more thoroughly heated than had been the case on the previous voyage. They were both more amply provisioned, and anti-s...o...b..tics against scurvy had been more bountifully supplied.

To amuse them, the theatre was opened on the 9th of November. The play of "The Rivals" being chosen, the two captains appeared as _Sir Anthony_ and _Captain Absolute_.

A school was also established, and it was interesting to observe the zeal with which the hardy tars applied themselves to their books.