Our Sailors Part 11

Collins; surgeon, Stephen Stanley; a.s.sistant surgeon, Harry D.S.

Goodsir; paymaster and purser, Charles H. Osmer; master, James Reid, acting; fifty-eight petty officers, seamen, etcetera. Full complement, seventy.

"_Terror_."

Captain, Francis R.M. Crozier; Lieutenants, Edward Little, George H.

Hodgson, John Irving; mates, Frederick J. Hornby, Robert Thomas; ice-master, T. Blakey, acting; second master, G.A. Maclean; surgeon, John S. Peddie; a.s.sistant surgeon, Alexander McDonald; clerk in charge, Edwin G.H. Helpman; fifty-seven petty officers, seamen, etcetera. Full complement, sixty-eight; making in all one hundred and thirty-eight souls.

The expedition sailed from England, May the 26th, 1845. They arrived at the Whalefish Islands, a group to the south of Disco, on the 4th of July. On the 26th they were seen moored to an iceberg, in 74 degrees 48 minutes north lat.i.tude, and 66 degrees 13 minutes west longitude, by a Hull whaler, the _Prince of Wales_, Captain Dannet. The ships had then on board provisions for three years, on full allowance, or even four, with the a.s.sistance of such game as they might expect to obtain.

Everyone on board had resolved to persevere to the utmost in pushing their way through any channel which might offer a prospect of success towards the west; but the letters of Captain Fitzjames especially seemed to point clearly to Wellington Channel as the pa.s.sage they would most probably first attempt. No news of the expedition having reached England up to the year 1847, some slight apprehensions began to be felt, though the general hope was that Sir John had pushed on perhaps into the Polar basin, and might make his appearance by way of Behring's Straits.

However, it was thought right in 1848 to despatch another expedition to search for the missing ships. Two vessels were commissioned for that purpose, and placed under the command of Sir James Ross, an officer who has been nearer the northern and southern poles than any other human being. The ships were not ready for sea till the 12th of June. They were fitted to contend with the dangers of the Polar seas in a way no former ships had been, and every means that could be devised for the comfort and convenience of their crews were liberally supplied; while the officers and men were influenced by an earnest zeal to discover their missing countrymen, and to rescue them from the forlorn condition in which it was too probable they were placed. Such have been the motives which have induced, year after year, numbers of other gallant officers and men to volunteer their services to encounter the terrific dangers and hardships of a Polar voyage to search for Sir John Franklin and his brave followers. Who also has not heard of the n.o.ble efforts and sacrifices the late Lady Franklin made to despatch expedition after expedition in search of her gallant husband? and with what untiring zeal, and deep, earnest devotion, she and his faithful niece laboured on, month after month, and year after year, with talents, mind, and all their best energies devoted to the cause? All honour be to those n.o.ble ladies, worthy to be loved and reverenced by all who love and respect the British navy, and admire the gallant spirit which imbues it.

But to return to our narrative. Our s.p.a.ce will not allow us to give more than a very brief sketch of the several searching expeditions which have been sent out, and the names of the ships and officers composing them.

The first, then, was that under Captain Sir J. Ross, consisting of--

"_Enterprise_," 540 Tons.

Captain, Sir James C. Ross; Lieutenants, R.J.L. McClure, F.L.

McClintock, and W.H.J. Browne; master, W.S. Couldery, acting; surgeon, W. Robertson, acting; a.s.sistant surgeon, H. Matthais; second master, S. Court; clerk, Edward Whitehead. Total complement, sixty-eight.

"_Investigator_," 480 Tons.

Captain, E.J. Bird; Lieutenants, M.G.H.W. Ross, Frederick Robinson, and J.J. Barnard; master, W. Tatham; surgeon, Robert Anderson; mates, L. John Moore and S.G. Cresswell; second master, John H. Allard; a.s.sistant surgeon, E. Adams; clerk in charge, J.D. Gilpin. Total complement, sixty-seven.

The expedition left England on the 12th of June 1848, and reached Barrow's Straits by the end of August. Sir James Ross then endeavoured to find a pa.s.sage through Wellington Channel; but it was so completely blocked up with ice that he was compelled to give up the attempt that year as hopeless. The ice closing in on the ships at an unusually early period, after running great risk of being crushed, Sir James took refuge in Leopold Harbour for the winter. Hence several expeditions were sent out on foot. Sir James Ross and Lieutenant McClintock set out in May, with sledges, each accompanied by six men, and explored the whole of the north and west coasts of North Somerset; and, being absent thirty-nine days, returned to the ships on the 23rd of June. Meantime Lieutenant Barnard started for the northern sh.o.r.e of Barrow's Straits, crossing the ice to Cape Hind. Lieutenant Browne visited the eastern sh.o.r.e of Regent Inlet, and Lieutenant Robinson the western sh.o.r.e, and reached several miles to the southward of Fury Beach. No traces were discovered, however, of Sir John Franklin, but every device that could be thought of was employed to let his party know of the position of the ships. At Fury Beach, Lieutenant Robinson discovered Sir John Ross' house, and much of the provisions left there by the _Fury_ in 1827 still remaining, and in excellent condition. On the 28th of August the vessels quitted Leopold Harbour, where, at Whaler Point, a large supply of provisions, fuel, and a steam-launch were left, in the hopes that some of Sir John's party might visit the place. Again, from the 1st to the 25th of September, the vessels were so closely beset with ice, that it was feared they might be compelled to spend another winter in those regions, even should they escape being crushed to fragments. Happily they got clear, after drifting into Baffin's Bay, and reached England in November.

The _North Star_, an old twenty-six-gun frigate, of 500 tons, had in the meantime, in the spring of 1849, been despatched with provisions for Sir James Ross, under command of Mr J. Saunders. Having got blocked in by the ice for sixty-two days, she was compelled to winter in Wolstenholme Sound, on the western coast of Greenland.

Immediately on the return of the _Enterprise_ and _Investigator_ they were re-commissioned, and placed under the command of Captain B.

Collinson, with directions to proceed to Behring's Straits, to resume the search in that direction. HMS _Plover_, Commander Moore, was already there, employed in surveying the north-western coasts of the American continent.

The following were the officers appointed to them:--

"_Enterprise_."

Captain, R. Collinson; Lieutenants, G.A. Phayre, J.J. Barnard, and C.T. Jago; master, R.T.G. Legg; second master, Francis Skead; mate, M.T. Parks; surgeon, Robert Anderson; a.s.sistant surgeon, Edward Adams; clerk in charge, Edward Whitehead. Total complement, sixty-six.

"_Investigator_."

Commander, B.J. McClure; Lieutenants, W.H. Haswell and S.G.

Cresswell; mates, H.H. Saintsbury and R.J. Wyniatt; second master, Stephen Court; surgeon, Alexander Armstrong, MD; a.s.sistant surgeon, Henry Piers; clerk in charge, Joseph C. Paine. Total complement, sixty-six.

Mr Miertsching, a Moravian missionary, who had spent five years on the coast of Labrador, was appointed to the _Enterprise_ as interpreter.

The vessels sailed from Plymouth on the 20th of January 1850, and reached the Sandwich Islands on the 29th of June. Meantime the _Herald_, Captain Kellet, had been ordered up from Oahu to Behring's Straits, to a.s.sist in the search. At Petropaulski she met the Royal Thames Yacht Club schooner _Mary Dawson_, owned by Mr Shedden, who had come along the Chinese coast to Behring's Straits, also in search of Sir John Franklin. After exploring for some time in company, they were compelled by the ice to leave the Straits; but the _Plover_ wintered there, while Lieutenant Pullen led a boat expedition of a most arduous nature along the northern sh.o.r.es of America, towards the Hudson's Bay establishment on the Mackenzie River. Sir John Richardson also led a land party from the south to the Polar seas, but was compelled to return without discovering any trace of the expedition.

In 1846, also, the Hudson's Bay Company sent out an expedition, commanded by Dr John Rae, to survey the unexplored portion of the American continent, between the farther point reached by Dease and Simpson and the strait of the Fury and Hecla.

In the year 1850 several expeditions were sent out. The first consisted of HMS _Resolute_ and _a.s.sistance_, Captain Ommaney, with the screw-steamers _Pioneer_, Lieutenant Osborn, and _Intrepid_, Lieutenant Cator, as tenders, under the command of Captain Horatio T. Austin, in the _Resolute_. Their chief aim was to visit Melville Island, and to explore the sh.o.r.es of Wellington Channel, and the coast about Cape Walker. The ships were provisioned for three years, and a transport completed their supply at Whalefish Islands.

No expedition ever left England with a greater prospect of success, all engaged in it being enthusiastically resolved to use every exertion to advance the n.o.ble cause.

The ships were commissioned on the 28th of February 1850, and left England the 3rd of May. On the 16th of June they arrived at the Whalefish Islands, where they received the remainder of their supply of provisions from the transport.

At the same time that Captain Austin's expedition was fitting out, another was arranged and placed under the command of Mr William Penny, an experienced whaling captain of Dundee, to act in concert with it.

Mr Penny, by the directions of the Admiralty, proceeded to Aberdeen and Dundee, where he purchased two new clipper-built vessels, which were named the _Lady Franklin_ and _Sophia_; the first in compliment to Sir John's devoted wife, the latter to his admirable niece. These vessels were placed under Mr Penny's command, with separate instructions direct from the Admiralty. The ships showed during the voyage the good judgment employed by Mr Penny in their selection, and the men acquitted themselves throughout the enterprise in a way to justify the praise bestowed on them by their a.s.sociates in the ships-of-war. Mr Penny had been employed in the Arctic seas since he was twelve years old, and had commanded a whaling ship for sixteen years.

The ships left Aberdeen on the 13th of April, but did not fall in with Captain Austin's squadron till the 28th of June, off Berry Island, on the west coast of Greenland.

About the same time that the above-named ships left England, three other expeditions were despatched; one in the _Prince Albert_, under Commander Forsyth, chiefly at Lady Franklin's expense. She had a crew of twenty men. Her mates were W. Kay and W. Wilson, and Mr W.P. Snow acted as clerk. She sailed from Aberdeen on the 5th of June, and was thus the last vessel which left England that year. Another in the _Felix_ yacht, with a tender--the _Mary_--under the veteran Captain Sir John Ross, at his own charge. The Americans likewise showed a generous sympathy in the fate of the missing expedition, and sent out one to aid in the search, under Lieutenant de Haven, in the U.S. brig _Advance_, and the U.S. vessel _Rescue_, commanded by Mr S.P. Griffen.

These various expeditions were to examine the different channels up which it was supposed Sir John Franklin might have endeavoured to work his way. The result of their examinations proved beyond almost all doubt that he proceeded up Wellington Channel.

Without following the ships step by step through their laborious progress across Baffin's Bay, down Lancaster Sound and Barrow's Straits, we will carry them at once to Beechey Island, which lies at the south-eastern extremity of Wellington Channel, just at its entrance into Barrow's Straits. Here, on the 27th of August, Mr Penny discovered undoubted traces of Sir John Franklin. Here, accordingly, the ships a.s.sembled to prosecute the examination. Dr Sutherland, who went out in the _Lady Franklin_, gives the following account of the interesting event:--

"Traces," he observes, "were found to a great extent of the missing ships: tin canisters in hundreds, pieces of cloth, rope, wood--in large fragments and in chips; iron in numerous fragments, where the anvil had stood, and the block which supported it; paper, both written and printed, with the dates 1844 and 1845; sledge marks in abundance; depressions in the gravel, resembling wells which they had been digging; and the graves of three men who had died on board the missing ships in January and April 1846. One of the sh.o.r.e party was despatched with this intelligence to Mr Penny, who immediately came on sh.o.r.e, accompanied by Sir John Ross, Commander Phillips of the _Felix_, Sir John's vessel, Commander De Haven and Lieutenant Griffiths of the American expedition, which had joined our ships in Barrow's Straits, and other officers.

There were unequivocal proofs that the missing ships had spent their first winter in the immediate vicinity of Beechey Island. A finger-post was picked up, which we at once supposed had been made use of to direct parties to the ships during winter, if they should happen to have lost their way in a snowstorm. Captain Parry adopted the same precautions around his winter quarters at Melville Island; and it is not improbable some of the posts may be found, after a lapse of thirty years. Our ideas were, that the ships had wintered in a deep bay between Beechey Island and Cape Riley, which we called Erebus and Terror Bay.

"Immediately adjacent to the supposed position of the ships, we found the site of a large storehouse and workshop, and smaller sites, which were supposed to have been observatories and other temporary erections.

Meat-tins to the amount of 600 or 700, and a great number of coal-bags, one of which was marked 'T-e-r-r-o-r,' were found. _But there were no papers found anywhere that had been left by the missing ships_."

This station, in the opinion of Captain Penny, was occupied by Sir John Franklin's party until the 3rd of April 1846, if not longer, as a look-out up Wellington Channel, to watch the first opening of that icy barrier which seems so frequently to block it up.

No record, however, was left to show in what direction the bold explorers had proceeded. With deep regret, therefore, that no further information could be gained, the various vessels continued the search.

Captain Forsyth had, however, before this returned in the _Prince Albert_ to England, with news of an interesting discovery made by Captain Ommaney, of some articles left by Sir John Franklin on Cape Riley. He reached Aberdeen on the 22nd of October, having been absent somewhat less than four months.

Early the next year the _Prince Albert_ was again despatched, under the command of Mr Kennedy, an old Arctic explorer; but he was unable to effect more than to prove where Sir John Franklin and his followers were not.

Captain Austin's ships were constantly placed in great peril as they proceeded on their voyage. "The _a.s.sistance_ was hemmed in by the ice in the centre of Wellington Channel, and was in such imminent danger of being crushed to pieces, that every preparation was made to desert her,"

writes an officer belonging to her. "Each person on board was appointed to a particular boat, provisions were got on deck, and every two men were allowed one bag between them for spare clothes, attached to lines which were pa.s.sed through the upper deck, ready to be pulled up at any moment. One day the vessel was raised six feet out of the water by the pressure of the ice; and it became so probable that she would fall on her broadside, that the men were employed with shovels and pickaxes in smoothing a place on the ice for her to lie upon." Again, on the 6th, a large floe came down upon them with great violence, and, pressing the vessel against the land ice, lifted her several feet out of the water.

Everyone rushed on deck, with the exception of the carpenter, who coolly sounded the well to ascertain the depth of water in the hold. For some hours the ship was in danger of being driven on sh.o.r.e; the ice continued to grind and pile up round her, while all the ice-anchors were laid out, one of which was wrenched in two by the tremendous strain, and thrown high up into the air. The wind, however, providentially changed, the ice slackened, and they were safe. At length, while Captain Austin's squadron were secured for the winter in a field of ice between Cornwallis and Griffiths Islands, Mr Penny and Sir John Ross reached a.s.sistance Harbour, where they wintered. A variety of means were taken to amuse the crews during the depth of winter; and, as soon as spring began, exploring parties went out in every direction. We cannot trace the progress of the several parties in boats and sledges. Their persevering struggles serve to prove the existence, at all events, if that were required, of the heroic endurance of hardships, the indomitable courage, the invariable cheerfulness under the most depressing trials, and the unconquerable ardour, in spite of every obstacle, characteristic of British seamen. About 2000 miles altogether were traversed by the different parties. Mr Penny made every effort to ascend Wellington Channel; but his success was trifling compared to his unwearied endeavours. When his sledge was stopped by open water, and after incredible labours a boat was brought to the spot, thick-ribbed ice had collected to impede its progress. All the efforts of the heroic explorers were in vain. Lieutenant De Haven's ships returned to the United States, after enduring many hardships; and Captain Austin, Sir John Ross, and Mr Penny came back to England in the autumn of 1851.

Another year, however, was not allowed to pa.s.s before a further expedition was entrusted to the command of a talented officer, Sir Edward Belcher. The _a.s.sistance_ and _Resolute_ were again commissioned, and, with the _Pioneer_ and _Intrepid_ screw-steamers, were placed under his orders, many of the officers who before accompanied Captain Austin volunteering their services. Captain Kellet, who had returned home in the _Herald_, was appointed to command the _Resolute_.

They proceeded early in the spring for Wellington Channel, and, favoured by an open season, part of the squadron entered that mysterious inlet, with a favourable breeze, in high health, and with buoyant hopes that they were about to carry succour to their long-lost countrymen--how soon, like those of many others, to meet with disappointment! Up that very channel, it has since been ascertained, the expedition under Sir John Franklin had gone, but had been compelled, as those in search of it soon were, to return southward.

In the meantime, Commander Inglefield, who had first gone out in the _Isabel_, commissioned the _Phoenix_ steam-sloop, with the _Lady Franklin_ as a sailing-tender, and proceeded to Baffin's Bay. Mr Kennedy again went out in the _Isabel_, and the Americans sent forth the well-known expedition under Dr Kane, whose narrative must be read with the deepest interest by all, and his early death, the result of the hardships he endured on that occasion, sincerely deplored.

While Sir Edward Belcher in the _a.s.sistance_, accompanied by the _Pioneer_, proceeded up Wellington Channel, Captain Kellet in the _Resolute_, accompanied by the _Intrepid_, leaving the _North Star_ with stores at Beechey Island, continued his voyage to Melville Island, which he reached after encountering many dangers, and where he was frozen up at Bridport Inlet, on the 11th of September 1852.

We before narrated how the _Enterprise_ and _Investigator_ left England in January 1850, and, proceeding round Cape Horn, the latter reached the Sandwich Islands in June, and sailed again for Behring's Straits the day before the arrival of her consort. The _Investigator_ had a remarkably quick pa.s.sage to Behring's Straits; and after communicating with the _Herald_, Captain Kellet, off Cape Lisbourne, and exchanging signals with the _Plover_, which vessel wintered in those seas, she pursued her course easterly along the north coast of North America, and pa.s.sed Point Barrow under press of sail on the 5th of August. Thus it will be seen that several ships as well as land parties were engaged in the search for the long-lost crews of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ at the same time-- from the east and west as well as from the south.

Since the 5th of August 1850, no tidings had been received of Captain McClure and the _Investigator_, till the time that Captain Kellet, who last saw him in the west, had once more made his way into the Arctic Ocean from the east, and was now commencing his long winter imprisonment at Bridport Inlet, Melville Island, in September 1852. The only time that exploring parties can travel is during daylight in the early autumn or in the spring. The spring is most fitted for crossing the Frozen Sea, before the ice breaks up and the cold has become less intense. In the autumn of 1852, Lieutenant Median, of the _Resolute_, was despatched by Captain Kellet to explore the coast of Melville Island to the west, and to form depots of provisions, as were other parties in different directions. On his return, pa.s.sing through Winter Harbour, in Melville Island, at no great distance to the west of Bridport Inlet, what was his surprise and satisfaction to find in a cairn, a record, with a chart of his discoveries, left by Captain McClure on the previous May, stating that he should probably be found in Mercy Harbour, Banks' Land, unless he should be able to push on through Barrow's Straits, which it seemed very unlikely that he could have done. This was the first evidence to the new explorers of the actual existence of a continuous channel from the Atlantic to the Pacific--that there exists a North-West Pa.s.sage.

Most tantalising was it, however, to them to know that at that season they could not possibly venture across to meet their countrymen.

Indeed, the gallant McClure expressly forbade them in the doc.u.ment they had discovered. "Any attempt to send succour will only increase the evil," were his words. The winter pa.s.sed rapidly away, but it was not till March that Captain Kellet considered it prudent to send an expedition across the Straits to where he supposed the _Investigator_ was to be found.

We will now trace the progress of the _Investigator_, from the time she was last seen pa.s.sing Point Barrow under a press of sail.

She made the ice on the 2nd of August, and, more than once being nearly caught by it, she reached Cape Bathurst by the 30th. Rounding it, she stood east and north, pa.s.sing the south of Baring Island, which was called Cape Nelson. She then reached a channel with Baring Island on the west, and another land on the east, to which the name of Prince Albert's Land was given, when, on the 30th of September, she was fairly frozen in. Prince Albert's Land was taken possession of on the 8th of October, in the name of Her Most Gracious Majesty, by Captain McClure, with a party of officers and men, who landed, and planted a staff with a flag to it on the sh.o.r.e. On their return to the ship, they found that the land and sea ice had separated, and they were alarmed with the prospect of having to remain on sh.o.r.e during the whole of an Arctic autumn night. Happily, their signals were at last seen, and a party, with two of Halkett's inflatable boats, was sent to their a.s.sistance.