Stray Leaves From An Arctic Journal Part 8

Happily, the "Intrepid" had discovered a harbour between Cape Hotham and Martyr, on the south side of Cornwallis Island. This place, and Union Bay, in Beechey Island, offered two snug positions, from which operations in the spring with travelling parties could be well and effectually carried out. Action, action now alone remained for us; and earnestly did we pray that our leader's judgment might now decide upon such positions being taken up as would secure all directions--viz. to the south-west,--north-west and, lastly, west being provided for.

_Sept. 13th._--Found the four vessels of our squadron, and one of the American brigs,--the "Advance" under Lieutenant De Haven,--all safe at the floe-edge. The floe had drifted during the gale considerably towards the sh.o.r.es of North Somerset; and the wedge-shaped island, called Cape Bunny, was distinctly visible: the other of the American brigs had, in the height of the gale, blown adrift and disappeared in the darkness and snow-drift. For her, as well as Her Majesty's brigs under Captain Penny, much anxiety was entertained. The American leader of the expedition, I heard, finding farther progress hopeless, intended, in obedience to his orders, to return to New York. This he was the more justified in doing, as no preparation or equipment for travelling-parties had been made by them, and their fittings for wintering in the Arctic Regions were, compared with ours, very deficient. The gallant Yankees, however, could not return without generously offering us provisions, fuel, and stores; and the officers, with a chivalrous feeling worthy of themselves and the cause for which they had come thus far, offered to remain out or exchange with any of "ours" who wanted to return home. We had no s.p.a.ce in stowage to profit by the first offer, nor had enthusiasm yet become sufficiently damped in us to desire to avail ourselves of the proffered exchange; both were declined, and it was said that Lieutenant De Haven was told by our leader, if he could land any thing for us in Radstock Bay as a depot, he might render good service.

Letters were therefore hurriedly closed, letter-bags made up, and pleasant thoughts of those at home served to cheer us, as, with the temperature at about zero, and with a fresh breeze, we cast off together, and worked to the northward, towards Griffith's Island.

[Headnote: _THE AMERICAN SQUADRON._]

Rubbing sides almost with the "Advance," who courteously awaited with the "Pioneer" the heavy-heeled gambols of the "Resolute," day was drawing on before the squadron reached Griffith's Island, from the lee of which the missing American schooner was descried to be approaching.

Lieutenant De Haven now hoisted his colours for home, and backed his topsail. We did the same; and after a considerable time he bore up with his squadron for New York, doubtless supposing, from no letters being sent, that we had none.

It was far otherwise; and throughout the winter many a growl took place, as a huge pile of undespatched letters would pa.s.s before our sight, and blessings of a doubtful nature were showered on our ill luck.

To the ice, which extended unbroken from Griffith's Island to Cape Martyr, we will leave the Naval expedition secured, whilst we briefly recount the most striking points in connection with the American expedition that had now left us on its voyage home.

In 1849, Mr. Henry Grinnell, a merchant of the United States, actuated by the purest philanthropy that ever influenced the heart of man, determined to devote a portion of his well-deserved wealth to the n.o.ble purpose of relieving Sir John Franklin, who, it was much to be feared, from the desponding tone of a portion of the English press on Sir James Ross's failure, was likely to be left unsought for in 1850. He therefore, at his sole expense, purchased two vessels, one of 140 tons, the "Advance," the other 90 tons, the "Rescue," and, having strengthened, provisioned, and equipped them, Mr. Grinnell then placed them under the control of his Government, in order that they might be commanded by naval officers and sail under naval discipline. The American Congress pa.s.sed the necessary acts, and Lieutenant E. De Haven, who had seen service in the Antarctic seas, took command of the "Advance," as the leader of the expedition, and another distinguished officer, Mr. Griffin, hoisted his pendant in the "Rescue." On the 23d May, 1850, the two vessels sailed from New York, touching at Disco, where I am sorry to say they found my worthy friend "Herr Agar" to have died shortly after my visit; they reached the pack of Melville Bay on the 7th July, and, tightly beset until the 23d, they did not reach Cape York until early in August.

The 7th August they reached Cape Dudley Digges! (at that time we were still beset off Cape Walker in Melville Bay), thence they stood to the south-west, until they reached the West Water.

On the 18th August, when we had a thick fog and almost a calm off Possession Bay, the American squadron was in a severe gale in Lancaster Sound; and on the 25th August, after visiting Leopold Island, the gallant Americans reached Cape Riley close on the heels of the "a.s.sistance" and "Intrepid."

From that time we have shown that they lost no opportunity of pushing ahead; and if progress depended alone upon skill and intrepidity, our go-ahead friends would have given us a hard tussle for the laurels to be won in the Arctic regions.

As a proof of the disinterestedness of their motives, men as well as officers, I was charmed to hear that before sailing from America they had signed a bond not to claim, under any circ.u.mstances, the 20,000 reward the British Government had offered for Franklin's rescue; we, I am sorry to say, had acted differently. America had plucked a rose from our brows; but in such generous enterprise, we for the most part felt that no narrow-minded national prejudices could enter, and I gloried in the thought that the men who had so n.o.bly borne themselves, as well as he, the princely merchant who had done his best to a.s.sist the widow and orphan to recover those for whom they had so long hoped and wept, were men who spoke our language, and came from one parent-stock--a race whose home is on the great waters.

Looking at my rough notes for the following week, I am now puzzled to know what we were hoping for; it must have been a second open season in 1850,--a sanguine disposition, no doubt brought about by a break in the weather, not unlike the Indian summer described by American writers.

[Headnote: _GO INTO WINTER QUARTERS._]

_September 14th._--I went in the "Pioneer," with some others, to see if the floe had opened a road to the south of Griffith's Island; it had not, nor did it appear likely to do so this season, though there was water seen some fifteen miles or so to the westward.

One day the "a.s.sistance" and "Intrepid" started for a.s.sistance Harbour, to winter there, but came back again, for winter had barred the route to the eastward as well as westward. One day after this, or rather, many days, we amused ourselves, with powder, blowing open a ca.n.a.l astern of the "Resolute," which froze over as quickly as we did it. At other times, some people would go on the top of the island, and see oceans of water, where no ship could possibly get to it, and then others would visit the same spot after a night or two of frost, and, seeing ice where the others had seen water, a.s.serted most confidently that the first were exaggerators!

At any rate, September pa.s.sed; winter and frost had undoubted dominion over earth and sea; already the slopes of Griffith's Island, and the land north of us, were covered with snow; the water in sight was like a thread, and occasionally disappeared altogether. Fires all day, and candles for long nights, were in general requisition. Some cross-fire in the different messes was taking place as the individuals suffered more or less from the cold. Plethoric ones, who became red-hot with a run up the ladder, exclaimed against fires, and called zero charming weather; the long and lethargic talked of cold draughts and Sir Hugh Willoughby's fate; the testy and whimsical bemoaned the impure ventilation. A fox or two was occasionally seen scenting around the ships, and a fox-hunt enlivened the floe with men and officers, who chased the unlucky brute as if they had all come to Griffith's Island especially for fox-skins; and the last of the feathered tribe, in the shape of a wounded "burgomaster," shivered, half frozen, as it came for its daily food.

_October 2d, 1850._--Lieutenant M'Clintock had very properly urged the necessity of sending travelling parties to forward depots of provisions upon the intended routes of the different parties in 1851: these were this morning despatched,--Lieutenant M'Clintock, with Dr.

Bradford, carrying out a depot towards Melville Island; Lieutenant Aldrich taking one to Lowther Island, touching at Somerville Island on the way.

Lieutenant Mecham was likewise sent to examine Cornwallis Island, between a.s.sistance Harbour and Cape Martyr, for traces of Franklin.

We, who were left behind, felt not a little anxious about these parties whilst absent, for winter was coming on with giant strides; on the 4th, frost-bites were constantly occurring, and the sun, pale and bleary, afforded more light than warmth. Our preparations for winter were hurried on as expeditiously as possible; and the housing, which, like a tent, formed a complete covering to our upper decks, afforded great comfort and shelter from the cold bleak wind without.

[Headnote: _LIEUTENANT MECHAM'S ADVENTURE._]

On the 5th, Lieutenant Aldrich returned from his journey; he had not been able to go beyond Somerville Island--the sea between it and Lowther Island being covered with _broken packed ice, half-frozen sludge, and young ice_. On the 7th, Lieutenant Mecham arrived with the intelligence that the "Lady Franklin" and "Sophia" were, with the "Felix," safe in a.s.sistance Harbour. Captain Penny, after his failure in reaching Cape Walker, had a narrow escape of being beset on the sh.o.r.es of North Somerset; but by carrying on through the pack, in the gale of the 11th September, he had happily secured his ships in excellent winter quarters.

Lieutenant Mecham had an adventure on his outward route, which had some interesting features: as he was crossing the entrance of a bay, since named Resolute Bay, he observed a bear amongst some hummocks, evidently breaking the young ice by a sort of jumping motion; and he then saw that he and his party had unconsciously left the old ice, and were travelling over bay-ice, which was bending with the weight of the men and sledge. Bruin's sagacity here served the seamen in good stead, and the sledge was expeditiously taken to firmer ice, whilst Mr. M. went in chase of the bear; having mortally wounded it, the brute rushed to seaward, and the sportsman only desisted from the pursuit when he observed the bear fall, and in doing so break through the ice, which was too weak to sustain its weight.

Captain Penny, on the following day, sent over his dog-sledge to secure the flesh for his dogs, by which time the unlucky bear was frozen to a hard and solid ma.s.s.

_October 9th._--Lieutenant M'Clintock returned; he had placed his depot forty miles in advance, towards Melville Island,--three days'

imprisonment by bad weather, in the tents, having foiled his hopes of reaching Bedford Bay in Bathurst Island, where he originally intended to have reached. This party had, likewise, met water to the westward, and there was now but little doubt on our minds, that, had the large field of ice which was blocking the way between Cape Bunny and Griffith's Island broken up or drifted away, our squadron would have reached, in all probability, as far as Parry did in '20; but now, the utmost we could hope to attain in the following year was Melville Island, which would be our _goal_, instead of our _starting_ point.

Autumn travelling differs, in some measure, from that of the spring. I will, therefore, give the indulgent reader an account of a short excursion I made for the purpose of connecting the search from where Lieutenant Mecham left the coast, to the point at which Lieutenant M'Clintock had again taken it up; in fact, a bay, facetiously christened by the seamen (who had learned that newly-discovered places were forbidden to be named), "Bay, Oh! no we never mention it!" and "Cape No Name."

My kind friend, Mr. May of the "Resolute," volunteered to accompany me, and on Thursday, the 10th of October, we started with our tent, a runner-sledge, and five days' provisions. The four seamen and our two selves tackled to the drag-ropes, and, with the temperature at 6 above zero, soon walked ourselves into a state of warmth and comfort.

[Headnote: _RUINS ON CORNWALLIS ISLAND._]

Three hours' sharp dragging brought us to Cape Martyr; ascending the beach until we had reached a ledge of smooth ice which fringed the coast within the broken line of the tide-marks, we turned to the westward, and commenced searching the beach and neighbouring headlands.

I shall not easily efface from my memory the melancholy impression left by this, my first walk on the desolate sh.o.r.es of Cornwallis Island.

Like other things, in time the mind became accustomed to it; and, by comparison, one soon learned to see beauties even in the sterility of the North.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Horizontal Section, 20 feet circ.u.mference.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Vertical Section, 5 feet 6 inches high.]

Casting off from the sledge, I had taken a short stroll by myself along one of the terraces which, with almost artificial regularity, swept around the base of the higher ground behind, when, to my astonishment, a ma.s.s of stone-work, and what at first looked exactly like a cairn, came in view; it required no spur to make me hasten to it, and to discover I was mistaken in supposing it to have been any thing constructed so recently as Franklin's visit. The ruin proved to be a conical-shaped building, the apex of which had fallen in. Its circ.u.mference, at the base, was about twenty feet, and the height of the remaining wall was five feet six inches. Those who had constructed it appeared well acquainted with the strength of an arched roof to withstand the pressure of the heavy falls of snow of these regions; and much skill and nicety was displayed in the arrangement of the slabs of slaty limestone, in order that the conical form of the building might be preserved throughout.

We removed the stones that had fallen into the building, but found nothing to repay our labour; indeed, from the quant.i.ty of moss adhering to the walls, and filling up the interstices of the ma.s.ses which formed the edifice, I conjectured it was many years since it was constructed, though it would be impossible to guess when it was last inhabited; for, at Pond's Bay, I observed the remains of the native habitations to have the appearance of extreme old age and long abandonment, although, from the fresh seal-blubber _caches_, there was not a doubt of the Esquimaux having been there the previous winter.

A mile beyond this ruin we halted for the night. Four of us (for, in Arctic travelling, officer and man are united by the common bond of labour) erected the tent over a s.p.a.ce which we had cleared of the larger and rougher pieces of limestone, leaving what was called a soft spot as our castle and bedroom. One man, who dubbed himself cook for the day, with a mate, whose turn it would be to superintend the kitchen on the morrow, proceeded to cook the dinner. The cooking apparatus was a boat's stove, eighteen inches long, and nine inches broad, in which lignum vitae was used as fuel.

Water having first to be made from ice and snow, and then boiled in the open air, the process was not an expeditious one, and I took my gun and struck inland; whilst Mr. May, in an opposite direction, made for a point of land to the westward.

[Headnote: _A WINTER'S EVENING._]

No pen can tell of the unredeemed loneliness of an October evening in this part of the polar world: the monotonous, rounded outline of the adjacent hills, as well as the flat, unmeaning valleys, were of one uniform colour, either deadly white with snow or striped with brown where too steep for the winter mantle as yet to find a holding ground.

You felt pity for the shivering blade of gra.s.s, which, at your feet, was already drooping under the cold and icy hand that would press it down to mother earth for nine long months. Talk of "antres vast and deserts idle,"--talk of the sadness awakened in the wanderer's bosom by the lone scenes, be it even by the cursed waters of Judea, or afflicted lands of a.s.syria,--give me, I say, death in any one of them, with the good sun and a bright heaven to whisper hope, rather than the solitary horrors of such scenes as these. The very wind scorned courtesy to such a repulsive landscape, and as the stones rattled down the slope of a ravine before the blast, it only recalled dead men's bones, and motion in a catacomb. A truce, however, to such thoughts--May's merry recognition breaks the stillness of the frosty air. He has been to the point, and finds it an island; he says--and I vow he means what he says--that May Island is a beautiful spot! it has gra.s.s and moss upon it, and traces of game: next year he intends to bag many a hare there.

Sanguine feelings are infectious; I forget my own impressions, adopt his rosy ones, and we walk back to our tent, guided by the smoke, plotting plans for shooting excursions in 1851!

"Pemmican is all ready, sir!" reports our Soyer. In troth, appet.i.te need wait on one, for the greasy compound would pall on moderate taste or hunger. Tradition said that it was composed of the best rump-steaks and suet, and cost 1s. 6d. per pound, but we generally voted it composed of broken-down horses and Russian tallow. If not sweet in savour, it was strong in nourishment, and after six table-spoonfuls, the most ravenous feeder might have cried, hold! enough!

Frozen pork, which had been boiled on board the ship, was quite a treat, and decidedly better than cold, thawed pork could have been; this, with plenty of biscuit and a "jolly hot" basin of tea, and, as one of the seamen observed, "an invitation to Windsor would have been declined." The meal done, the tent was carefully swept out, the last careful arrangement of the pebbles, termed "picking the feathers," was made, and then a water-proof sheet spread, to prevent our warm bodies, during the night, melting the frozen ground and wetting us through.

Then every man his blanket bag, a general popping thereinto of the legs and body, in order that the operation of undressing might be decently performed, the jacket and wet boots carefully arranged for a pillow; the wolf-skin robes,--Oh, that the contractor may be haunted by the aroma of the said robes for his life-time!--brought along both over and under the party, who lie down alternately, head and feet in a row, across the tent. Pipes are lighted, the evening's gla.s.s of grog served out; and whilst the cook is washing up, and preparing his things ready for the morning meal, as well as securing the food on the sledges from foxes, or a hungry bear, many a tough yarn is told, or joke made, which keep all hands laughing until the cook reports all right, comes in, hooks up the door, tucks in the fur robe; and seven jolly mortals, with a brown-holland tent over their heads, and a winter's gale without, try to nestle their sides amongst the softest stones, and at last drop into such a sleep as those only enjoy who drag a sledge all day, with the temperature 30 below freezing point.

[Headnote: _AUTUMNAL TRAVELLING._]

Friday morning, at seven o'clock, we rolled up our beds, or rather sleeping-bags, stowed the sledge, drank boiling hot chocolate, and gnawed cheerily at frozen pork and biscuit; the weather beautiful, calm, and very cold, below zero, we started, skirting round the bay. By noon a gale sprung up, sending a body of icy spiculae against our faces, causing both pain and annoyance. Two mock suns for the first time were seen to-day. At noon we sat down under the lee of our sledge, and partook of a mouthful of grog and biscuit, and again marched rapidly towards "Cape No Name!" By the evening we had marched fourteen miles, the entire circuit of the bay, without observing any trace of Franklin having visited the neighbourhood; and as frost-bites began to attack our faces, we erected our tent as expeditiously as possible, and in it took shelter from the wind and cold. The pungent smoke of the lignum vitae kept us weeping, as long as the cooking went on; and between the annoyance of it, the cold, and fatigue, we all dropped off to sleep, indifferent to a falling temperature, prowling bears, or a violent gale, which threatened to blow us from the beach on which we had pitched our fluttering tent.

Next day, my work being done, we struck homeward for the squadron, and reached it the same evening, the said 12th of October being the last autumnal travelling of our squadron.

The following week the temperature rallied a little, and the weather was generally finer; our preparations for wintering were nearly completed, and the poor sickly sun barely for two hours a day rose above the heights of Griffith's Island.