Class, w x 6/^- -a Book i C^ ^ VOYAGES OF DISCOVERY AND RESEARCH WITHIN THE ARCTIC REGIONS, FROM THE YEAR 1818 TO THE PRESENT TIME : UNDER THE COMMAND OF THE SEVERAL NAVAL OFFI- CERS EMPLOYED BY SEA AND LAND IN SEARCH OF A NORTHWEST PASSAGE FROM THE AT- LANTIC TO THE PACIFIC ; WITH TWO AT- TEMPTS TO REACH THE NORTH POLE. ABRIDGED AND ARRANGED FROM THE OFFICIAL NARRATIVES, WITH OCCASIONAL REMARKS, BY SIR JOHN BARROW, Bart., F.R.S., AN. ^T. 82. AUTHOR OF "a CHBONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF VOYAGES INTO THE ARCTIC REGIONS." NEW-YORK: HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 8 2 CLIFF S TJ5.EJE T., - 18 46. \s> o TO THE OFFICERS, SEAMEN, AND MARINES, WHO FOB SEVERAL YEARS HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED ON VOYAGES TO THE ARCTIC REGIONS, FOR THE SEARCH OF A NORTHWEST PASSAGE FROM THE ATLANTIC TO THE PACIFIC, AND FOE, THE ADVANCEMENT OP SCIENCE AND GEOGRAPHY, AND WHO, BY THEIR DEVOTED ZEAL, COURAGE, AND FORTITUDE, HAVE SUPPORTED THE HIGH CHARACTER OF THIS RECORD OF THEIR VAIDABDE SERVICES IS, WITH GREAT REGARD AND ADMIRATION, INSCRIBED, BY THEIR SINCERE WELL-WISHER, JOHN BAEROW. PREFACE. If, by bringing forward the present volume, I shall have succeeded in affording gratification to those who are mainly the objects of it, my principal aim will be accomplished : in the com- pilation of it, I was influenced by the consider- ation that such an epitome was due to those whose persevering and adventurous exertions for the extension and improvement of science and geography have conferred a public benefit ; but it did not escape me that something of this kind was also wanting, and might be accepta- ble, to supply the place of the ofiicial quarto vol- umes, whose costly size and decorations pre- clude them from the general and ordinary class of readers. By the copious details they em- brace, in every branch of astronomical and nau- tical science, of geography, meteorology, and other physical researches — the charts and prints by which they are illustrated — they are made highly valuable to the man of science and taste, and well adapted for public libraries, or those generally found in the mansions of the wealthy ; but they are not exactly suited for general cir- culation. VI PREFACE. It was pretty much on the same grounds that, some years ago, when the renewal of the search for a Northwest Passage was set on foot, I was induced to bring out a small volume descriptive of the discoveries and exploits of our old '•' ma- rine worthies" in the Arctic regions, commen- cing in the days of the Cabotas ; the originals of which being confined, in like manner, to the huge folios of the old chroniclers, were very lit- tle known to the public at large. The object which I then had in view was to show briefly what had been accomplished by the former race of British naval officers and their hardy sea- men, and, at the same time, to make their deeds more familiarly known to the existing race about to be employed on similar pursuits, and in the same regions of the globe. A like view of setting forth to public notice the arduous services of our recent Arctic voy- agers by sea and land — of endeavoring to ap- preciate their several characters and conduct, so uniformly displayed in their unflinching per- severance in difficulties of no ordinary descrip- tion — their patient endurance of extreme suffer- ing, borne without murmuring, and with an equanimity and fortitude of mind under the most appalling distress, rarely if ever equalled, and such as could only be supported by a superior degree of moral courage and resignation to the PREFACE. Vll Divine will — of displaying virtues like these of no ordinary cast, and such as v^^ill not fail to ex- cite the sympathy and challenge the admiration of every right-feeling reader — has been the pleasing yet anxious object of the present vol- ume. ' Officers such as are herein mentioned are sure to create corresponding good seamen — by the establishment of regular discipline and good or- der — by judicious employment to prevent idle- ness and discontent — by allowing amusement and mirthful hilarity to divert the mind from despondency — and, above all, by attention to their wants and to their comforts- — these are the means to inspire confidence and obtain obedi- ence; and seamen so commanded and treated will never receive, because they will never re- quire, any kind of corporal punishment. The perilous incidents and adventures to which many, both officers and men, were nec- essarily exposed — the hopes and fears by which they were alternately excited — are so well and forcibly described in the several Journals of the former, that I have endeavored to preserve, as far as it could be done, their own respective statements in their own words, singly, or inter- woven into the text of the present narrative. The physical power of the navy of England has long been duly appreciated at home, also Vlll PREFACE. by most foreign nations, and is matter of public record ; its moral influence, though less the ob- ject of publicity, requires only to be more ex- tensively known to be equally felt and esteem- ed ; and nothing can be more conducive to this end than the results to be derived from voy- ages of discovery such as those under consid- eration, whose great aim has been the acquisi- tion of knowledge, not for England alone, but for the general benefit of mankind. It may be noticed that the present epitome is meant to convey the substance of six or seven large quarto volumes, with two or three small- er ones, containing together from three to four thousand pages, exclusive of four or five other volumes, consisting entirely of subjects in natu- ral history, which on the present occasion do not fall within my province. I can not but feel it a most gratifying reflec- tion that, in so great a number of persons who have been employed and passed several winters in one of the most Cold, dark, and desolate re- gions of the globe, so few lives, in some of the ships none, have been lost. It is equally grat- ifying to have the opportunity of recording, which I have not omitted to do, that most of those who survived the trial have received ad- vancement in their professional career, or some distinction of honor, in reward of their services ; PREFACE. IX and that there are few of those in the inferior ranks who have not improved their condition in life, in consequence of their good conduct on very trying occasions. I have used the hberty of making a few brief occasional remarks on some of the voyages, which I am sure the gallant conductors of them will take in good part, knowing, as they well do, the great interest I have felt in their success, from their commencement down to the existing expedition under the command of the gallant veteran, Sir John Franklin, whom, with his brave officers and men, may God preserve.* * The two ships, "The Erebus" and "Terror," are the same that were employed, tmder the command of Sir James Clark Ross, on the Antarctic expedition, and the latter is the same ship that carried Back on the ice : on the present occasion they are com- manded, officered, and manned as under : Tekeor. E-ichard Crozier, Captain. Ed. Little, ) Geo. H. Hodgson, \ Lieutenaats. The Erebus. Sir John Franklin, Captain. James Fitzjames, Commander. Graham Gore, ) t . „ Hen. T. D. Le Vesconte, \ J;'^^ Jas. Wm. Fairholme, ) t^^^an^- Charles F. Des Vaiix, ) Robert O. Sargent, > Mates. E. Couch, > H. F. Collins, Second Master. Stephen S. Stanley, Surgeon. H. D. Goodsir, Assistant Surgeon, James Read, Ice Master. i2~Warrant and Petty OflBicera. 58 Seamen and Marines. John Irving, ) Frederic Hornby, ? j.^^ Robert Thomas, 5 J^^ares. Thomas B lanky, Ice Master. G. A. Maclean, Second Master. John S. Peddie, Surgeon. Alex. M'Donald, Assist. Surgeon. J. H. Helpman, Clerk in Charge. 11 Warrant and Petty Officers. 57 Seamen and Marines. 68" Total. 70 TotaL In recording the names of the above-mentioned officers, those of Captain Sir John Franklin and Captain Crozier require nothing farther to be said : that of Commander Fitzjames has been dis- tinguished in the Euphrates, on the coast of Syria, and in China ; and by his zeal and alacrity, his good humor and ever cheerfdl X PREFACE, disposition, he has made himself a universal favorite in the navy; and I am most happy to add that, in his ahsence, the Board of Admiralty have promoted him to the rank of Captain. Lieuten- ant Graham Gore served ia the last fearful voyage of the Terror ; and Lieutenant Fairholme was in the Niger expedition— excel- lent olficers, both. CONTENTS. Pae» Pkkface V CHAPTER I. INTBODUCTION. Cause of the renewal of the search for a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific 13 CHAPTER n. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS, In tie Isabella and Alexander — Proceeded up Davis's Strait and BaflBn's Bay into Lancaster Sound, and returned 25 CHAPTER m. CAPTAIN DAVID BUCHAN, With the Dorothea and Trent— Toward the North Pole — ^Reached the northern part of Spitzbergen — Ships damaged in the Ice, and re- turned 49 CHAPTER IV. I-IEUTENANT PARKY' S FIRST VOYAGE, With the Hecla and Griper — Proceeded up Davis's Strait and into Baf- fin's Bay, crossed over to Lancaster Sound, Regent's Inlet, through Barrow's Strait^ and to Melville Island 62 CHAPTER V. CLAVERING AND SABINE, To Spitzbergen and Greenland — Hammerfest and Drontheim — ^To as- certain the Ellipticity of the Earth, by swinging the Pendulum . 94 CHAPTER VI. COMMANDER PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE, In the Fury and Hecla — Entered Hudson's Strait, Fox's Channel, Fro- zen Strait, tiie Welcome, discovered the Fury and Hecla Strait' — Passed two winters, and returned . 107 CHAPTER Vn. CAPTAIN GEORGE LYON, In the Griper — Proceeded up Hudson's Strait, Fox's Channel, the Wel- come — Unable to reach Repulse Bay— Returned 153 XU CONTENTS. CHAPTER Vm. CAPTAIN parry's third VOYAGE, In the Hecla and Fury — Proceeded up Davis's Strait and BafiSn'e Bay into Lancaster Sound and Prince Regent's Inlet, where the Fury was wrecked, and he returned Page 166 CHAPTER IX. CAPTAIN parry's fourth VOYAGE, In the Hecla — ^As far as Spitzbergen — Thence in the Boats toward the North Pole — Reached nearly the 83d degree of latitude, and re- turned -. . 197 CHAPTER X. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON. Journey through Nortli America to the Polar Sea, and along the coast from Copper Mine River to Point Turn-again 229 CHAPTER XI. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON. Second Journey to the Polar Sea, to the Mackenzie River, thence west- ward to the Return CliflF, and eastward to the Copper Mine River 279 CHAPTER Xn. back's journey Through North America — ^Down a River not before navigated by Euro- peans to its Estuary on the Polar Sea — ^Both now known by the name of Back 313 •CHAPTER Xm. back's voyage Toward Repulse Bay — Shut up ia the Ice, and floated on the Ice in the midst of the Ocean oflf the east coast of Southampton Island nearly a whole year 330 CHAPTER XIV. MISCELLANEOUS. 1. Capt. John Ross's Second Voyage, in a Merchant VesseL 2. Select Committee of the House of Commons on that Voyage. 3. Discoveries on the South Coast of the Polar Sea. By ^Ir. Thomas Simpson 344 DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE MAPS. Chart of Simpson's Strait, to face page 358. General Polar Chart and the Arctic Regions, at the end. ARCTIC VOYAGES. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION. So much has been said on the subject of a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and so many- erroneous notions have been afloat concerning it, that I deem it proper, by way of introduction, to accoimt for the recent revival of the attempts to discover it. " Among the changes and vicissitudes to which the physical constitution of om* globe is perpetually subject, one of the most extraordinary, and from which the most interesting and important results may be anticipated, ap- pears to have taken place in the course of the last two or three years, and is still in progressive operation. The convulsion of an earthquake, and the eruption of a volca- no, force themselves into notice by the dismay and dev- astation with which, in a greater or less degree, they are almost always attended ; but the event to which we al- lude has been so quietly accomplished, that it might have remained imknown but for an extraordinary change which a few intelligent navigators remarked in the state of the Arctic ice, and the reports of the unusual quantities of this ice obsei-ved in the Atlantic." The extract here quoted must, I believe, be laid at my door. The event alluded to was the disappearance of the whole, or greater part, of the vast barrier of ice which for a long period of' time, perhaps for centuries, was supposed to have maintained its firm-rooted position on the eastern coast of Old Greenland ; and its reappear- ance in a more southernly latitude, where it was met with, as was attested by various persons worthy of credit, in the years 1815-16 and 17 ; by ships coming from the East Indies and America; by others going to Halifax and Newfoundland ; and in different parts of the Atlantic, as fai- down as the 40th parallel of latitude. Some of B 14 INTRODUCTION. these detached masses were of an unusual magnitude and extent, amounting in some instances to whole islands of ice, of such vast dimensions that ships were impeded by them for many days in their voyages ; others were detach- ed icebergs, from a hundred to a hundred and thirty feet above the surface of the water, and several miles in cir- cumference. The Halifax packet reported that she had passed a mountain of ice nearly two hundred feet high, and at least two miles in ch'cumference. A ship, belonging to the Old Greenland Missions, was eleven days beset on the coast of Labrador in floes of ice mixed with icebergs, many of which had huge rocks upon them, gravel, soil, and pieces of wood : in short, every account from vari- ous parts of North America agreed in stating that larger and more numerous fields and bergs of ice had been seen at greater distances from their usual places, in the years above mentioned, than had at any time before been witnessed by the oldest navigators. The fact, therefore, might be considered as too well authenticated to admit of a doubt. It was at once concluded from whence the greater part of these immense quantities of ice were derived. In a letter from Mr. Scoresby the younger, an intelli- gent navigator of the Greenland seas, to Sir Joseph Banks, he says, " I observed on my last voyage (1817) about two thousand square leagues (eighteen thousand square miles) of the surface of the Greenland seas, in- cluded between the parallels 74° and 80°, perfectly void of ice, all of which had disappeared within the last two years." And he farther states, that, although, on former voyages, he had very rarely been able to penetrate the ice, between the latitudes of 76° and 80°, so far to the west as the meridian of Greenwich, on his last voyage he twice reached the longitude of ^10° west ; that in the parallel of 74° he approached the coast of Old Green- land ; that there was little ice near the land ; and he added, " that there could be no doubt that he might have reached the shore had he but a justifiable motive for navigating an unknown sea at so late a season of the year." This account was fully confirmed by intelligence received at Copenhagen from Iceland in the year 1816, that the ice had broken loose from the opposite coast of INTRODUCTION. 15 Greenland, and floated away to the southward, after sur- rounding the shores of Iceland, and filling aU the bays and creeks of that island ; and that this afflicting visitation was repeated in 1817 — circumstances hitherto unknown to the oldest inhabitant. About the same time, the whale ships that frequented the fishery in Davis's Straits, and the Hudson's Bay trad- ers, experienced an unusual number of icebergs and large floes of ice drifting to the southward down the straits and along the coast of Labrador, and past New- foundland ; yet as to a certain extent those masses of ice were of frequent occurrence in these quarters, and occasionally met with in the Atlantic, it was those from the eastward that attracted particular notice. Whatever the cause may have been for the disruption of this immense barrier of ice from the eastern coast of Greenland, whether by its own weight after centuries of accumulation, or from the partial disruption of the coast itself, the fact is imquestionable ; and the notorie- ty of it given in the several journals of Europe, and more especially in those of England, corroborated by various private communications, was among the circumstances which, combined with others, gave rise to the revival of those voyages of discovery for attempting a passage round the northern coast of America to the Pacific Ocean, and also to another attempt to reach the North Pole, by pro- ceeding between the east coast of Greenland, now freed from ice, and the west coast of Spitzbergen, generally not much hampered with ice. A naval officer, the nar- rator of one of the very first of the modem expeditions, which the change in the ice of the northern seas mainly occasioned, opens his account of it as follows * " It most opportunely occurred, in the year 1817", that ac- counts of a change in the Polar ice particularly favorable to the undertaking were brought to England by our whale ships ; and as it has generally happened in this country that some individual, more sanguine than the rest of the community, has, by his superior knowledge, greater exertions, or more constant perseverance, succeeded in bringing a project to bear, which, in less vigorous or pertinacious hands, would have been suflfered to die aw^ay, this favorable change was turned to so good an account by an influential member of the gov- ernment, and whose name is inseparable from northern dia- 16 INTRODUCTION. covery, that, in the following year, his Majesty George IV., then Prince Regent, was pleased to command that attempts ehould be made to reach the Pacific, both by the western route through Baflfin's Bay, and by a northern com'se across the Pole."^ It would be ridiculously squeamislito affect ignorance to whom the comphment in the above passage is meant to apply, and the more so as, on the whole, it is true. I am fully prepared to admit that part which relates to the " sanguine individual" who succeeded by " exer- tions" and "perseverance" in bringing the project to bear — a project which, like most others that are new and not well understood, could not, and therefore did not, fail to bring with it censorious remarks, and ill-natured but ignorant criticisms from one party, with a modicum of praise and approbation from another — as usual, lauda- tur ab his, culpatur ah illis. Previously, however, to originating any proposals for the voyages herein treated of, no pains were spared in collecting whatever informa- tion could be gathered from the expeditions of our old travelers, the traders in the service of the Hudson's Bay and the Northwest Companies, from scattered remarks of whale fishers and casual travelers, such as Hearne and Mackenzie : and the information thus gained was submitted to the pubUc at the time the first of the recent expeditions was in progress, f I did not, however, stand alone, having had the good fortune to meet with every encouragement from an able coadjutor, one ever ready to hold out a helping hand when the promotion of science and general knowledge was the object. This patron was Sir Joseph Banks. Before, therefore, I submitted any proposal to Lord Melville, which I knew would be refen-ed to the Presi- dent and Council of the Royal Society, as all voyages of discovery connected with science were, I thought it right to take the president's opinion as to the effect of the changes reported to have occurred in the northern regions, in which I was aware he took a particular inter- est, having himself, in early life, visited Iceland and chmbed to the top of Mount Hecla ; and as he knew * Beecliey's Voyage toward the North Pole. ~'~"" t Chronglogical History of Voyages into the Arctic Regions, &c. INTRODUCTION. 17 that I had also, in early life, paid a visit to the Spitzber- gen seas, as high as Hakluyt's Headland, near the 80th parallel, I was sure of engaging his attention on the sub- ject, and was not disappointed. He entirely approved of the renewal of attempts to accomplish a grand object which for three centuries had, at different times, occu- pied the attention of our sovereigns, philosophers, men of science, and merchants ; and he promised to look over and give me any information that his own correspondence might furnish : "I may be able," he said, " to name those from whom you may receive, and books from which you may derive the information you are in quest of, but for science I must refer you to my council."* Accordingly, I submitted a plan to Lord Melville, then Fu-st Lord of the Admiralty, a nobleman at all times ready to attend to any suggestion that had for its object the improvement of science or the interests of navigation and commerce. It was sent, as usual, to the President and Council of the Royal Society, returned with their approval, and submitted to Lord Liverpool, then Prime Minister, for his sanction ; and this being obtained, or- ders were forthwith issued by the Board of Admiralty for the preparation of four ships to be appropriated to the sei-vice in question — two for the seai'ch of a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and two to proceed from the sea of Spitzbergen toward the North Pole. It may be observed, that none of our old navigators were able to penetrate any part of the Polar Sea ; all their discoveries were confined to the straits, and inlets, and islands on the eastern coast of America, and the large straits of Davis and Baffin on the western coast of Greenland. Had Baffin entered Lancaster Sound from his own strait, he would at once have discovered the sea which communicates with the Pacific, and then there is no saying what this able old navigator and his contem- poraries might not have effected. Indeed, at the com- mencement of the late Arctic voyages, nothing was known * Great Britain has seldom neglected to pay a tribute to the memory of men who have distinguished themselves by their zeal for the promo- tion of science and the arts ; to which end Sir Joseph Banks has largely contributed, personally and by his purse ; yet not even a biographical sketch that I know of has been pubhshed. Let Sir Edward KnatchbuU and the person to whom he gave the materials look to this. B 2 18 INTRODUCTION. of any enti'ance into the Polar Sea from this side of America. All that M'^as known on the first attempt, which hardly deserves the name, was, that a Polar Sea did exist, that the sliips of Captain Cook had looked at it through Behring's Strait, and that Hearne and Mac- kenzie, two North American ti'avelers, had arrived at the northern shore of North America, at different points and at different times, and reported, somewhat doubting, that they had seen the sea. From these chcumstances, and, more particularly, from the undoubted authorities I had succeeded in col- lecting, it was quite clear that a current was constantly found setting down Davis's Strait, and the Strait of Hud- son's Bay, and also along the shore of Spitzbergen, all to the southward ; no doubt, therefore, could remain on my mind, that there must be a water communication be- tween the seas of the Pacific and the northern Atlantic ; that the water supplied through the Strait of Behring (a well-established fact) into the Polar Sea was discharged, by some opening or other yet to be discovered, into the Atlantic. The " Edinburgh Review," however, turned into ridicule the idea of a Polar Basin ; and others en- deavored to show that, if these currents existed, they must be veiy temporary or occasional, as they would otherwise drain this Polar Basin of its water. It may be worth the while, now that the shores of this Polar Sea have been visited and surveyed, one part of them by our own navigators, and the Asiatic part by the indefatigable Baron Wrangel and others, to show to these would-be-wise gentlemen what that sea really is — what are its inpourings, its outpourings, and its di- mensions. In the first place, it is an immense basin of water, included by the shores of Asia, of Em-ope, and of America. Of Asia, from Nova Zembla, in 50° E. long«., to East Cape in Behring's Strait, in 170° W. long^ ; that is, 140° extent of coast. In Europe, from Nova Zembla, in 50° E., to Baffin's Bay, about 70° W., an extent of coast equal to 120° ; and in America, from the last point, 70° W., to Cape Prince of Wales, 168° W., in Behring's Sti-ait, an extent of coast equal to 100°. These, including the opening of Behring's Strait and that between Greenland and Spitzbergen, comprise the INTKODUCTION. 19 whole circle of 360°, an extent of coast which no other detached sea in the world can boast of. It is a circle of two thousand four hundred geographical miles in diam- eter, and seven thousand two hundred miles in circum- ference, considering the latitude of 70° to be the aver- age boundary liife, which it nearly is, by taking the in- lets of the land to balance the outlets of the sea. And, in order to satisfy the malcontents regarding the currents exhausting its waters, it may, perhaps, be sufificient to state what are its supplies. They consist of the con- stant influx of a sti'eam through Behring's Sti'ait, of five or six great rivers from Asia — the Obi, the Jenisci, the Lena, the Indigirka, and the Kolima. Europe supplies the waters of the Dwina, with numerous streams from the coasts of Norway and Lapland, and the eastern coasts of Greenland, and western coast of Baffin's Bay; and America pours in several copious sti*eams from the Rocky Mountains, with the Mackenzie, the Hearne, or the Copper Mine, the Back, and several other minor sti'eams. To talk, therefore, of its being exhausted by the southernly currents appears to be absolute nonsense. The main object intended to be attained by the fii-st of the recent expeditions was to discover an entry from the eastern side of America into the Polar Sea. But it was not done by the first, as it ought to have been done ; and, as the second most readily accomplished it, and, moreover, navigated one half of that sea to the westward, why, then, it may be asked, have future attempts failed to navigate the other half? The answer is easy enough — they failed by deserting the direct path, that gave them half the passage toward Behring's Strait, and tried va- rious new ways in search of openings into the Polar Sea, and found but one other on the whole eastern coast of America, and that one not navigable. The old route of Parry through Lancaster Sound and Barrow's Strait, as far as to the last land on its southern shore, and thence, in a direct line, to Behring's Strait, is the route ordered to be pursued by Franklin. But it may also be asked, as it has been asked by some of that class known by the name of Utilitarians, cui bono are these northern voyages undertaken ? If they were merely to be prosecuted for the sake of making a passage 20 INTRODUCTION. from England to China, and for no other purpose, theii* utility might faii'ly be questioned. But when the acqui- sition of knowledge is the groundwork of all the instinic- tions under which they are sent forth ; when the com- manding officer is dhected to cause constant observations to be made for the advancement of evety branch of sci- ence — astronomy, navigation, hydrography, meteorolo- gy, including electi'icity and magnetisin, and to make col- lections of subjects in natural histoiy — in short, to lose no opportunity of acquiring new and important informa- tion and discoveiy ; and when it is considered that these voyages give employment to officers and men in time of peace, and produce officers and men not to be sur- jiassed, perhaps not equalled, in any other branch of the sei*vice, the question cui hono is easily answered in the words of the minister of Queen Elizabeth, " Knowledge is Power," the tnith of which was practically demon- sti'ated to the grumblers of that day by the following re- sults. Sir Humphrey Gilbert, in consequence of his grant of the Island of Newfoundland, made a voyage thither, on his return from which he nobly perished ; but his knowl- edge did not perish with him : it laid the foundation of that valuable cod-fishery "which still exists. Davis, by the discovery of the sti-ait that bears his name, opened the way to the whale-fishery, which still continues to flourish ; and Frobisher pointed out the strait which con- ducted Hudson to the bay that bears his name, and which gave rise to the establishment of a company of mer- chants, whose concerns are of such an extensive nature as to be carried on across the whole continent of Amer- ica, and to the very shores of the Polar Sea; and al- ready, in our time, the opening of Lancaster Sound by Parry has extended the whale-fishery into that sound. But the knowledge that has resulted from these later voyages is not less valuable, less durable, or more evan- escent, nor can it be too highly appreciated. Let any one cast an eye only over the best charts of the north- ern regions, previous to the recent Arctic expeditions, and compare them with what they now are. Let him inquire what was then known or described of that Po- lar sea, or indeed of the whole northern shore of the INTRODUCTION. 2l American continent, and the answer will be, a blank ; which, however, he will now find filled up. Let him ask what was the value or amount of the geogi-aphical and physical knowledge then possessed of the regions of the globe within the Arctic circle, and the reply would be, Mttle or nothing; whereas the objects of Nature which the late voyages have furnished to the British Museum and other depositories are numerous and nov- el. Let any one turn over that extraordinary collection of engravings and descriptions of subjects in eveiy de- partment of natural history, filling up no less than four large quarto volumes, whose general titles are as under : 1. The Fauna Boreali- Americana. — Quadrupeds; 2. The Fauna Boreali-Americana. — Birds; 3. The Fauna Boreali-Americana. — Fishes ; 4. The Fauna Boreali-Americana. — Insects ; containing from three to five hundred pages each, and all brought forward by, and under the superintendence of, Dr. Richardson, the fellow -traveler of Sir John Franklin, and the man to whose energy, courage, and skill Sir John has declared that he and the whole party owe their safety and their lives. Let these accessions to general knowledge have only their due weight, and they will then be duly appreciated. The value of the scientific observations and discover- ies made in these Arctic voyages, independent of all na- tional and selfish considerations, is duly appreciated on the continent of Europe and in America. It is, perhaps, not generally known that the late voyage toward the South Pole, under the command of Captain (now Sir James) Ross, had no other object but the advance- ment of science and general information regarding the Antarctic regions of the globe ; and that among the first subjects to be attended to was that of making a series of observations on terrestrial magnetism, a subject which has of late years assumed so important a character, by its influence on the globe, that the government of Great Britain, ever ready to take the lead in matters connected with science, has been induced to establish magnetic ob- sei-vatories in several of its colonies, distant from each other ; and, by influence and example, has prevailed on other powers to do the same, the object being to conduct 22 INTRODUCTION. simultaneous observations, at given stated times, in all of them. Those of Great Britain are sent to Lieutenant- colonel Sabine, who has kindly undertaken to reduce them systematically.* When Franklin's expedition was decided on. Colonel Sabine w^as asked whether magnet- ic observations made on the Polar Sea, and registered in the same manner as in the colonial observatories, would not be of service ? His reply was, " That he has no hes- itation in saying that the attempt to make the northwest passage would render the most important service that now remains to be performed toward the completion of the magnetic survey of the globe." I shall only add here that the President and Council of the Royal Society, Sir Edward Parry, and Captain Beaufort strongly ap- prove of the existing, and perhaps the last, attempt to make the passage through the Polar Sea into the Pa- cific. But what says Sir John Herschel, when speak- ing of the atmospheric pressure in cold climates ? " This, with the magnetic survey of the Arctic seas, and the not improbable solution of the great geographical problem which forms the chief object of the expedition, will fur- nish a sufficient answer to those, if any there be, who re- gard such voyages as useless. Let us hope and pray that it may please Providence to shield him (Franklin) and his brave companions from the many dangers of their enterprise, and restore them in health and honor to their country." To those who are disposed to doubt the expediency, " if any there be," of the present voyage under Sir John Franklin, I shall state one additional motive for having adopted it, which is this : that to have abandoned any farther attempt to fulfill an object which has never ceased to occupy the attention of the British government since the days of our Elizabeth, and more especially, at this particular time, to have left it to be completed by a for- eign navy, after the doors of the two extremities of the passage had been thrown open by the ships of our own, would have been little short of an act of national suicide ; or, to say the least of it, an egregious piece of national folly. In personal courage the British navy has long held * The observations made at Toronto have already been reduced and printed with an admirable and well- written preface by the colonel. INTRODUCTION. 2B a proud pre-eminence in time of war, and nmnbers of her officers have no less distinguished themselves, in times of peace, for moral courage and mental fortitude. It vrould, therefore, have been an unpardonable omission to have suffered any paltry financial considerations to have interfered with the employment of a couple of small barks for the attainment of an object of such im- portance. Let those, then, who may be disposed to quarrel with the existing expedition on the score of expense, be as- sured that, in putting it forth, it was not overlooked that, at the moment, there were two foreign fleets in the Pa- cific, belonging to the only two naval powers likely to engage in the enterprise under consideration, and to ei- ther of whom it would afford a moral triumph to ac- complish what we had begun but shrunk from complet- ing. This is no chimera. The shortest passage for any of the homeward-bound ships of these two powers now in the Pacific is through the Polar Sea. Franklin is now on his voyage, and whether he suc- ceeds in making good the passage or not, nothing, I am most certain, will be wanting on his part, or on that of his gallant comi-ades, to accomplish all that human means and human intellect can command. In the sentiments with which this brave, veteran seaman closes the narra- tive of his second Polar voyage I most cordially concur, as I am inclined to think most of those who read it will likewise do : " Arctic discovery has been fostered principally by Great Britain ; and it is a subject of just pride that it has been pros- ecuted by her from motives as disinterested as they are en- Hghtened; not from any prospect of immediate benefit to herself, but from a steady view to the acquirement of useful knovt^ledge, and the extension of the bounds of science. Each succeeding attempt has added a step tow^ard the com- pletion of northern geography ; and the contributions to nat- ural history and science have excited a general interest throughout the civilized world. It is, moreover, pleasing to reflect that the loss of life which has occurred in the prose- cution of these discoveries does not exceed the average num- ber of deaths in the same population at home under circum- stances the most favorable . And it is sincerely to be hoped that Great Britain will not relax her efforts until the question of 24 INTRODUCTION. a northwest passage lias been satisfactoiily set at rest, or, at least, until those portions of the northern shores of America ■which are yet unknown be laid down in our maps, and which, with the exception of a small space on the Asiatic continent eastward of Shelatskoi Noss, are the only intervals wanting to complete the outline of Europe, Asia, and Ameri- ca."— P. 319. And I can not but feel a proud gratification, which 1 am sure is shared by every true Englishman of whatev- er rank in society, in the perusal of the following honest and manly sentiments with which Captain Sir Edward Parry closes the naiTative of his third voyage into the Arctic seas : " Happy as I should have considered myself in solving this interesting question, instead of still leaving it a matter of speculation and conjecture ; happy shall I also be if any la- bors of mine, in the humble, though it would seem necessary office of pioneer, should ultimately contribute to the success of some more fortunate individual ; but most happy shoidd I again be to be selected as that individual. May it still fall to England's lot to accomphsh this undertaking ; and may she ever continue to take the lead in enterprises intended to con- tribute to the advancement of science, and to promote, with her own, the welfare of mankind at large ! Such enterprises, so disinterested as w^ell as useful in their object, do honor to the country w^hich undertakes them, even when they fail: they can not but excite the admiration and respect of every liberal and cultivated mind ; and the page of future history will undoubtedly record them as every way worthy of a powerful, a virtuous, and an enlightened nation." — P. 186. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS 25 CHAPTER II. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 1818. A Voyage of Discovery in Ms Majesty^ s ships Isabella and Alexander for the purpose of exploring Baffin^ s Bay, and inqidring into the probability of a Northwest Passage. By John Ross, K.S., Commander. The two ships appropriated to this service were the Isabella, 385 tons, and the Alexander, 252 tons, com- manded, officered, and manned as under : Isabella. John Ross, Commander, com- manding the Expedition. William Robertson, Lieutenant. William Thom, Purser. John Edwards, Surgeon. C. J. Beverley, Assist. Surgeon. J. M. Skene, Adm. JVIidshipman. J. C. Ross, do. do. J. Bushnan, Midshipman and Clerk. Benj. Lewis, Master and Green- land PUot. Thos. Wilcox, Mate and Green- land Pilot. io" Officers. 3 Carpenter, Sailmaker, Cook. 4 Leading Men. 31 Able Seamen, Alexandeb. W. E. Parry, Lieutenant com- manding. H. P. Hoppner, Lieutenant. W. H. Hooper, Purser. Alexander Fisher, Assistant Sur- geon. Ph. Bisson, Adm. Midshipman. John Nias, do. do. John Allison, Greenland Master. Joseph Phillips, do. Mate. James Hulse, Clerk. "9" Officers. 3 Carpenter, Cook, Sailmaker. 3 Leading Men. 17 Able Seamen. 5 Marines. 37 Whole complement 54 Whole complement Supernumeraries. 1 Captain Sabine, Royal Artillery. 1 Sergeant. do. 1 Esquimaux, Saccheoua, or Sack- house, 57* Total on board. When looking out for proper persons to command the intended expedition. Sir George Hope, who had been flag-captain to Sir James Saumarez, and then a Lord of the Admiralty, recommended Commander Ross as an ac- tive and zealous officer, and well practised in the ordiua- C 26 ARCTIC VOYAGES. ry duties of the seaman's profession. The ordinary du- ties of a good seaman are well known ; that he can hand, reef, steer, and heave the lead, keep the dead reckoning, and take and work an observation for the latitude ; how much beyond this Sir George does not appear to have pledged himself. Indeed, Ross states somewhat mod- estly, in his introduction, " My nautical education has taught me to act, and not to question ; to obey orders as far as possible, not to discuss probabilities, or examine philosophical or unphHosophical speculations. I have here attempted nothing beyond the journal of a seaman ; if I had done more, I might have done worse." Now something beyond the general character given by Sir George Hope was requhed from an officer who ventured to accept the command of an expedition for the purposes of enlarging the wide field of science and dis- covery, and moreover for that of a peculiar discovery ; one that had baffled the skUl of the most able and perse- vering navigators for a period at intervals of more than thi-ee hundred years. It has been ti'uly observed, that " this is a service for which all officers, however brave and intelligent they may be, are not equally qualified ; it requires a peculiar tact, an inquisitive and persevering pursuit after details of fact, not always interesting, a contempt of danger, and an enthusiasm not to be damped by ordinary difficulties." In fact. Commander Ross's sei*vices, previous to this voyage, were only adapted — as Sir George Hope, and, indeed, he himself has stetted them — to qualify for the ordinary duties of a good seaman ; but least of all, as will be seen, for conducting a voyage of discovery. "In the year 1786," he says, " I entered the royal navy ; continued in it for four years ; was in the mer- chant service till 1794 ; in the East India Company's service till 1799 ; then returned to the navy r acting lieutenant of the Weasel, of the Clyde, &c. Went with Lord de Saumarez as midshipman, often acting lieutenant, but ranked only as midshipman ; confirmed as lieutenant in 1805 ; served as first heutenant in three diflfere-nt ships ; promoted commander in 1812, and commanded three diflferent ships."* He might have * His examination before a Select Committee of the House of Com* mons on the Arctic Sea Expedition, COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 27 added, never served out of the Baltic and the White Sea, except once, on the north coast of Scotland. Now it may broadly be stated that Commander Ross, by his ov^n showing, did not at aU answer the descrip- tion of an officer fitted for the present service ; and his acts and his book prove it. His patron who recom- mended him was himself a thorough-bred seaman, an honest, sti-aight-forward, and downright* officer, and sincerely believed, no doubt, that the person he named was an active and zealous officer " in the ordinary duties of his profession ;" but there is reason to believe that, in oifering him the command of a Voyage of Discovery, he had not given due consideration to the qualifications that such a command requh-ed. Lieutenant Parry, who commanded the Alexan- der, served several years on the coast of North America, where he was distinguished as an excellent navigator, theoretical as well as practical. He drew up a little treatise, especially for the use of the young officers of the fleet, on nautical asti'onomy, containing directions for finding the principal fixecTstars visible in the northern hemisphere. A copy of this, with the necessary di-aw- ings, being sent to his father. Dr. Parry, of Bath, he had it printed. While employed in America, led by a spirit of entei-prise, he volunteered for, and was appoint- ed to, the Congo expedition under Captain Tuckey, but fortunately could not join in time. StiU, however, his attention was drawn toward African discovery, and about the close of 1817 he wrote to a friend, detailing his views on the subject ; and just as he had finished his letter, a paragraph in a newspaper, alluding to the at- tempt about to be made for the discovery of a northwest passage, caught his eye, and he added a postscript, re- ferring to this, and said " he was ready for hot or for cold" — Africa or the Polar regions. His friend took this letter to the Secretary of the Admiralty, f which Parry says he had reason to beheve was the immediate cause * The word reminds one ot a very significant sobriquet on Admiral Sir James Saumarez, Flag-Captain Sir George Hope, and the Ship's Captara Dumaresq — the three designated as up-right, down-right, and never-right. t Mr. BaiTow, who was so much pleased by the letter, and the little treatise which accompanied it, that he at once submitted to Lord Melvillo bis opinion, that he was just the man for such an appointment. 28 ARCTIC VOYAGES. of his appointment to that expedition, then preparing for the latter object. Lieutenant Parry, it may safely be said, did not dis- appoint the expectations of those who recommended him ; but he was himself grievously disappointed at the manner in which the voyage in question was conducted, and at the total want of facilities given for collecting such a body of observations on various subjects of scientific inquiry, of geographical information, and, above all, at the careless manner in which every attempt, or, rather, want of attempt, was slm-red over to fulfill the instruc- tions of government. Owing to this, instead of being able, on their return to England, to produce any results worthy of the hberality with which the expedition had been fitted out, there was not an officer in either ship that did not express mortification and disappointment. Lieutenant Robertson was an active and intelli- gent officer, a good observer and sui-veyor ; and Lieu- tenant HoppNER, son of the artist, an excellent draughtsman. One of the midshipmen, J. C. Ross, a young man of the most active and willing disposition, has subsequently been employed in every Arctic expe- dition, commanded the recent Antarctic voyage of three years, and is now Captain Sir James Clarke Ross, mar- ried, and enjoying the fruit of his valuable and highly praiseworthy labors. His name will frequently occur. Captain Sabine, of the Royal Artillery, well knovni for his scientific acquirements, and for the knowledge and use of mathematical and asti'onomical instruments, being desirous of the opportunity of putting his skill into practical experience, was requested to join the expedi- tion as a volunteer, and, like the rest, had but too much cause to be disappointed and aggrieved. An account of his subsequent and valuable labors, however, will here- after find a place in the present naiTative. It would have been more agi-eeable, in the outset of the present volume, to have passed over this first voy- age of discovery in the Arctic regions, than to be obliged to notice it under a feeling of disappointment, which the perusal of it so unavoidably and so provokingly creates ; but as it constitutes the first link in the chain of the interesting publications in question, it could not with COMiMANDER JOHN ROSS. 29 propriety have been omitted, though it can afford little pleasure to pass censure where there is every desire to praise. In matters of fact, however, like the present, the ti'uth must be spoken ; and it may be proper and only due justice to state at once that no blame can pos- sibly attach to any individual in the two ships for any misstatements, negligence, or lack of information which may occur in the original narrative ; that all appear to have been anxious to effect whatever could be accom- plished to meet the views of government, as far as the few opportunities given to them would allow. At the same time, it is possible that some of the omissions may have happened from a misconception of what was re- quired of the commander, and from the novelty of the service, in the nature and peculiar duties of which he had now obviously for the first time been engaged ; and it is so far due to him to admit, farther, that the appoint- ment was not of his own seeking, but was voluntarily offered to him by one who, it would seem, was as little acquainted with the peculiar service as was Mr. Ross himself. On the 18th of April the ships left the river, an-ived at Lerwick on the 30th, and on the 1st of June were somewhere on the eastern side of Davis's Straits ; pro- ceeded slowly between the ice and the western shore of Greenland, passing a number of whale ships busily em- ployed, and on the 17th of June got into Waygat Strait, in which were forty-five whalers detained by the ice. This sti-ait is formed between the shore of Greenland and the Island of Disco, on which is a Danish settle- ment. In this neighborhood, among the points of land, the shoals, and islands that abound, the ships were so hampered with ice, that it was not until the 3d of July they reached the Women's Islands. Their detention, however, did not lack amusement. The half-caste sons and daughters of Danes and Esqui- maux danced Scotch reels on the deck of the Isabella with the sailors ; and Ross says : " Sackhouse's mirth and joy exceeded all bounds, and with good-humored officiousness he performed the office of mas- ter of the ceremonies. An Esquimaux master of the ceremo- nies to a ball on the deck of his majesty's ships in the icy 30 ARCTIC VOYAGES. seas of Greenland was an office somewiiat new, but Nash himself conld not have performed his functions in a manner more appropriate. It did not belong even to Nash himself to combine in his own person, like Jack, the discordant qual- ifications of seaman, interpreter, draughtsman, and master of ceremonies to a ball, ^vith those of an active fisher of seals and a hunter of white bears." — P. 55-6. This iDtelligent and amiable Esquimaux, Jack Sac- cheous (or Sackhouse), aifords a strong example of what a little kindness and attention will effect on human beings, even in the lowest scale of existence. Of the histoiy of this young man there wiU be occasion to speak hereafter. On the fitting out of the present expedition, Captain Basil HaU, finding that Saccheous had a wish to join it, made his deshe known at the Admiralty, and he was accordingly appointed interpreter, in which capacity he proved exceedingly useful in the very limited opportu- nity that occurred of holding any communication with his native countrymen. Among the mirthful group be- fore mentioned, Ross tells us : " A daughter of the Danish resident, about eighteen years of age, and by far the best looking of the group, was the ob- ject of Jack's particular attentions; which being obs€r\'ed by one of om- officers, he gave him a lady's shawl, ornamented ■vnth. spangles, as an offering for her aoceptance. He present- ed it in a most respectful and not ungracefiil manner to the damsel, who bashftilly took a pew^teT ring from her finger and presented it to him in return ; rewarding him, at the same time, with an eloquent smile, w^hich could leave no possible doubt on our Esquimaux's mind that he had made an impres- sion on her heart." — P. 56. After some delay the wind changed, and the ice be- gan to separate, leaving an opening along the coast ; but Jack, w^ho had gone on shore with his countrymen, had not returned. A boat was therefore sent to bring him off ; but the poor fellow was found in one of the huts with his collar-bone broken, having, under the idea, as expressed by himself, of '''■ plenty jDowder, plenty kill,'' overloaded his gun, and the violence of the recoil had caused the accident. In proceeding northernly, the expedition came up with COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 31 several groups of whalers that had passed through the floes of ice, in one of which it was also shortly after beset, in latitude 75° 35', " the Dexterity whaler now alone continuing in sight." Yet, in the same page, Ross says, " We are now arrived at a point between which and Cape Dudley Digges land had not been seen by for- mer navigators ;" as if whale-fishers were excluded from the class of navigators. He then goes on to say, that "between latitude 75° 12' and 76° the shore formed a capacious bay, in the midst of which rose a remarkable spiral rock ; this I named Melville's Monument, in grate- ful remembrance of the late viscount, from whom I received my first commission. To the bay itself I gave the name of Melville's Bay, from respect to the present First Lord of the Admu-alty. It is situated between 75° 12' and 76°, and abounds with whales, many of which were taken by the ships that were persevering enough to follow us." And no doubt numbers of whalers, for ages before this, had persevered in their search of whales far be- yond the latitude of 76° ; but the expedition being one for the purpose of discoveiy, something new, it would seem, was to be stnick out at this early period, while on the Greenland side of Baffin's Bay — a coast which could afford nothing connected with the Polar Sea or with the northwest passage. In point of fact, Ross, on the outset of the voyage, even in the title-page, mis- states (he could not mistake) the object of his instruc- tions. He says the voyage was made " for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay." Now there is not a word in the insti-uctions about exploring Baffin's Bay ; he was to stand well to the northward before crossing over to the westward, but not to stop on either coast : " the first and most important object of this voyage is to be the discovery of a passage through Davis's Straits, along the northern coast of America." On the western coast there could be no passage into the Polar Sea, nor toward the coast of America. Opportunely, however, an event occurred which af- forded him an occasion, if not an excuse, for delay. On the 10th of August eight sledges, drawn by native Es- quimaux, were observed advancing toward the place 32 ARCTIC VOYAGES. where the ships were at anchor, and Saccheous was dis- patched with a white flag and some presents to hold a parley with them, they being placed at one side of a ca- nal or chasm in the ice, and he on the other side. After loud shouts, words, and gestures, Saccheous soon per- ceived that their language was the same as his, but of a different dialect, and, holding up his presents, he called out, " Come on ;" but the reply was, " No, no ; go away." And one of them, approaching the edge of the canal, repeated, " Go away ; I can kill you," holding up a knife. Saccheous threw over an English knife, say- ing, " Take that." This they picked up, shouted, and pulled their noses. Saccheous, in return, called out Heigh-yaw ! pulling his nose with the same gesture. This pulling of noses, which is represented to be their mode of a friendly salutation, is a trite matter of little moment, and would not be mentioned here but for the singular circumstance, which has been told by several of the officers, and in print, that they never saw nor heard of it till it was mentioned by Commander Ross, for the first time, at Shetland, on their return home. It is scarce- ly possible that such a foolish ceremony, if frequently and solemnly repeated, could have escaped the notice of all the officers except that of the commander; yet there must be something in it, for Back, in his Arctic journey, mentions rubbing of noses as an Esquimaux salutation. The following is somewhat curious, considering the number and frequency of whalers visiting this part of the coast, where no doubt much intercourse must have taken place between them and the innocent natives : Ross says they soon became more familiar, and, point- ing to the ships, eagerly asked, "What great creatures these were ? Do they come from the sun or the moon ? do they give us light by night or by day ?" repeating the question, " What were they ?" to which Saccheous re- plied, " They were houses made of wood." They re- sponded " No : they are alive ; we have seen them move their wings." More enhghtened than these Arctic High- landers (for so Ross calls them) did the messengers of Montezuma, on the an*ival of the ships of Cortez, in like manner eagerly inquire, COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 33 *' What divine monsters, oh ye gods, are these, That float in air. and fly upon the seas I Come they alive or dead upon the shore ?"* &c. Saccheous, it seems, succeeded at last, " by many ar- guments, to persuade them that he was flesh and blood ;" and the most courageous *' ventured to touch his hand, then pulling himself by the nose, set up a shout, in which he was joined by Saccheous and three others." But enough of this, which runs thi'ough eighteen or twenty pages, followed by a whole chapter of t\venty more, which, considered under all ch'cumstances, would be amusing enough, did it not prepare the reader for suspi- cion as to its accuracy, as well as of many other state- ments subsequently recoitied in the book. The titles of this extraordinary chapter are : " Tlie Situation of the Arctic Highlands — Nature of the Country — Produce of the Country — Language of the Arctic Highlanders — Origin of the Arctic Highlanders — Dress — Description — Subject of Religion — Mode of Living, and Customs — Habits and Customs.^^ Ross, indeed, suspects that this account " may appear in some points to be defective ;" he may safely satisfy himself that it will not only ap- pear, in some points, to be defective, but will be so pro- nounced in all : in point of fact, he never set his foot on shore, and could not, by any possibility, have known any thing of the stuff he has set down, which is of that kind of manufactfire not worth the paper on which it is print- ed. Most readers will agree with the writer in a pop- ular journal, who calls it " a bill of fare like that of the landlord in the play — all the good things are stuffed into the bill, while nothing is found in the larder." Ross may certainly plead examples without number, in the books of modern travelers, wherein imaginatiou has very materially assisted in supplying the details ; but something approaching to fact is expected in a voyage like the present, as any deviation, even in a trifling sub- ject, is apt to throw a doubt on those of greater moment. No doubt, however, can be entertained of the discovery of a physical object (not new, however) found on the cliffs of this part of the coast of Baffin's Bay, not far from Cape Dudley Digges. "We now discovered," * Dry den's Emperor of Mexico. 34 ARCTIC VOYAGES. says Ross, " that the snow on the face of the cliffs pre- sented an appearance both novel and mteresting, being apparently stained or covered by some substance which gave it a deep crimson color. This snow," he adds, " was penetrated even down to the rock, in many places to a depth of ten or twelve feet, by the coloring matter." Mr. Fisher says, " It is worthy of remark, that this col- oring matter, be it what it may, does not peneti'ate more than an inch or two beneath the surface of the snow." Many conjectures, of course, were afloat concern- ing the cause of so unusual an appearance ; but Ross says, " it was at once determined it could not be the dung of birds ;" rather a hasty conclusion, for Mr.'Brande the chemist, to whom it was first submitted on the re- turn of the expedition, for the purpose of being analyzed, having detected uric acid, pronounced it at once to be the excrement of birds. It was the general opinion of the officers, who examined it with the microscope, that it must be vegetable ; and in this opinion Dr. Wollaston concurred, after a minute examination both by the mi- croscope and chemical tests — yet he even had his doubts. Mr. Brown, the celebrated botanist, conjectured it might be derived from some of the algge, confervse, or tremeUse ( Tremella cruenta) ; the more probable, as the roots of the moss (a species of Polytricum), common on these cliffs, are deep scarlet — deep, indeed, must they be to sanction the outrageously exaggerated print of these crim- son cliffs, as colored in the volume. There is nothing new, however, in the discovery of red snow. Pliny and other writers of his time mention it ; Saussure found it in various parts of the Alps ; Martin found it in Spitz- bergen, and no doubt it is to be met with in most alpine regions. A little farther on, the ships were visited by three other Esquimaux, from whom information was received that the iron part of their knives was found on a mount- ain in great masses, and that it was a part of the mount- ain ; that in other places it was found in solid pieces on the surface, and that they cut it off with hard stone. Ross, however, could not succeed in obtaining any of the masses ; but a small piece, being examined in Eng- land, was found to contain the usual proportion of nickel met with in meteoric stones. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 35 Having now passed Cape Dudley Digges, which Ross found to be a few miles to the southward of the situation in which Baffin has laid it down, Wolstenholme Island came in sight to the northward ; and, "as we were steer- ing for it with a fine breeze, and the sea almost clear of ice, we gave up all idea of communicating with the King of the Arctic Highlanders ; the hopes of attaining the gi'and object of the enterprise were now raised to such a height as to make that, which was considered so de- shable but a few hours before, an object of no moment whatever." It was, indeed, quite time to think of the " grand object," and leave behind that " so desirable one" — the king of a miserable tribe of Esquimaux — the year having advanced to the 18th of August, and the " en- terprise" being no farther advanced than to the western coast of Greenland, on which coast by no possibility could a passage be found. Something more, however, than the scanty geogi-aphy, which Baffin alone has afforded us, would, no doubt, have been deshable even on this coast of Greenland. He tells us that Wolstenliolme Sound was complete- ly blocked up with ice ; but if any faith is due to his own chart, he must have passed it at the distance of forty miles at least. " This sound," he says, " seemed to be eighteen or twenty leagues in depth ;" and if so, by his own account he must have seen the bottom of it, though that was a point distant from the ship at least a hundred miles ; but he had previously prepared his readers for a long sight, having assured them that, in these Arctic regions, they were often able to see land at an immense distance ; and, farther, that " we have certain proof that the power of vision was extended beyond one hundred and fifty miles !"— (P. 143.) Thus he says, "We found the entrace to this inlet" (Wolstenholme, when forty miles off) " and the general form and appearance of the land to agi'ee exti'emely well with the description given of it by Baffin." Meager enough, it must be confessed, is that of Baffin, yet it would require a very great sti*etch of confidence to believe that any part of Baffin's brief description could be seen at forty miles distance. The old navigator merely says, it is " a fair sound, having an island in the midst, making two entrances, having many 36 ARCTIC VOYAGES. inlets or smaller sounds within *it, and is a fit place for the killing of whales." Two horns after passing Wolstenholme, they came opposite Whale Somid, and passed it at a greater dis- tance than the former ; but they could not approach it in a direct line on account of the ice. The same even- ing it is stated that, near Carey's Islands, " the sea was clearer of floes and loose ice than we had ever seen it." They had advanced about midnight of the 19th to the northern corner of Baffin's Bay, where Sir Thomas Smith's Sound opens out, and which Ross says " was distinctly seen," and he named the two capes forming its entrance after the two ships, Isabella and Alexander. " I considered," says Boss, " the bottom of this sound to be about eighteen leagues distant, but its entrance was completely blocked up by ice." He forgets that, by his own showing, he was never nearer than sixty English miles from the entrance of it. An able and honest tes- timony on this point is contained in a small tract pub- lished by Mr. Fisher, the assistant surgeon of the Alex- ander, an intelligent and active officer, who says that, being much interested in ascertaining whether Green- land and the west land joined, he kept the deck all day ; and though the weather was remarkably clear and fine till midnight, he could not see any such junction. " It is probable," he adds, " that the chasm or open space to the northward, where not any land could be ti'aced hy me, might be that which B affin calls Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, and which he describes as the deepest and lar- gest sound in all this bay ; and it is not likely," says Fish- er, " that we should have seen the bottom of it at such a distance, as we estimate that we are twenty leagues from the northern extreme of the west land visible." As this sound is stated by Baffin to be the largest of all the sounds he discovered, and considering its position and its magnitude, it appears by no means improbable that it is a wide sti;ait dividing Greenland from America, or the west land as Mr. Fisher calls it, thus verifying the dictum given by Burleigh more than t^vo centuries ago. Among the papers of this exti-aordinary man in the British Museum is one on the subject of a north- west passage to Cathaia, in his lordship's own hand- COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 37 writing, which begins thus : " Considering Groynelande is well known to be an islande, and that it is not con- joyned to America in any part, and that there is no cause of doubte but that upon the north of Baccalaos the seas are open,"* &c. But Baffin's account of Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, brief as it is, ought to have induced Ross to look into it ; more especially as he voluntarily announces the expe- dition to be " for the purpose of exploring Baffin's Bay." Baffin only says, " It runneth to the north of 78°, and is admirable in one respect, because in it is the greatest variation in the compass e of any part of the known world ; for by divers good observations I found it to be above five points, or fifty-six degrees, varied to the west- ward." But the strongest reason that should have op- erated on Ross's mind was the possibility of this sound being a wide strait, opening directly into the Polar Sea, and affording the shortest passage through it to Behi-ing's Strait — a discovery that would have unmortalized him. He was at full liberty to use his discretion. Speaking of Davis's Strait, his instructions say : " In the present state of uncertainty with regard to the movements of the ice, and with the very imperfect knowl- edge we have of this strait, and still more so of the sea be- yond it, no specific instructions can be given for yom' guid- ance : the time and manner of proceeding to fulfill the ulteri- or object of your destination, in places where impediments may occur, must be left entirely to your discretion, in the ex- ercise of which we rely on yoixr zeal and skill in your pro- fession for the accomplishment, as far as it can be accom- plished, of the service on which you are employed. "t Oa roundijig the northern and turning down the west- ern coast, after passing the entrance of Sir Thomas Smith's Sound, Mr. Fisher asserts, and appeals to the log of the Alexander to prove it, that " no land was seen to the northward in that direction." One of the officers declares that he saw the sun at midnight through the opening of the sound in question, just skimming above the horizon. These are powerful grounds for believing that Burleigh did not make the assertion at random, " that Greenland was well known to be an island." "* Lansdowne Collection. f Admiralty Instructions. D 38 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Of the remainiDg sound of Baffin, which he names Aldennan Jones's Sound, all we learn from Ross is, that " it answered to the description of Alderman Jones's Sound given by Baffin, who discovered it." " We were near the entrance of Jones's Sound," says Captain Sa- bine, " but not so near as Baffin, who sent his boat on shore." So might Commander Ross have done, who remained there from the 21st to the 23d, when, " to- ward evening," he says, "we successively made out the north and south points of the land across the bottom of this bay or inlet ; at midnight a ridge of very high mountains was seen to extend nearly acrossi;he bottom of it, and joining another from the south ; on the 24th we had a still better view of the land about Jones's Sound :" but still no boat was sent on shore on any of these four days. It has been thought right to notice the total want of any information, in addition to that obtained by Baffin, respecting his discovery of these several sounds, as he has called them ;* and the more so, after reading the follow- ing exti-aordinaiy paragi-aph in Commander Ross's Intro- duction, which can only have been penned from want of knowledge of the subject : " In rediscovering Baffin's Bay, I have derived great additional pleasure from the reflection that I have placed in a fair hght before the public the merits of a worthy and able navigator, whose fate, like that of many others, it has not only been to have lost, by a combination of untoward circumstances, the opportunity of acquiring during his lifetime the fame he deserved, but, could he have lived to this period, to have seen his discoveries expunged from the records of geography, and the bay with which his • name is so fairly associated treated as a phantom of the imagina- tion." Every person at aU acquainted with voyages of dis- coveiy knows that Baffin was not only a skilfull naviga- tor, but so well versed in nautical astronomy as to be able to deduce the longitude from lunar observations. Whether, as pilot only to Robert Bylot, this last voyage was not exactly to his mind, and was therefore more vaguely and unsatisfactoi-ily recorded than any of his * Pi-obably from their affording soundings for ships to anchor in. COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 39 Others, his account of it is undoubtedly unlike the pre- ceding narratives of his voyages. Baffin is so much aware of this, that, in his letter to Mr. John Wolsten- holme, he obseiTes, " Some may object and aske why we sought that coast no better ?" to which he alleges in answer, the badness of the weather, the loss of anchors, the weakness of the crew, and the advanced season of the year. But as to the expunging his discoveries from - the records of geography, 'the groundless assertion is itself no more than " a phantom of the imagination." Purchas excuses himself for not publishing his chart and tables on account of the expense ; but expunging his discoveries is a discovery of Commander Ross, and there let it remain.* Hitherto Ross had carefully avoided approaching any of these sounds within forty, fifty, or sixty miles, and consequently could not, or did not, send a boat to look into any of them, and yet he boasts of exploring and having rediscovered Baffin's Bay. However, in pro- ceeding down the western coast, and the weather being foggy, he found himself unawares nearer to the shore than was supposed, and perhaps wished ; in fact, he was just at the mouth of the only remaining, and by far the largest and most remarkable, as well as, from its position, the most important sound or opening of any that had been seen on either coast : this was what Baffin has called Sh James Lancaster's Sound. There was here, at least, no ice to choke it up ; none in the vicinity of it; the soundings without it are marked 1000 fathoms ; within it, 660 to 674 fathoms : no appearance of any bottom was here pretended to have been seen, and altogether it was utterly impossible, on any pretence, to avoid entering it ; and the ships therefore stood in. As this sound or bay has affi^rded the means of pretty well settling Commander Ross's reputation as a discov- erer or explorer, it is fah to give him the fuU benefit of his own account of it : " During this day (30th of August) much interest was ex- cited on board by the appearance of this strait ; the general * Pilldngton had the impertinence to call Baffin an impostor, but all that was ever known and published of Baffin's discoveries have been pre- served. 40 ARCTIC VOYAGES. opinion, however, -was that it was only an inlet. Captain Sabine, who produced Baffin's account, was of opinion that we were off Lancaster Sound, and that there were no hopes of a passage until we should arrive at Cumberland Sti-ait ; to use his own words, there was ' no indication of a passage,' ' no appearance of a current,' ' no drift-wood,' and ' no swell from the northwest.' " — P. 171. In the first place, it may be observed, that Baffin never entered Lancaster Sound, and, it may therefore be pre- sumed, never gave any account of it. The rest must be altogether, and can not be otherwise than a misstate- ment. Captain Sabine might observe, merely as a fact, that no current or drift-wood appeared, which Ross, by a strange mistake, fancied he was ordered to search for, and constantly kept talking about ; but those who know Captain Sabine, and are acquainted with his great talents, his love for science, and his zeal in pursuit of it, will be slow to believe any thing of the kind to have proceeded from him. But even were it possible he should have given utterance to an opinion for which he had no gi-ounds, as no human being of any country, ancient or modern, is known ever to have entered this sound, is it not surprising that an officer of the navy, inti'usted with the command of an expedition of discov- ery, should quote, as it were, in his own justification, and be guided by the opinion of an artiUeiy officer, who perhaps was at sea for the first time ? What, in fact, could Captain Sabine then know of either Lancaster Sound or Cumberland Strait, except, as to the latter, that it was well known to lead only to a parcel of islands, and that Fox's Channel, Southampton Island, the Wel- come, all must be passed before the coast of America could be approached by that route ? A brief account of the expedition, by an officer engaged in it, was pub- lished in a monthly journal, and is pronounced by Cap- tain Sabine to be "a well- written and, which is more important, a faithful account of the proceedings of the expedition." In this account, so praised, it is stated, among other matters relating to I^ancaster Sound, that " every officer and man, on the instant, as it were, made up his mind that this must be the northwest passaged And it is added, " I firmly believe that every creature COMMANDER JOHN ROSS. 41 on board anticipated the pleasure of writing an overland dispatch to his friends, either from the eastern or west- ern shores of the Pacific." But to return to Commander Ross's narrative ; " Soon after midnight the wind began to shift ; I therefore made all sail, and left the Alexander considerably astern. At a httle before four o'clock A.M. the land was seen at the bottom of the inlet by the officers of the watch ; but before I got upon deck, a space of about seven degrees of the com- pass was obsciured by the fog. The land which I then saw- was a high ridge of mountains, extending directly across the bottom of the inlet. Although a passage in this direction appeared hopeless, I was determined completely to explore it, as the wind was favorable, and therefore continued all sail. I soxmded, and found six hundred and seventy-four fathoms. There was, however, no current. Althoxzgh all hopes were given up, even by the most sanguine, that a pass- age existed, and the weather continued thick, I determined to stand higher up, and put into any harbor I might discov- er, for the purpose of making magnetical observations. . . . About one, the Alexander being nearly out of sight to the eastward, we hove to for half an hour to let her come up a little ; and at half past one, she being within six or seven miles of us, we again made sail. I intended to have sound- ed during this interval, but I found the southeast swell had so much increased, and the drift was so great, that it was impracticable."— P. 172-174. In Lieutenant Parry's private journal it is said, " The swell comes from the northwest, compass (that is, south- southwest true), and continues just as it does in the ocean. It is impossible to remark this circumstance without feehng a hope that it may be caused by this inlet being a passage into a sea to the westward of it." A happy and rational hope that, within twelve months, Parry had the good fortune to reahze. But to continue farther extracts from Ross on this part of the voyage : '' At half past two (31st August), when I went off deck to dinner, there were some hopes ol its clearing, and I left or- ders to be called on the appearance of land or ice ahead. At three the officer of the watch, who was relieved to his dinner by Mr. Lewis, reported, on his coming into the cabin, that there was some appearance of its dealing at the bottom of the bay ; I immediately, therefore, went on deck, and soon D2 42 , ARCTIC VOYAGES. after °^®'^- Cyrus Wakeham, Clerk. Officers. WaiTant and Petty Officers. Able Seamen, Marines. Total on hoard. The Hecla. Wm.Edw. Parry, Lieut. Commg. Capt. E. Sabine, Astronomer. F. W. Beechey, Lieutenant. John Edwards, Surgeon. W. H. Hooper, Purser. Alexander Fisher, Assist. Sui-g. Joseph Nias, "l Wm. J. Dealy, \ Charles Pahner, V Midshipmen. Jas. Clarke Ross, John Bushnan, J James Hulse, Clerk. 12" Officers. Gunner, Boatswain, Carpenter, Greenland Master, Greenland Mate, Cook, 4 Leading Men, 16 i Quarter Master, Gunner's Mate, Boatswain's Mate, Carpenter's Mate, Armorer's Mate, Sailmak- 22 Able Seamen. 8 Marines, including 2 Serjeants, 58~Total on board. The most remarkable feature in this expedition is, that Lieutenant Parry, having been selected to the command of it for the purpose of canying into effect the instructions which Ross, from misapprehension, indiffer- ence, or incapacity, had failed to do, should have been sent out as a lieutenant only, in which rank he contin- ued for nearly two years before he obtained that of parry's first voyage. 63 commander ; while the latter, for an unprofitable voyage of seven summer months, was advanced at once to the rank of captain — why, is best known to those who con- ferred it. Again : Lieutenant Pany proceeded on this second voyage of discovery with the rank or title only of lieutenant commanding, and did not obtain the next step till the 8th of November, 1820, being then absent. On the same day, and while in the service of the expedition, Lieutenant Liddon, his second in command, was also made commander, in which rank he still remains on the list of naval officers. Lieutenant Beechey's services have aheady been nientioned ; and Hoppner continued to serve as lieu- tenant in the Hecla on Parry's second voyage, and on the third was appointed commander of the second ship, the Fury. NiAS and Reid were promoted to the rank of lieuten- ants on the second voyage, and served in Parry's ship. Skene, Ross, and Bushnan were in the first voyage, and so were Alexander Fisher, assistant surgeon, and James Hulse, clerk. There can be but one opinion as to the view in which the report of Captain Ross was considered by the Board of Admiralty, were it to be inferred only from the in- structions given to his successor, Lieut. William Edward Parry, in which the examination of the great and open bay. Sir James Lancaster's Sound, was ordered to be considered as the first and most ^particular object of his voyage ; and, moreover, not succeeding in that direction, to examine Alderman Jones's Sound and that of Sir Thomas Smith, neither of which had been examined, nor even entered, by the commander of the late expe- dition. The two ships ordered to be fitted out for this expe- dition — the Hecla, a bomb of 375 tons, and the Griper, a gun-brig — were taken into dock for repairs and strength- ening, and the Griper to be raised as early as the middle of December ; and on the 16th of January, 1819, Lieu- tenant Pany was appointed to the command of the for- mer and of the expedition, and Lieutenant Liddon to the latter. The subordinate lieutenants of the two ships were, F. W. Beechey to the Hecla, and H. P. Hopp- 64 ARCTIC VOYAGES. ner to the Griper, both having served on the late expe- dition ; five midshipmen to the former ship, Nias, Dealy, Palmer, Clarke Ross, Bushnan ; and to the latter, tliree, Reid, Skene, and Nelson Grifhths. Captain Sabine, of the Royal Artillery, joined the expedition as astronomer, and to have charge of the magnetical observations to be made on the voyage. The Hecla had a surgeon, an assistant surgeon, and a purser ; the Griper an assistant surgeon and a clerk. The narrative of this voyage has supplied, for the interests of science and geography, numerous and important facts and observations, and, above all, has opened the door to the discoveiy of the main object, the Northwest Passage. " In this work," it has been said, " we find no display of self-importance, no attempt to deceive, or to throw dust in the eyes of the public ; no marvelous stories to disgust or confound, and make the ignorant stare ; no figures set down at random ; no chart-lines drawn ad libitum ; no repre- sentations of objects the mere fancies of the brain ; but, on the contrary, a plain statement of facts and occur- rences, and a detail of scientific observations, made with unimpeachable accuracy, and recorded in the clearest and most simple and unaffected language." On the 11th of May the ships left the river, and on the 28th of June were about the middle of the entrance into Davis's Strait, proceeding to the northward along the edge of the ice, and between it and the western coast of Greenland, and on the 3d of July crossed the Arctic Circle, having on that day passed at least fifty icebergs of large dimensions ; and on the following day a more ex- tended chain of a larger size, against which a heavy southerly swell was violently agitated, " dashing the loose ice with tremendous force, sometimes raised a Avhite spray over them to the height of more than one hundred feet, and, being accompanied with a loud noise exactly resembling the roar of distant thunder, presented a scene at once sublime and terrific." Between one of these icebergs and a detached floe, drifting with a south- erly current, the Hecla had nearly, as the whalers call it, been " nipped," that is to say, squeezed flat. The berg was about one hundred and forty feet high, and aground in one hundred and twenty fathoms, so that its whole height probably exceeded eight hundred feet. parry's first voyage. 65 On the 21st the land called, by Davis, " Hope Sander- son," and also the " Woman's Island," were seen ; and ♦*we found om-selves," says Parry, "in the midst of a great number of very high icebergs, of which I counted, from the crow's nest, eighty -eight, besides many smaller ones." Having now reached the latitude of 73°, and being unwilling to pass the latitude of Lancaster Sound, Pany detei-mined to make an attempt to pass through the icy ban-ier in order to get into the open sea, which the ex- perience of the former voyage induced him to believe he should find on the opposite coast ; it took him, how- ever, seven days' sailing, ti-acking and warping occasion- ally, to get into open water, the width of the bamer being not less than eighty miles ; but the navigation among fields and floes of this kind is more tedious than dangerous. Having got into the open stream, the water here was found to have deepened so much that no bot- tom was obtained with three hundred and ten fathoms of line, no ice in any direction, and the temperature of the water had risen from 31° to 37°. Whales, too, were abundant, no less than eighty-two large ones being counted in the course of the day. Parry obsei-ves, that " if any proof were wanting of- the value of local knowledge in the navigation of the Po- lar Seas, it would be amply furnished by the fact of our having now reached the enti-anee of Sir James Lancas- ter's Sound just one month earlier than we had done in 1818, although we had then sailed above a fortnight soon- er, with the same general object in view, namely, to pen- etrate to the western coast of Baffin's Bay, where alone the northwest passage was now supposed to be sought for and found." He omits, however, one important cause of his early approach to Lancaster Sound — that of taking the shortest route, instead of chcumnavigating Baffin's Bay. On the 31st a party landed at the spot they had visited the preceding year, when Lancaster Sound was abandoned. The flag-staff was still standing ; the gi'ound free from ice or snow ; the marks of their shoes as fresh as if imprinted but a few days before — a cii"cumstance which led Parry to conclude that httle or UP sleet or snow liad fallen since his former visit. 5 F2 66 ARCTIC VOYAGES. On the 1st of August the ships entered upon that por- tion of the voyage which was to determine the success or failure of the expedition — that magnificent piece of water called Sir James Lancaster's Sound. An easterly- breeze and a crowd of sail carried the ships rapidly to the westward. On the morning of the 2d, it being calm, soundings were taken with the deep sea clams, and one thousand and fifty fathoms by the line were found ; but the drift being considerable on account of the swell. Par- ry believes that the depth of water did not exceed eight or nine hundred fathoms. The sea was open before them, free from ice and land. Lieutenant Parry says, " It is more easy to imagine than to describe the almost breathless anxiety which was now visible in every counte- nance, while, as the breeze increased to a fresh gale, we ran quickly up the soimd. The mast heads were crowded by the officers and men during the whole afternoon; and an unconcerned observer, if any could have been unconcerned on such an occasion, would have been amused by the eager- ness with which the various reports from the crow's nest were received, all however hitherto favorable to our most sangu- ine hopes."— P. 31. They were soon relieved from their anxiety respect- ing the supposed continuity of land, which had been stat- ed in the most peremptory manner to extend across the bottom of this magnificent inlet in which they were sail- ing; having reached the longitude of 83° 12', the two shores here, the north and south, were still thirteen leagues apart, without the slightest appearance of any land to the westward of them. They had now advanced to what Parry has called Barrow's Strait, previous to which, however, he had named a large opening on the northern shore Croker's Inlet, "being anxious to seize," says a waggish critic, "as it would seem, the earliest op- portunity of making some compensation for having trans- formed, as with a touch of Harlequin's wand, the mag- nificent and insuperable range of mountains which a for- mer expedition had assigned to one Secretary of the Ad- miralty, into a broad and iminterrupted passage, beaiing the name of the other Secretary." " We now began to flatter ourselves," says Parry, "that we had fairly en- tered the Polar Sea, and some of the most sanguine PARRY S FIRST VOYAGE. • 67 among us had even calculated the bearing and distance of Icy Cape, as a matter of no very difficult or improba- ble accomplishment." But in an icy sea, and more especially in narrow passa- ges interrupted by islands, great uncertainty must al- ways prevail. Having passed Barrow's Strait, a small island occurred, between which and the shore to the northward a floe of ice was found to extend. As this floe blocked up the passage to the westward, and they here noticed a large opening that appeared on the south- ern coast. Parry thought it better to proceed to the ex- amination of it than to remain for an indefinite period idle in the western passage. It was found to be ten leagues wide at the mouth, and no land visible in the line of its southern direction. He stood down an open channel of water on the eastern side along the edge of ice that oc- cupied the middle of the sti-ait, and hopes were enter- tained that it might lead them nearer to the coast of America than Barrow's Strait, and if so, to a lower de- gree of latitude, in which it might be advantageous to make their passage to Behring's Strait. And as the in- let increased in width as they proceeded to the south- ward, it was calculated to raise their hopes on this score ; but, to their great disappointment, the disappearance of land to the southwest, and its place supplied by a barrier of ice beyond which no water was in sight, determined Parry to return to Barrow's Strait. To the inlet he left he gave the name of Prince Regent, having entered it on his royal highness's birthday, the 12th of August. To a bay on its eastern shore !%§ gave the name of Port Bowen. The latitude of the southernmost point to which he had proceeded was 71° 53' 30", longitude, 90° 03' 45", and the distance from its entrance about 120 miles. It had been observed that, from the moment they enter- ed Lancaster Sound, the motion of the compass-needle was veiy sluggish, and both this and its deviation increas- ed as they proceeded to the westward, and continued to do so in descending this inlet. Having reached latitude 73°, " they witnessed for the first time the curious phe- nomenon of the directive power of the needle becoming so weak as to be completely overcome by the attraction of the ship, so that the needle might now be said to point to the north pole of the ship." 68 ' ARCTIC VOYAGES. It was the 19tli of August before they again reached the nortlieni shore of Bairow's Sti-ait, and found the ice still remaining around Leopold's Islands, yet not impassa- ble ; but on that and the following day the weather was thick, and much snow had fallen. They now, on the 21st, had the satisfaction of finding nothing to interrupt their progress to the westward. The sea was entirely free from ice, and " so perfectly clear, that it was al- most impossible to believe it to be the same part of the sea which, but a day or tsvo before, had been complete- ly covered with floes to the utmost extent of our view." On the evening of the 22d, after passing several bays and headlands on the northern shore, they came before the mouth of a channel of more than eight leagues in width, looking up which, on a beautiful clear evening, neither land nor ice could be seen from the mast head. " To this noble channel," says Parry, " I gave the name of Wellington, after his grace, the master-general of the ordnance." " The arrival off this grand opening was an event for which w^e had long been looking with much anxiety and impa- tience ; for the contimiity of land to the northw^ard had al- ways been a source of uneasmess to us, principally from the possibility that it might take a turn to the southward, and unite with the coast of America. The appearance of this broad opening, free from ice, and of the land on each side of it, more especially that on the west, leaving scarcely a doubt on GUI minds of the latter being an. island relieved us fi'om aU anxiety on that score ; and every one felt that we were now finally disentangled from the land which fonns the west- em side of Baffin's Bay ; and that, in fact, we had actually entered the Polar Sea. Fully impressed with this idea, I ventured to distinguish the magnificent opening, through w^hich our passage had been effected from Baffin's Bay to Wellington Channel, by the name of 'Barrow's Strait, after ray friend Mr. Barrow, secretary of the Admiralty, both as a private testimony of my esteem for that gentleman and as a public acknowledgment due to him for his-zeal and exertions in the promotion of northern discoveiy." — P. 51, 52. He then pays the compliment of assigning to the capes, inlets, and groups of islands the names of Hotham, Barlow, and Cornwallis ; and goes on to say : " Though two thirds of the month of August had now elaps- PARRY S FIRST VOYAGE. 69 ed, I had every reason to be satisfied with the progress we had hitherto made. I calculated upon the sea being still nav- igable for six w^eeks to come, and probably more, if the state of the ice would permit us to edge away to the southward in our progress westerly : our prospects, indeed, were truly ex- hilarating ; the ships had suffered no injury ; we had plenty of provisions ; crews in high health and spirits ; a sea, if not open, at least navigable ; and a zealous and unanimous deter- mination in both officers and men to accomplish, by all pos- sible means, the grand object on which we had the happi- ness to be employed." — P. 52. It is delightful to dwell upon such joyful hopes, pros- pects, and satisfaction as are expressed in the terms of this passage, and in the course of a voyage of so novel, so perilous, and so precarious a nature as this. It is a just and well-deserved compliment paid by a writer in a periodical journal, who says that, " after a most atten- tive perusal, we can confidently say, that few books since the commencement of our labors have afforded us more to praise or less to censure, and that not one has in- spired us with more respect for the character of its au- thor." The expedition continued to proceed westerly, but made only slow progress on account of the detached floes of ice and foggy weather. To the northward, as far as could be seen, the land was apparently composed of clusters of islands. To the westward the sea, for the most part, was covered with a compact body of ice, yet a channel was open for the ships between it and the shore. On reaching Su' Byam Martin's Island, the nearest to Melville Island, Captain Sabine and Mr. James Ross, accompanied by Messrs. Edwards and Fisher, were dispatched on shore to make the neces- sary observations, and to examine and coUect specimens of the natural productions of the country. These offi- cers reported, on their return, that they landed on a sandy beach near the east point of the island, which they found to be more productive and altogether more interesting than any other part of the shores of the Polar regions that had yet been visited. Remains of Esqui- maux habitations were found in four different places ; some of them consisted of stones rudely planned in a cu'cular form, and were from seven to ten feet in diam- 70 ARCTIC VOYAGES. eter ; traces of reindeer and musk-oxen were seen in many situations ; the ravines were covered with luxu- riant moss and other vegetation, the character of which differed very little from that at the bottom of Possession Bay. The basis of the island consisted chiefly of sand- stone, besides which were some rich gi-anite and red feldspar. The latitude of the place of observation was 75° 09' 23", and the longitude 103° 44' 37"; the dip of the magnetic needle 88° 25' 58'^ ; and the variation was now found to have changed from 128° 58' W., in the longitude of 91° 48' (where the last observations on shore had been made), to 165° 50' 09" E., at their present station ; "so that we had," says Parry, " in sailing over the space included between those two me- ridians, crossed immediately to the northward of the Magnetic Pole, and had undoubtedly passed over one of those spots upon the globe where the needle would have been found to vaiy 180°, or, in other words, where the North Pole would have pointed to the south." In point of fact, though from the weakness and sluggish perform- ance of the needles observations that required great nicety could not be depended on, yet Parry thinks that one of those spots he alludes to would at that time have been somewhere not far from the meridian of 100° W. of Greenwich. The " spot alluded to" was, of com-se, the Magnetic Pole, discovered eleven years after this by Commander James Ross, and which is only about two or three degi-ees "from the meridian of 100° W. of Greenwich." " It would undoubtedly have been extremely interesting to obtain such an observation, and in any other than the very precarious navigation in which we were now engaged, I should have felt it my duty to devote a certain time to this particular purpose ; but, under present circumstances, it was impossible for me to regret the cause which alone had pre- vented it, especially as the importance to science of this ob- servation was not sufficient to compensate the delay which the search after such a spot would necessarily have occasioned, and which could hardly be justified at a moment when we were making, and for two or three days continued to make, a rapid and imobstructed progress toward the accomplish- ment of our principal object." — P. 62. It may now be said it was well he did not, as the spot, parry's firs'5. voyage. 71 since discovered by Commander Ross, was then, as it probably still is, unapproachable by such ships as those of Parry. On the 1st of September Parry inserts in his narra- tive a table show^ing a daily abstract of the monthly meteorological journals, consisting of columns indicating the temperatm'e of the air and the sea, state of the barometer, prevailing winds, and prevailing weather ; and in this form a tabular series is repeated on the first of every month. From the one in question, it appears that the mean temperature in August was, in the shade, 33^ 67' ; on sea water, 31° 93'. It would be desirable that such a forai should be kept wad made imperative, at all times and in all places, on board eveiy ship of war. The expedition continued its course westerly, among patches of ice and in a foggy atmosphere, giving names to small islands, bays, and headlands as they occurred ; and on the 4th of September, Parry observes ; " We had the satisfactioir .of (crossing the meridian of 110^ W. from Greenvi^ich, in the latitude of 74° 44' 20", by vsrhich his majesty's ships under my orders became entitled to the sum of five thousand pounds, being the reward offered by the king's order in. Council, grounded on a late act of Par- liament, to such of his majesty's subjects as might succeed in penetrating thus far to the westward vnthin the Arctic Cir- cle."— P. 72. To the bluff head, wherethe observation was made, the men gave the name of Bounty Cape, a very appro- priate name, after the gallant commander had announced to them officially that their exertions had so far been crowned with success as to entitle them to this reward. On the 5th of September, after having worked their way along the southern coast of the largest island of the group they had recently passed, the boats landed, for the second time, in a bay which, for its soundings and shelter, appeared the most safe and convenient that had occurred to anchor in; and, accordingly, the Bay of the Hecla and Griper, so named by Parry, became the first spot where the expedition had dropped anchor since leaving the coast of Norfolk. Considering the advanced period of the year, it occuiTed to the commander that this place appeai-ed to mark, in a very decided manner, 73 ARCTIC VOYAGES. the completion of one stage of their voyage. " The en- signs and pendants were hoisted, and it created in us no ordinary feehngs of pleasure to see the British flag waving, for the first time, in those regions which had hitherto been considered beyond the limits of the habi- table Avorld." Pany gave to this large island the name of Melville^ being that of the Fhst Lord of the Admi- ral^. Jrarry determined, however, to extend their opera- tions for prosecuting discovery in these regions, though it became necessary to secure the ships eveiy night from ten tUl two o'clock, when it was too dark to keep under way, more especially as no trust whatever could be placed in the compasses. But his hopes were damped when, from the crow's nest, he perceived a compact body of ice extending completely in to the shore, near the point which formed the western exti-eme of the isl- and ; the ship ran, however, sufficiently close to be as- sured that no passage to the westward could then be effected, the floes being literally upon the beach, and not a drop of clear water visible beyond them. The shore was covered nearly with large masses of ice agi'ound in four or five fathoms of water, of which they would have drawn at least ten if set afloat ; these masses the people were in the habit of calling hergs, but they were very different to those met with in Baffin's Bay, none of which kind were seen to the westward of Bar- row's Strait. The length of the night, when darkness prevailed in seas such as this, was little suited for pros- ecuting discoveries ; yet as September is considered the most valuable month in the year, on account of the sea being then more free from ice than at any other time, f aiTy states his strong conviction that the ultimate ac- complishment of the object must depend, in a gi'eat measure, on the farther progress to be made this sea- son, and therefore he determined to extend then* opera- tions to the latest possible period. He soon, however, perceived that the season was at an end. On the 9th of September the floes of ice were observed to be sensibly approaching the shore, and mat- ters grew worse till the 12th, when the ships were ac- tually beset and in a perilous situation. There was no 73 possibility of moving them ; a party, therefore, was sent on shore to collect coal, which had been discovered not far off. Another party, consisting of Mr. Fife, Greenland mate, and six men of the Griper, having been sent on shore, a heavy snow-storm came on, in which they lost their way ; not appearing when night approached, other par- ties were sent out in search of them — no less than four ; and it was not till three cold days and more severe nights had passed away that they all got on board, most of them exhausted by cold and fatigue, and severely frost-bitten in their toes and fingers. A tempestuous night of six or seven hours of darkness, accompaaied with stormy weather, without any shelter on the shore, made it expedient for them to endeavor to retrace their steps to the eastward. Other parties were sent out, and several days were passed in great anxiety before the whole of them returned. About this time, the 14th of September, the change in the temperature was a very stiiking one, the mercury having descended as low as to 9° ; and from this day the commencement of winter might fairly be dated. The 18th was a day of severe trial for the ships. Endeavor- ing to return along the land, the bay ice had become so thickened that, with the pressure of. the floes without, the ships were arrested in their progress, and unable to move a single foot ahead, and there was but too much reason to apprehend that they would be driven on shore, or forced by the floes against the heavy ice on the beach. From this time till the 20th of the month the perilous situation of the ships is minutely described, when on that day a large floe forced the Griper on shore, where she lay agi'ound on the beach. At this time Lieuten- ant Liddon, who had recently recovered from a rheu- matic complaint, caused by the harassing circumstances of the last fortnight and the increased cold, which re- duced the mercury down to 15°, was brought to a very debilitated state. Parry, therefore, proposed to him to allow himself to be removed to the Hecla till the Griper was again afloat. To this proposal he would by no means listen, saying he should be the last man, instead of the first, to leave the Griper ; and resolute in his G 74 ARCTIC VOYAGES. purpose, like a true British sailor, he remained seated against the lee-side of the deck, giving the necessary- orders. The time was now more than anived when the ships, if possible, should be got into winter quarters. A har- bor being pitched upon, and, on the 24th, the Griper having got afloat and joined, the two ships were secured in the proper position for commencing operations. A sailor is never at a loss for contriving and executing the means of overcoming such difficulties as few landsmen would venture to encounter. On the present occasion they cut a canal through the solid ice of the average thickness of seven inches, and completed it in three days, the whole length of which is stated to have been four thousand and eighty -two yards, or two miles and one third nearly. In the afternoon of the 26th the ships were hauled into their winter quarters, with three loud and hearty cheers from both ships' companies. " Having now reached the station where, in all probabili- ty, we were destined to remain for at least eight or nine months, during three of which we were not to see the face of the sun, my attention was immediately and imperiously caUed to various and important duties, many of them of a singular nature, such as had for the first tirae devolved on any officer in his majesty's navy, and might, indeed, be consid- ered of rare occurrence in the whole history of navigation. .The security of the ships and the preservation of the various stores were objects of immediate concern. A regular system to be adopted for the maintenance of good order and cleanU- ness, as most conducive to the health of the crews, during the long, dark, and dreary winter, equally demanded my at- tention."— P. 101. The housing over the ships was one of the first con- siderations, being calculated to contribute to the comfort of the officers and men, as well as to the presei-vation of that extraordinary degree of health which had hitherto been enjoyed in both ships. Warmth and dryness of the berths and bed-places were the next important mat- ters to be secured, the thermometer having now fallen below zero. An hon box, or air-vessel, with three tubes of two inches diameter communicating from be- low with the external air, and uniting above with a met- al box, was so contrived as to convey the heated air to 75 the men's berths ; and this apparatus, Parry says, with a moderate fire, produced a current of air of the temper- ature of 87° at the distance of seventeen feet from the fire-place. The quantity and quality of provisions were to be regulated, having regard to the preservation of health. An anti- scorbutic beer had been issued in lieu of a proportion of spuits ; but when the weather became extremely severe, the beer would not ferment so as to make it palatable. Every attention was paid to the is- suing of fuel, to the article of proper clothing, and to the nature of the provisions and little luxuries to be distribu- ted. In short, the able and careful manner in which ev- eiy article of ships' stores appears to have been dealt out to the men, and while judicious in quality, abundant in quantity, and, at the same time, economically administer- ed, gave satisfaction to all. Both men and officers were fully aware of the necessity there was to secure a sup- ply for the winter, and for the following season. But Parry, with right feeling and judgment, and, it may be added, with a knowledge of human nature, in order to obviate any approach to murmuring or despondency, adopted a measure admirably calculated for preventing them. " Under circumstances of leisure and inactivity, such as we were now placed in, and with every prospect of its continu- ance for a very large portion of the year, I was desirous of finding some amusement for the men during this long and te- dious interval. I proposed, therefore, to the officers to get up a play occasionally on board the Hecla, as the readiest means of preservdng among our crews that cheerfulness and good humor which had hitherto subsisted. In this proposal I was readily seconded by the officers of both ships ; and Lieutenant Beechey ha\'ing been duly elected as stage-man- ager, our first performance was fixed for the 5th of Novem- ber, to the great dehght of the ships' companies. In these amusements I gladly took a pail myself, considering that an example of cheerfulness, by giving a direct countenance to eveiy thing that could contribute to it, was not the least es- sential part of my duty, mider the peculiar circumstances in which we were placed. " In order still farther to promote good humor among our- selves, as well as to furnish amusing occupation, during the hours of constant darkness, w^e set on foot a weekly newspa- per, which was to be called the North Georgia Gazette and 76 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Winter Chronicle, and of which Captain Sabine undertook to be the editor, under the promise that it was to be sup- ported by original contributions from the officers of the two ships: and though some objection majj perhaps, be raised against a paper of this kind being generally resoi'ted to in ships of war, I was too well acquainted with the discretion, as well as the excellent disposition of my officers, to appre- hend any unpleasant consequences from a measure of this kind ; instead of which I can safely say that the weekly con- tributions had the happy effect of employing the leisure hours of those who furnished them, and of diverting the mind from the gloomy prospect which would sometimes obtrude itself on the stoutest heart."— P. 106, 107. Nothing more was wanting than such devices as these, resorted to in a moment of peculiar and extraordinary difficulty, to establish the character of Parry for ready and happy expedients, accompanied by a sound judg- ment, which thus kept alive the active powers of the mind, and prevented it from falling into a habit of inac- tivity and listlessness, and from sinking into that worst of all conditions, a state of morbid torpor. His plan was, as it could not well be otherwise, completely successful. Besides his editorship. Captain Sabine had abundance of employment of a very difficult and more important kind, the results of which are given in detail in the Ap- pendix, imder the head of Magnetic Observations, Ex- periments on the Pendulum, and* in the description of objects of Natural History. His first attention, on the arrival of the ships in their winter quarters, was the selection of a proper place for the obsei-vatory, which was erected on a convenient spot for communication with the ships, and also with a house built on the beach for the reception of the clocks 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 with- out difficulty by a single stove. Hunting parties occasionally went out and procured a few reindeer ; but a migration of these animals took place before the close of October, leaving behind them only wolves and foxes to keep the party company during the long winter months. Even the Polar hare, so com- mon in the Arctic regions, never once showed itself on Melville Island in the course of the winter. The parry's first voyage. 77 musk ox {Bos moschatus), also very common, dm-ing its proper season, amved on Melville Island in the middle of May, by crossing the ice from the southward, and quitted it by the same way on its retm-n toward the end of September. On the 15th the last covey of ptarmi- gan was met with ; and on the same day were seen fif- teen deer, all lying down, except one large one, proba- bly a stag ; this, after the rising of the rest, seemed to guard the animals in their flight, frequently going round the herd, sometimes striking them with his horns to make them go on, which they appeared not much in- clined to do. Even seals were not found in this neigh- borhood ; but whales of different kinds were commonly met with : guUs and ducks, however, so numerous in Davis's Sti'ait and the Georgian Islands, condescended not to visit Melville Island, but " tsvo or three specimens of a caterpillar were obtained, one of which was brought to England" — of course as an Arctic curiosity. One large white bear, having pursued Captain Sabine's servant to the ship, was shot at and wounded, but made his escape ; it was the only one met with during the stay of the party, but described as being more purely white than any they had before seen. A feeble willow, a saxifrage, lichens, and stunted grasses constitute pretty nearly the j^ora of Melville Island. This desolate and miserable island was destined to be the abode of our countiymen for nine to ten dreary win- ter months, during three of which, as they had been able to anticipate, the sun did not shed on them so much as one benign ray. No wonder, then, that not a single hu- man being was found to inhabit so repulsive a spot ; and it required no little consideration, on the part of the com- mander of the expedition, to find employment for the people under his command and protection, to preserve their health, and to ward off despondency for so long a period. The method hit upon by Lieutenant Parry had produced, to a gi-eat degi-ee, an admirable effect. Yet something more was stUl required than the acting of plays and the writing and reading of gazettes. Both mind and body demanded exercise, as the only means of protection against disease, which a large share of leis- ure and a continued state of mental inactivity were but G2 78 ARCTIC VOYAGES. too sure to produce. The total privation of game of any- kind afforded few excursions for the source of exercise and amusement which hunting is known to confer. P al- lies, however, had occasionally been sent out shortly af- ter the taking up of their winter quarters. One of these did not return on boai'd before sunset, as strictly ordered, and the consequence is stated to have been as follows : ''John Pearson, a marine belonging to the Griper, who was the last that returned on board, had his hands severely frost-bitten, having imprudently gone away without mittens, and with a musket in his hand. A party of our people most providentially found him, although the night was very dark, just as he had fallen down a bank of snow, and was begin- ning to feel that degree of torpor and drowsiness which, if indulged, inevitably proves fatal. When he was brought on board his fingers were quite stiff, and bent into the shape of that part of the musket which he had been carrying ; and the frost had so far destroyed the animation in his fingers on one hand that it was necessary to amputate three of them a short time after, notwithstanding all the care and attention paid to him by the medical gentlemen. The effect which exposure to severe fi-ost has in benumbing the mental as well as the corporeal faculties was very striking in this man, as well as in two of the yomig gentlemen, who returned after dax-k, and of whom we were anxious to make inquixies respecting Pear- son. When I sent for them into my cabin they looked wild, spoke thick and indistinctly, and it w^as impossible to draw fi"om them a rational answer to any of our questions. After being on board for a short time the mental faculties appeared gradually to return with the returning circulation ; and it was not till then that a looker-on could easily persuade himself that they had not been drinking too freely." — P. 108. This was fully sufficient for the attentive and kind- hearted commander to adopt effective measures against a recun-ence of so painful a result. So early as the 29th of October the thermometer was down to 24° below zero. It was now distressing to touch any metallic substance with the naked hand in the open air ; it produced a feeling of intense heat, and took off the skin. If the eyepiece of a telescope touched the face, it occasioned an intense burning pain ; the remedy was to cover them and other instruments with soft leather. The officers, notwith- standing, indulged themselves in walking for an hour or two in the middle of the day, in the depth of winter, parry's first voyage. 79 even when the thermometer was down to 40° or even 50° below zero, without experiencing much inconve- nience from this intense degi-ee of cold, provided always that there was no wind ; but the least breeze made the exposure to it intolerable when the mercury was even several degrees above zero. The following passage is so naturally and so well expressed, that the desire to ex- tract it is uTesistible. Speaking of their short walks on shore, Parry says : " It may well be imagined that at this period there was but little to be met with in our walks on shore which could either amuse or interest us. The necessity of not exceeding the limited distance of one or two miles, lest a snow-drift, w^hich often rises very suddenly, should prevent our return, added considerably to the dull and tedious monotony which day after day presented itself. To the southward was the sea, covered with one unbroken surface of ice, uniform in its dazzling whiteness, except that, in some parts, a few hom- mocs were seen thrown up somewhat above the general level. Nor did the land ofier much greater variety, being almost entirely covered with snow, except here and there a brown patch of bare ground, in some exposed situations, where the wind had not allowed the snow to remain. When viewed from the summit of the neighboring hills, on one of those calm and clear days which not unfrequently occurred during the winter, the scene was such as to induce contem- plations which had, perhaps, more of melancholy than of any other feeling. Not an object was to be seen on which the eye could long rest with pleasure, unless when directed to the spot where the ships lay, and where our Uttle colony was planted. The smoke which there issued from the several fires, affording a certain indication of the presence of man, gave a partial cheei-fulness to this part of the prospect ; and the sound of voices, which, during the cold weather, could be heard at a much greater distance than usual, served now and then to break the silence which reigned around us — a silence far different from that peaceable composure which characterizes the landscape of a cultivated country; it was the deathlike stillness of the most dreary desolation, and the total absence of animated existence. Such, indeed, was the want of objects to afford relief to the eye or amusement to the mind, that a stone of more than usual size appearing above the snow, in the direction to which w^e were going, immediately became a mark, on which oin: eyes were un- consciously fixed, and toward which we mechanically ad- vanced. 80 ARCTIC VOYAGES. '' Dreary as such, a scene must necessarily be, it could not, however, be said to be wholly wanting in interest, especially when associated in the mind with the peculiarity of our sit- uation, the object which had brought us hither, and the hopes which the least sanguine among us sometimes entertained of spending a part of our next winter in the more genial climate of the South-Sea Islands. Perhaps too, though none of us then ventured to confess it, our thoughts would sometimes involuntarily wander homeward, and institute a comparison between the nigged face of nature in this desola-te region and the livelier aspect of the happy land which we had left behind us."— P. 124, 125. Nothing could be more judicious than the arrange- ments made for the employment of the men each day in the week ; and on Sundays divine service was inva- riably performed, and a sermon read, on board both ships. " The attention," says Pariy, " paid by the men to the observance of their religious duties was such as to re- flect upon them the highest credit, and it tended in no small degree to the preservation of that regularity and good conduct for which, with veiy few exceptions, they were invariably distinguished." The minor aiTange- ments made by Parry to find employment, and to vary the occupations of both men and officers, during the long, unbroken night of three months, appear to have been very judicious. The former, after attending divis- ions morning and evening, cleared up the decks, attend- ed the officers round the ships, examined their berths and bed-places, and in the evening went to their supper, while the officers took their tea. After this the men were permitted to amuse themselves as they pleased, and games of various kinds, as well as dancing and sing- ing, occasionally went on upon the lower deck till nine o'clock, when they retired to rest, and their lights were extinguished. " It is scarcely necessary to add," Pariy observes, " that the evening occupations of the officers were of a more rational kind than those which engaged the attention of the men.. Of the former, reading and writing were the principal employments, to which were occasionally added a game of chess, or a tune on the flute or violin, till half past ten, about which time we all retired to rest." On Christmas-day, which had now arrived, the weath- 81 er was raw and cold, with snow ; but to mark the day in the best manner that circumstances would permit, di- vine service was performed on board the two ships ; " and I directed a small increase in the men's usual pro- portion of fresh meat, as a Christmas dinner, as well as an additional allowance of grog, to drink the health of their friends in England. The officers also met at a so- cial and friendly dinner, and the day passed with much of the same kind of festivity by which it is usually dis- tinguished at home; and," he adds, "to the credit of the men be it spoken, without any of that disorder by which it is too often observed by seamen," The good order, regularity, and discipline of the two ships, in this most trying of situations, is above all praise ; wholly deprived as they were of the sight of the sun for eighty-four days, which may be reckoned, as it really was, one continued night, lighted up only, and that par- tially, by the moon, and occasionally by the fleeting Au- rora Boreahs. Their exti-aordinaiy good conduct, un- der such circumstances, must, in a great degree, be as- cribed to the example set them by their excellent com- mander, cordially seconded by Lieutenant Liddon and the other officers. It is well understood in the navy that obedient and good conduct on the part of seamen, and a high state of discipline in a man-of-war, are the sure results of able and intelligent officers, kind and at- tentive to those under their command, yet, at the same time, strictly requiring from them a ready and willing obedience to the orders of their superiors, and to the rules and regulations of the sei'vice. Such were the men, and such the commanders, on the present service ; and the consequence was, that every man (with the ex- ception of one poor fellow, who can'ied out with him an incurable disease) was brought home in as high a state of health as that in which he left England. One case of scurvy was reported on the 2d of Janu- ary. Mr. Scallon, gunner of the Hecla, complained of pains in his legs, and the appearance of his gums left no doubt of the symptoms being scorbutic, which Mr. Ed- wards, the surgeon, ascribed to the deposit of moisture in his bed-place. The commander, ever anxious for the preservation of health in his ship, put in requisition all 82 ARCTIC VOYAGES. their anti-scorbutics for his recoveiy, consisting of pre- sei-ved vegetable soups, lemon-juice and sugar, pickles, presei-ved currants and goosebemes, and spruce beer. He also raised in his cabin a quantity of mustard and cress, of which, even in the severity of the winter, he could generally ensm-e a crop at the end of the sixth or seventh day. So effectual were these remedies in ScaEon's case, that, on the ninth evening from the attack, he was able to walk about on the lower deck, and " he assured me," says Pany, " that he could then run a race." Thursday, the 3d of February, was a day not to be forgotten. At twenty minutes before apparent noon the sun was seen from the Hecla's main-top (at the height of fifty-one feet above the sea), being the first time that this luminary had been visible to them since the 11th of November — a period, as already said, of eighty-four days, that is, twelve days less than the time of its remaining actually beneath the horizon, independently of the ef- fects of atmospherical refraction. Tlu-oughout Febru- aiy, however, the intensity of the cold, instead of being somewhat mitigated by the rays of the sun, feeble as they were, was increased. On the 24th a fire broke out in the shore-house, and, in the exertions to save the valuable msti-uments, not fewer than sixteen men incur- red frost-bites, the thermometer during the day being from — 43° to —44°. " Among these there were four or five cases which kept the patients confined for several weeks ; but John Smith, of the artillery, who was Captain Sabine's servant, and who, to- gether with Sergeant Martin, happened to be in the house at the time the fire bi'oke out, were unfortunate enough to suf- fer much more severely. In their anxiety to save the dip- ping-needle, which was standing close to the stove, and of w^hich they knew the value, they immediately ran out with it ; and Smith, not having time to put on his gloves, had his fingers in half an hour so benumbed, and the animation so completely suspended, that, on his being taken on board by Mr. Edwards, and having his hands plunged into a basin of cold water, the surface of the water was immediately firozen by the intense cold thus suddenly communicated to it ; and, notwithstanding the most humane and unremitting attention paid to him by the medical gentlemen, it was found necessa- parry's first voyage. 83 ry, some time after, to resort to the amputation of a part of four fingers on one hand and three on the other." — P. 148, 149. " The appearance," says Parry, "which our faces pre- sented at the fire was a curious one, almost every nose and cheek having become quite white with frost-bites in five minutes after being exposed to the weather, so that it was deemed necessaiy for the medical gentlemen, together with some others appointed to assist them, to go constantly round while the men were working at the fire, and to rub with snow the parts affected, in order to restore animation." On the 16th day of February the greatest degree of cold was experienced, the thermometer having descend- ed to — 55°, and remained for fifteen hours at — 54°, the less to have been expected as the old year had closed with mild weather. On the following day PaiTy says, " Notwithstanding the low temperature of the external atmosphere, the officers contrived to act, as usual, the play announced for this evening ; but it must be con- fessed that it was ahnost too cold for either the actors or the audience to enjoy it, especially those of the for- mer who undertook to appear in female dresses." It is some consolation, however, to be told that there was no wind, and the severest cold has been stated to be toler- able in a calm. In March the snow began to melt, with a temperature of 20° to 30° in the sun, but with — 22° to — 25° in the shade. Luminous arches, parhelia, and the Aurora were frequent, but not particularly remark- able. Toward the end of April the thermometer con- tinued above the freezing point in the shade for the greater part of two days, and about the middle of May the ships were once again afloat, the operation of cut- ting the ice round them being completed. Pany, however, observes that it was sufficiently dis- couraging to his hopes of a farther progress to the west- ward, to perceive that, on the last day of May, " the sea still presented the same unbroken and continuous surface of solid and impenetrable ice, and ice that could not be less than fi'om six to seven feet in thickness, as we knew it to be about the ships. When to this cir- cumstance was added the consideration that scarcely 84 ARCTIC VOYAGES. the slightest symptoms of thawing had yet appeared, and that in three weeks from this period the sun would again begin to decline to the southward, it must be con- fessed that the most sanguine and enthusiastic among us had some reason to be staggered in the expectation they had formed of the complete accomplishment of our en- terprise." It may here be remarked that the whole of the navi- gation hitherto performed had been from the 1st of August, when Lancaster Sound was entered, to the 26th of September, when the ships were anchored on the coast of MelviUe Island. Lieutenant Parry has else- where observed that the month of September is one of the most favorable for navigation among masses of ice, but the shores of Melville Island, at least, appear to be an exception — to be, in fact, the recipients of the gi-eat- est part of the ice driven to the eastward by the west- erly winds about that parallel, this island being the out- ermost of the Georgian chain, and considered by Pariy as by far the worst he ever met with. Previous, however, to their departure from this dreary, dismal, and detestable abode, Parry determined to make a journey across Melville Island to the north- ward, and to return by a different route. He was ac- companied by Captain Sabine, Messrs. Fisher, Nias, and Reid, a sergeant of marines, and a sergeant of artillery, together with three seamen and two marines, making, in the whole, a party of twelve. They took with them tents, provisions, and a cooking apparatus. It was found that those parts of the island which were clear of snow produced the dwarf willow, sorrel, and poppy, and that the moss was very luxuriant. On the second day they saw a pair of ducks {Anas sjpectahilis)^ and killed seven ptarmigan : soiTel and saxifrage were abundant. They found pieces of coal embedded in sandstone ; passed a very extensive, dreary, and uninteresting level plain covered with snow ; and this kind of ground, with occa- sional ravines and foggy weather, continued for three days, during which they saw not a living animal, except one or two flocks of geese {Anas bernicla). Parry, being desirous of obtaining a view of the sea on the northern shore, took with him the two midship- parry's first voyage. 85 men Nias and Reid, with a quarter-master of the Griper. After a long and disagreeable march they came to what they considered to be the sea. Anxious, however, to leave nothing uncertain, they walked a few hundred yards upon the ice, and endeavored, by means of a boarding-pike and their knives, to make a hole through it in order to taste the water ; but after two hours' la- bor they only succeeded in getting through two feet of very hard, brittle, and transparent ice, more so than that of salt water usually is. This did not satisfy Parry, who returned to the party left behind and carried them back with him to the spot. The floe was penetrated, and proved to be fourteen feet and four inches in thick- ness ; the water flowed up within fifteen inches of the surface of the ice, and was found to be "not very salt;" sufficiently so, however, to convince them all that it was the sea on which they were standing. On the 9th of June they set out on their return, kill- ed three ptarmigans, and saw a paii- of ducks, and, -two days after, a great number of brent geese, some ptarmi- gan, and many snow-buntings ; the constant and cheer- ful note of the latter reminded them of a better country — a worse, perhaps, it would be diflicult to find ; it re- minded them of home, this darling little bird being con- sidered the robm redbreast of the snowy regions.* Ar- rived at Bushnan's Cove, in Liddon's Gulf, on the west- ern side of Melville Island, the party found " one of the pleasantest and most habitable spots we had yet seen in the Arctic regions, the vegetation being more abundant and forward than in any other place, and the situation sheltered and favorable for game." They found here a good deal of moss, grass, dwarf-willow, and saxifrage, and Captain Sabine met with a ranunculus in full flower. Thus we see that even in this, the most desolate region of the earth, the superiority of the western coast pre- dominates. The hunters saw and fired at a musk-ox, but did not kill him ; they saw also severed golden plov- ers, and one or two boatswains {Lestris). On the 15th they reached the ships, and were comphmented by their shipmates on their good looks, and as appearing in more robust health than when they departed. * See Captain Lyon's Voyage regarding tins bird, H 86 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Toward the end of June the ice oegan to move in the offing, with a loud, grinding noise, and on the 5th of Ju- ly the thermometer rose from 50° to 52°, and on the two following days to 55°. The ice in the harbor also be- gan to dissolve, and was there covered with pools of water. On the 17th the temperature rose to 60°, the highest point it ever reached at Melville Island. On the 24th eveiy thing was complete for proceeding to sea ; *' the sails were bent in readiness for starting at a mo- ment's notice, though it must be confessed that the mo- tive for doing so was to make some show of moving, rath- er than any expectation I dared to entertain of soon es- caping from our long and tedious confinement ; for it was impossible to conceal from the men the painful fact, that in eight or nine weeks from this period the navigable season must unavoidably come to a conclusion." Anoth- er painful fact was, that, before the expiration of July, the approach of winter announced itself in the diminu- tion of temperature, which seldom reached 40° by day, and also by the falls of sleet and snow, as well as by the pools of water frozen over in the night. On the last day of July the whole body of the ice in the harbor was perceived to be slowly moving out, break- ing away for the first time at the points which form the entrance of the harbor. The latitude and longitude of Winter Harbor is thus stated : Latitude by 39 meridian altitudes . 74° 47' 19" N. Longitude by 692 sets of observations, consisting of 6862 lunar distances . 110° 48' 29" FT. Dip of magnetic needle . . . 88° 43' Variation 127° 47' 50" E. On the 1st of August, the day on which Lancaster Sound had been entered, the two ships stood out of Winter Harbor, after having passed ten whole months and a part of September and August in that dreary place of imprisonment. They stood along the shore of Mel- ville Island to the westward, occasionally running in near to the beach to avoid the masses of ice in motion ; in .one place, the Hecla being within twenty yards of the beach, a point of land, which was lined all round with large hommocs of ice, rendered it a most dangerous sit- 87 iMition ; and the more so as the body of the ice coming in from the westward, being distant from the ship less than half a mile, was composed of floes infinitely more heavy than any they had elsewhere met with during the voyage. Lieutenant Liddon sent word that the Griper was also in a situation exactly similar to that of the Hec- la, where '* nipping" appeared unavoidable if the floes should come in. Parry desired Liddon not to join him, as there was not room for two ships, " and the chances of saving one of them from the catastrophe we had reas- on to apprehend were greater by their being separate." By chance, and it was by chance entirely, they es- caped; but had the apparent catastrophe taken place, which they had reason to apprehend, not a single being could have survived the melancholy fate that must inev- itably have awaited them ; all must have perished from famine and the intense cold of the approaching winter.. This state of things, and, indeed, eveiy circumstance connected with this abominable island, must seiTe as a beacon to warn off any future navigator from coming even within sight of it, but to avoid it as the ancients did Scyl- la or Charybdis. It is to be hoped, and there is reason to believe, that Sir John Franklin's attention has been particularly drawn to this part of Su- Edward Fany's naiTative. The ships remained, however, at or near the same place, and a mass of about an acre in extent drove in and gave the Hecla a considerable " nip," and then gi-azed past her to the westwai-d. The following day another floe came in, "and gave the ship a heavy rub." Parry, howev- er, still persevered in creeping along the shore of MelvUle Island, the ships sustaining such frequent and " severe rubs" that nothing short of the stoutest timber, the most sound and flexible iron, and the most judicious construc- tion of the fabrics, could possibly have withstood these frequent rubs to which they were exposed. Persever- ing, however, in this beach-sailing, generally within half a mile of it, till they amved very nearly to the western- most point of the island, the commander, believing there " was little hope of making farther progress to the west- ward, and having experienced during the first half of the navigable season such a continued series of vexations, 88 ARCTIC VOYAGES. disappointments, and delays, accompanied by such a con- stant state of danger to the ships, felt it now to be no longer justifiable to persevere in a fruitless attempt to get to the westward. On consulting the ofificers of both ships, they agreed with him that any farther attempt to proceed to the westsvard in that parallel would be altogether fruitless ; they also agreed m the plan he proposed of running back to the eastward along the edge of the ice, to look out for any opening that might lead them to the American con- tinent, and, failing to find any such, to return to England. On the 26th of August, therefore, they turned the ships' heads to the eastward, and on the morning of the 27th had passed the eastern end of Melville Island, in an open channel not less than ten miles -wide, all hands heartily rejoicing to take leave forever of this island. We are told, however, in a note, that the island, during then' stay of nearly twelve months, had afforded them the fol- lowing quantity of game : three musk-oxen, twenty-four deer, sixty-eight hares, fifty-three geese, fifty-nine ducks, and one hundred and forty-four ptarmigans, amounting in weight to three thousand seven hundred and sixty- six pounds of meat ; that is to say, it aflforded to each of ninety-four men three pounds and a half of meat per month ! the produce of an island which is stated to ex- ceed five thousand square miles. " On the 31st of August they repassed Lancaster Sound, and on the 1st of September bore up and ran along the land, taking their departure from the flag-staflf in Pos- session Bay, on the southeastern point of the said sound. As the whole of this coast was run down in 1818, and partially examined, it is not necessary to follow the pres- ent expedition in any remarks upon it; but before the gi-ound be quitted on which no less than twelve months were passed, from September, 1819, to August, 1820, the temperature of the air in the shade may be noticed : Maximum 60°, Minimum 50°, Range 110°. The mean of the twelve mouths 4-l°-33. The lowest temperature registered on the ice w^as — 55° ; it did not rise above 54° for seventeen hom-s on the 14th and 15th of February, 1820. On the whole of this eastern coast of Baffin's and Da- 89 vis's Strait they called only at one place, Clyde's River, in latitude 70° 22'. Here they received visits from a ti'ibe of Esquimaux, vv^hose appearance and conduct pleased them all very much — hvely, good natured, and cheerful, with a great inclination to jump about when much pleased, " rendering it," says Parry, " a penalty of no ti'ifling nature for them to sit still for half an hour together." They were decently clothed, male and fe- male, and their children equally so, in well-di-essed and neatly-sewn seal skins. They were, in fact, in all re- spects, infinitely superior to Ross's Arctic Highlanders, who pulled or rubbed noses as a salutation, and asked if ships were not living creatures. But PaiTy shall himself mark the contrast : " Upon the whole, these people may be considered in pos- session of every necessary of life, as well as of most of the comforts and conveniences w^hich can be enjoyed in so rude a state of society. In the situation and circumstances in which the Esquimaux of N. Greenland [Ross's Highlanders] are placed, there is much to excite compassion for the low state to which human nature appears to be there reduced — a state in few respects superior to that of the bear or the seal, which they kiU for their subsistence. But with these it w^as impossible not to experience a feeling of a more pleasing kind : there was a respectful decency in their general be- havior, which at once struck us as very different from that of the other untutored Esquimaux; and in their persons there was less of that intolerable filth by which these people are so generally distinguished. But the superiority for which they are most remarkable is, the perfect honesty which char- acterized all their deahngs with us. During the two hours that the men w^ere on board, and for fom* or five hours that we were subsequently among them on shore, on both which occasions the temptation to steal from us was, perhaps, stron- ger than we can well imagine, and the opportunity of doing so by no means wanting, not a single instance occurred, to my knowledge, of their pilfering the most trifling article. It is pleasing to record a fact no less singular in itself than honor- able to these simple people." — P. 287. Nothing material occurred in their way across the Atlantic, till the afternoon of the 26th of October, when they sti-uck soundings in seventy fathoms in latitude 59° 65'. On the 28th they were between Fair Island and the Orkneys ; on the 29th made Buchaness, and on the H2 90 ARCTIC VOYAGES. following day the commander landed at Peterhead, ac- companied by Captain Sabine and Mr. Hooper, who pro- ceeded without delay to London, where they arrived on , the morning of the 3d of November, 1820. " Such was the excellent state of health which we at this time continued to enjoy on board the Hecla, that during the whole season of our late navigation from Winter Harbor to the coast of Scotland, being a period of thirteen weeks, not a single case had been entered on our sick-list, except from one or two accidents of a trifling nature ; and 1 had the hap- piness of seeing every officer and man on board both ships (wdth only one exception out of ninety-four persons) return to their native country in as robust health as when they left it, after an absence of nearly eighteen months, during which time we had been Hving entirely on our own resources," — P. 309. It is not intended here to enter into any detail of the observations made during the voyage, nor of the scien- tific operations carried on whenever an opportunity oc- curred. Nothing was omitted which highly intelligent officers and the best instruments could supply. An ap- pendix, drawn up on a clear and well-arranged principle, contains such observations and remarks as were deemed of most importance. The volume itself exhibits the conduct and the character of both officers and men in the most praiseworthy point of view ; and with regard to the enlightened commander by. whom it was written, it need only be repeated here, what has been said else- where : " No one can rise from the perusal of this work without being impressed with the fullest conviction that his merits as an officer and scientific navigator are of the highest order ; that his talents are not confined to his professional duties ; but that the resources of his mind are equal to the most arduous situations, and fertile in expedients under every circumstance, however difficult, dangerous, or unexpected." In addition to aU this, Par- ry may be said to possess the true character and spirit of a British sailor — open, sti-aightforward, and upright ; his education was such as to inspire him with a love of the profession, having entered the service in 1803, been made a lieutenant in 1810, and continued to serve in that rank on the coast of America till 1817, when he was selected, as has been related in the preceding voy- age, to command the Alexander, as second to Koss. parry's first voyage. 91 On the present voyage he was most cheerfully and energetically obeyed and assisted by all his officers in both ships ; and, in addition to the ordinary services which navigation and nautical astronomy require, he had the benefit of Captain Sabine's valuable and cordial co-op- eration in carrying out a series of experiments in a branch of science unconnected with any that regards navigation — the swinging a pendulum for ascertaining the eilipticity of the earth. Captain Sabine, being a connection of Mr. Henry Browne, of Portland Place, had unrestricted ac- cess to that gentleman's observatory and valuable collec- tion of astronomical instruments, some of which were supplied to the present expedition ; and the practical use of them was well known to Captain Sabine. In the ap- pendix to Commander Parry's narrative we find the cap- tain joined with other officers in making observations on the dip, the variation and declination of the magnetic needle ; in ascertaining the latitudes and longitudes by thermometers jointly with Parry, Beechey, and Hoop- er ; and lunar observations taken at Winter Harbor and at sea with Parry, Beecher, Hooper, and Ross, amount- ing to the extraordinary number of six thousand eight hundred and sixty-two. Sabine, in addition to all these, describes (in the ap- pendix) the subjects of natural history collected in the three classes of mammalia, birds, and fishes. But the most important will probably be considered that of No. 8, " An account of the experiments to determine the acceleration of the pendulum in different latitudes," which would appear to have been the joint labor of Parry and Sabbae. "The accidental -discovery," it is said, "that a pendulum, on being removed from Paris to the neighborhood of the equator, increased its time of vibration, gave the first step to aur present knowledge that the polar axis of the globe is less than the equato- rial, and that the force of gravity at the surface of the earth increases progressively from the equator toward the poles." In the present instance two clocks were used in these experiments, being the property of the Royal Society, and the same which accompanied Cap- tain Cook round the world ; and the result is stated to be, that the mean daily acceleration of the two clocks 92 ARCTIC VOYAGES. was seventy -four thousand seven hundred and thirty- four vibrations, which is considered as the ti'ue accelera- tion of a pendulum between the latitudes 51° 31' 08" (London) and 74° 47' 14" (Melville Island) ; and the deduction, which was obtained from the result of the acceleration between London and Melville Island, gives the diminution of gravity from the pole to the equator to be '0055258 ; and this decimal gives for the eUipticity of the earth, -gy^Tg. But as Captain Sabine in the year 1821 (the next fol- lowing that of his amval in England) embarked on a most arduous undertaking to investigate the last-men- tioned subject in high latitudes, an account of his voya- ges and operations will be resumed hereafter. It may perhaps be deemed presumptuous in a lands- man venturing to differ from so expert and complete a seaman as Commander Pariy ; but it is under a con- viction that he wiU not be displeased at, but take in good part, a few desultory remarks, though not exactly cor- respondent with his own opinion. " Our experience," he says, " I think has clearly shown that the navigation of the Polar seas can never be performed with any de- gree of certainty, without a continuity of land. It was only by watching the occasional openings between the ice and the shore that our late progress to the westward was effected ; and had the land continued in the desu^ed direction, there can be no question that we should have continued to advance, however slowly, toward the com- pletion of our enterprise." The objection about to be offered is not to the " slow advance," but to the chance of no advance at all, and to the extreme hazard of the loss of the ship and crew, which had nearly happened in the present instance, and did actually happen to the ship on a future occasion, by a nip, or rub, or pressure between the ice and the shore ; to say nothing of the constant apprehension, the anxiety, and incessant threat- ening of momentaiy destruction, which occuiTed along the whole coast of Melville Island, and the frequent " rubs" and " nips" which both ships experienced be- tween the sea ice and the shore ice, when nothing but extreme watchfulness and good management could pos- sibly have saved them from being crushed. Instead, 93 therefore, of having to "watch the occasional openings between the ice and the shore," would it not be more desirable to avoid placing the ship between the ice and the shore ? to keep as far as possible from the shore, and trust to an open sea, free from land of any kind, even with the usual quantity of loose ice, hommocs, or floes ? A ship, it is presumed, may always make her way through such a sea with little or no danger, as is well known to the whale-fishing ships, which carefully avoid coming near an ice-bound coast. Against wintering in the ice there are numerous ob- jections, though the detention cannot always be avoided. One of them, but perhaps the least serious, is the great inconvenience and discomfort which the officers and crew must unavoidably be subject to, without any chance of compensation by caiTying out the objects of the expe- dition — without hope of thereby advancing discovery or geographical knowledge. And although the hardships of wintering in the ice have been shown, on the present occasion, to admit of mitigation, when they happen un- der so able and discreet an officer as Commander Par- ry, whose resources are inexhaustible, it may fall to the lot of another, whose mind is less fertile in expedients to soften them. Another objection may, perhaps, be raised against the danger that is likely to be incurred ; but this by caution and attention may generally be pro- vided against. A third, and one of the first import- ance in most cases, is the utter inutility of wintering in the Arctic seas ; for no harbors are known that are not filled with ice for eight or nine months in the year, and the ship must be secured in ice that is already thick and firm by the close of the season, generally mak- ing it necessary to cut a canal, at an immense labor, so as to be floated to a place of safety ; and it is most likely to happen that, before she can be got out again, the following season is so far expired, that all the ser- vice she can then undertake is to get home, with the loss of a year. After all, it is but a choice of evils, to winter or return when the first obstruction commences. In that portion of the globe in question, a short passage home is next to certain, whether beset in the ice or in an open sea, as the 94 ARCTIC VOYAGES. wind is generally favorable for a southern voyage, and the current almost always so ; but it may happen that no choice is left, and then to winter has become a matter of necessity ; and Parry has laid down an admirable code of instructions for any one reduced to that emergency. CHAPTER V. COfflANDER CLAVERING AND CAPTAIN SABINE, R.A. 1822-1823. 1. Journal of a Voyage to Spitzhergen and the East Coast of Greenland, in His Majesty''s Ship Griper, D. C. Cla- VERiNG, Esq., Commander. 2. An Account of Experiments to determine the Figure of the Earth by m,eans of the Pendulum vibrating seconds in dif- ferent latitudes ; as well as on some other subjects of Phil- osophical Inquiry. By Edward Sabine, Captain in the Royal Artillery. It was considered expedient to introduce a brief no- tice of this voyage among those specially sent into the Arctic regions for the purpose of discovery, and for two reasonsi^: first, that Commander Clavering was to be ordered to jwoceed to Spitzbergen, and thence to the east coast of Greenland, and that on the latter he suc- ceeded in reaching a higher degree of latitude than any former or subsequent navigator had effected ; and, sec- ondly, that he carried out, first in the Pheasant, and then in the Griper, Captain (now Lieutenant-colonel) Sabine, who, very shortly after his return from the first voyage of Parry to the Arctic Sea, recommenced that series of observations on the length of the seconds' pendulum which were made in the Hecla. Captain Sabine, impelled by the zeal and love of science for which he is distinguished, hastened to pro- ceed, in the first instance, to Sierra Leone, in the Iphi- genia, on the 22d of February, 1822, and completed his pendulum experiments there in April. Sir Robert Mends there assigned the Pheasant to convey him to I CLAVERING AND SABINE. 95 the several Atlantic stations where he was desirous to swing his pendulum, mostly in the West Indies and to the southward of the line, as far as Ascension. Commander Clavering, of the Pheasant, was an oiRcer well versed in the scientific duties of a navigator, and a friendship was speedily formed between the two officers that ceased only with the death of the sailor, which happened when, in the year 1827, he command- ed the Redwing, which ship sailed from the coast of Africa, and, being never after heard of, is supposed to have foundered, and all on board to have perished. It is stated by Mr. James Smith, the editor of the voyage, that such was the able and zealQus manner in which Commander Clavering co-operated with Captain Sa- bine, that the latter was not only enabled to make the observations at every station in the most satisfactory manner, but without the slightest accident ever having taken place in moving the numerous and delicate instru- ments to and from the ship. The observations being completed at Sierra Leone, the places next to be visited were the Island of St. Thomas, Ascension, Bahia, Maranham, Trinidad, Jamaica, and New York ; to all of which places Captain Sabine was conveyed in succession by the Pheasant, and made his pendulum observations at each of them in a manner satisfactory to himself; and those observations were published by the Board of Longitude, and will briefly be noticed here. The two officers, it is said, executed a valuable and ex- tensive series of observations on the direction and force of the equatorial current. Immediately after the arrival of the Pheasant in Eng- land, on the 5th of February, 1823, Captain Sabine suggested, through Sir Humphrey Davy, that the ex- tension of similar experiments would be desirable if can-ied on in high latitudes, and that he was ready (as he ever is when the calls of science require it) to under- take this service. The Griper, gun-brig, was appropri- ated forthwith for that purpose, and on the 26th of Feb- ruary Clavering was appointed to command her. The plan of the voyage proposed by Captain Sabine was, to proceed in the first instance to Hammerfest, near the North Cape of Norway, about the 70th degree of lati- 96 ARCTIC VOYAGES. tude ; thence to a second station, in or near the 80th parallel, on the northern coast of Spitzbergen ; after- ward to make the east coast of Greenland, in as high a latitude as the barrier of ice, which renders that coast difficult of access, would permit, and having got within the baiTier, to ascend the coast to the northward as far as might be compatible the same year, in order to ob- tain a third pendulum station for Captain Sabine's exper- iments at the highest degree of latitude that might be there attained. He was then to return to the southward, and if Cap- tain Sabine should wish for a fourth station on the coast of Iceland, he was to use his discretion, according to the state of the weather and the time of the year, to stop at that island ; if not, a fourth station might be sought else- where, in or about the same parallel, and after that to return to England. The equipment of the Griper being completed, and the magnetical pendulum, with the va- rious instruments for astronomical and other scientific purposes, being embarked by the second week in May, she sailed from the Nore on. the 11th of that month for Hammeifest, where she anived on the 4th of June. This place, built on a small island named Qualoen, or Whale Island, is said to consist of about a dozen houses. The bay is small, but the anchorage good and safe ; the only provisions to be got here were reindeer, wfe.ich were cheap ; the trade is entirely in fish and oil. The natives are described as kind and hospitable, and were pleased at the idea of a visit from even such a small man-of-war as the Griper. The women are fair and pretty, and dress much like our own ; remote from the civilized world, they are untainted by either its vices or its wants. Morality and religion stiictly predominate, and deviations from either are rai'e. Mr. Crowe, an English merchant, who acts as consul, resides here, and paid the visitors much attention. The latitude, 70° 40' ; the dip of the needle, 77° 40'. On the 23d of June, Captain Sabine having finished his observations, the Griper put to sea the same even- ing ; on the 27th, fell in with the first ice off Cherry Island, in latitude 75° 5', a gale of wind then blowing ; saw Spitzbergen in the evening, and fell in with a great CLAVERING AND SABINE, 97 number of wah-uses. On the 30th rounded Hakluyt's Headland, anchored aoreast of a small island, one of the inner Norweys, and the same on which Captain Phipps made his observations in 1773 ; disembarked the tents and instruments, and sent parties on shore to erect them. Two reindeer and a walrus were killed on the neigh- boring island of Vogel Sang. From hence Commander Clavering determined to push as far to the northward as he could, while Captain Sabine was carrying on his pendulum obsei-vations, leaving here for his assistance a party of six men under the command of Mr. Foster and Mr. Rowland, assistant surgeon, together with his lanch, and six months' provisions and fuel, to cany them to Hammerfest, should any accident happen to the Gri- per in her absence. He sailed on the 5th of July, and ran due north twenty-five miles from Cloven Cliff; found himself embayed among the ice ; and on the 6tli the ship struck against something, which turned out to be ice. This was discovered on the fog dispersing, when a field of packed ice presented itself to view, ex- tending east and west as far as the eye could reach ; the latitude observed was 80° 20', which was the most north- ern obtained, for, having skirted the margin in a line nearly west for about sixty miles, and finding it trending to the southward, and everywhere closely packed, and perceiving no appearance of an opening or of clear water, it was deemed useless to proceed farther, and the Gri- per returned to the station, which she reached on the 11th of July. Captain Sabine having completed his operations — a party having killed about fifty reindeer, as a supply of fresh provisions, and every thing being re-embarked on the 22d of July^ — on the 24th they put to sea, and steered S.W. for the eastern coast of Greenland, a course that would bring them to Gael Hamkes' Bay, in about the latitude of 74°, this being considered as the highest point known to the north on that coast. After many impediments from fields of ice, they reached, on the 8th of A-Ugust, a tolerably open channel between the ice and the coast, and sent a boat on shore at a point which was named Cape Borlase Warren ; " than which," Clavering says, " never was there a more desolate spot 1 I 98 ARCTIC VOYAGES. seen ; Spitzbergen was, on the whole, a paradise to this place." Proceeding along the coast, among floes of ice, they discovered two islands, to which they gave the name of the Pendulum Islands. Clavering passed them, and stood on to the northward till stopped by ice ; and he had now reached what he con- sidered to be the N.E. point of Greenland, formed by an island, in lat. 75° 12', from the heights of which could plainly be seen high land, due north, at least as far as lat. 76°. He named the island Shannon Island, and the S.E. extremity Cape Philip Broke, "from the ship it was my good fortune to serve in, and under her gallant commander here named." Getting under way, the Griper returned to the south- ward in a nan'ow channel close to the shore, on which she grounded in 2|- fathoms ; was got off by lightening her ; anchored in 'a sheltered bay bet^veen one of the Pendulum Islands ; landed Captain Sabine, the observa- tory, tents, and instruments ; and prepared the yawl and wherry for a distant excursion, while Sabine was em- ployed in his pendulum experiments. On the 16th of August he set out, taking-with him three officers and sixteen men. They landed on Cape Borlase Warren, about eighteen miles to the southward, with each a boat- cloak and a blanket ; slept in them, and found no incon- venience from the cold ; and this was continued for twelve nights, the temperature not lower than 23°. Here they found traces of natives, and several graves. Proceeding up an arm of the bay, which runs inland, a tent of seal skins was found on the beach, and two na- tives appeared on the heights. They were at first rath- er shy, but, by degrees, acquired confidence. They ap- peared not to differ in any respect from the common race of E squimaux : the whole tribe amounted but to twelve. Their surprise was roused only by witnessing some of the crew firing at a mark with muskets. A pis- tol was given to one of the natives, who fired into the water ; the recoil startled him so much that he immedi- - ately slunk away into his tent. The following morning, being the third, it was found they had all departed, leav- ing every thing behind them ; their sudden reti*eat being no doubt occasioned by their alarm at the firing. CLAVERING AND SABINE. 99 The party had dow advanced to an extensive bay, or, rather, an inland basin, whose cu'cumference could not be less than fifty miles. It was perfectly free of ice, not one piece being visible in this immense sheet of wa- ter. Clavering thinks it the same which was discovered by Gael Hamkes in 1654, and which bears his name. In an inlet from this bay, the mountains on both sides were of a great height,^ ending in immense glaciers, at least 5000 feet high. On the 29th of August they reach- ed the ships, after a fatiguing absence of thirteen days. On the following day Captain Sabine concluded his ob- sei-vations, the tents and instruments were re-embarked, and on the 31st of August the Griper got under way. The latitude of the observatoiy on Pendulum Island is 74° 32' 19" N., longitude 18° 50' W. The shore to the southward continued about 3000 feet high, along which the ship proceeded in a channel of clear water, the ice being five or six miles from the shore. About Cape Parry, however, latitude 72|^°, in a nan-ow lane of water, two floes suddenly closed to- gether, and the tongues projecting beneath {calves they are usually called), pressed the Griper between them and lifted her abaft considerably out of the water. She got clear without much damage ; but the ice w^as hang- ing about Cape Parry so close to the shore, that the commander wisely stood out to sea, and on the 13th of September the Griper finally quitted the coast of Green- land, the whole line along which they had sailed being from 2000 to 3000 feet in height, with mountains in the interior perhaps double that height. A violent gale came on, and the ship was secured to a mass of ice ; received several severe shocks ; the hawsers and stream cables gave way ; also two chain cables and two large hawsers; the gale increased ; large masses continually rolled in ; the pressure became so violent that the whole of them parted before daylight. " Om- situation," says the com- mander, " was now a most anxious one ; the gale con- tinued with unabated violence, and the ship drove to the southward among loose ice and heavy floes, which, from the darkness of the night, we could neither see nor avoid." The admirable manner, he says, in which the little Griper had been strengthened, allowed her to bear 100 ARCTIC VOYAGES. the severe shocks without being injured ; the heaviest shocks she received must have knocked a Greenlandman to pieces. The gale continuing, drove them to the southw^ard, and on the 23d of September they made the coast of Norway in latitude 63° 55'. On the 1st of October the Griper struck hard on a sunken rock, and got off undam- aged ; on the 4th entered Drontheim Fiord, and on the 6th anchored in the harbor ; and " we were received," says Clavering, " with the greatest kindness and hospi- tality." Captain Sabine having completed his experi- ments here, the Griper proceeded down the fiord on the 13th of October, was detained in the nan-ows till the 19th, and again windbound tiU the 3d of December, when she was liberated, and reached Deptford on the 19th of that month, 1823. We now proceed to give a hrief account of Captain Sahine''s labors. The volume of Captain Sabine, from which the follow- ing notice is taken, affords an extraordinaiy instance of personal and mental application on distant voyages and various climates within the Tropics and the Arctic re- gions, and of intellectual exertion and industry not easily to be paralleled. It consists of more than five hundred pages of observations, carefully arranged under various heads, made with transit instruments, chronometers, clocks, and pendulums ; containing, besides, numerous experiments at the several stations touched at by Com- mander Clavering, as already noticed, amounting to eight in number on the two sides of the Atlantic, at each of which the chief authorities manifested the utmost read- iness to afford every assistance, both in our own colonies and at places belonging to foreign powers. Any attempt here to explain them would give but lit- tle notion of the labors successfully accomplished by Captain Sabine ; the tables detailing the several kinds of obseiTations must be seen in order duly to appreciate their importance, to say nothing of the calculations nec- essary to arrive at the deductions and conclusions which have resulted from them. The observations may be stated to comorise a series of six in number at each sta- CLAVERING AND SABINE. 101 tion : No. 1. Times of transit of stars, to ascertain the rate of the clock ; No. 2. Adjustment of telescope to the same vertical plane ; No. 3. Daily rate of chronometers from preceding transits ; No. 4. Comparison of chronom- eter and clock at exact intei-vals ; Nos. 5 and 6 comprise an account of the coincidences in the double series of each pendulum. Each table, of course, occupied several days. The Pheasant left Sierra Leone early in April, and arrived at New York on the 10th of December; com- menced obsei-vations on the 22d, and concluded on the 2d of Jan., 1823, in the last two of which Sabine had a co-operator. The observations were carried on at Co- lumbia College ; and Captain Sabine says, " I must ever deem myself to have been most highly fortunate in the association which it procured me of the Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and of Chemistiy, Mr. James Renwick, whose interest in the experiments was so strongly excited as to induce him to give me his unremitting co-operation, a circumstance peculiarly de- sirable and satisfactory on an occasion in which the re- sults may hereafter come in question, in the comparison of the standard measurements of the two countries." On the 5th of February, 1823, the Pheasant arrived at Portsmouth, and Captain Sabine had the satisfaction of finding that a letter which he had written to Sir Hum- phrey Davy from Maranham, proposing the extension of the experiments to the high latitudes, had met the ap- probation of the Commissioners of Longitude ; that Lord Melville's consent had been obtained for the employment of one of his majesty's ships in its prosecution ; and that the Griper sloop of war, which had been engaged in the expedition of 1819-20, would forthwith be com- missioned by Commander Clavering. The interval, how- ever, of the Griper's equipment was occupied by Cap- tain Sabine in repeating the trial of the pendulums in Portland Place, to ascertain that they had undergone no alteration in the course and by the events of the preced- ing voyage. The process of these experiments, the preparation of an apparatus for the clock and pendulum, and provid- ing cover and protection for the instruments, which ex- perience in the Northern expedition, and particularly at 12 102 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Melville Island, had taught Captain Sabine to be neces- sary, were simultaneously completed with the equip- ment of the Griper. That vessel left the Nore on the 11th of May, and arrived at Hammerfest, the place des- ignated by him as his first station, on the 4th of June. A spot was selected for the observations at Fugleness, where Mr. Crowe, a gentleman at the head of a large commercial establishment, resides, and who gave every possible assistance and attention to the party. Here Captain Sabine repeated the same routine of obsei-va- tions — the transits of the sun and stars — the determina- tion of the rate of chronometers by zenith distances — • the coincidences observed with two pendulums. These were aU completed by the 23d of June ; the instruments embarked, and the Griper arrived at Fair Haven, on the coast of Spitzbergen, on the 1st of July. The Griper anchored at one of the Norweys, which forms, with the coast of Spitzbergen, the harbor of Fair Haven. Here the experiments proceeded -svithout interruption, being the same series as that practiced at Hammerfest, and were concluded on the 19th of July. From hence Captain Sabine, being desirous of preserv- ing unbroken the continuity of the account of the pendu- lum experiments, proposed that no time should be lost in proceeding to a proper station on the east coast of Greenland, which the Griper succBssfully accomplished in a higher latitude than is recorded to have been pre- viously traversed, namely, between the 74th and 75th degrees, in the second week of August. Being stopped, however, soon after he had passed the 75th parallel, and the season advancing, he returned along the coast to a harbor of safe anchorage in latitude 74° 30', which he had noticed in passing to the northward. Here the Griper was anchored, and became the station for con- ducting the pendulum experiments. This harbor is formed by the channel which separates the main land from an island, on which the experiments were made, and which is secured from the access of heavy ice from the ocean by a smaller island in the mid- channel of the entrance. The group, of which these islands form a part, consists of two nearly of the same size, and two others much smaller, being rather rocks CLAVEEING AND SABINE. 103 than islands : they extend from the latitude of 74° 30' to that of 74° 42', and were distinguished by the officers and seamen of the Griper by the appellation of the Pendulum Islands. It had been the intention of Captain Sabine to make Reikiavik, in Iceland, the concluding station of th^ pendulum experiments in the high latitudes ; but when the 17th of September had airived, before they found themselves finally disengaged from the Greenland ice — the season of navigation drawing to a close — the autum- nal gales aheady commenced, and the nights above six- teen hom-s long — it was deemed not prudent to risk the . approach to the coast of Iceland. It was, therefore, thought preferable to recross the Northern Ocean, and to seek a pendulum station on the coast of Norway, nearly in the same latitude as Reikiavik ; and Drontheim appearing to be the most eligible for the purpose, the Griper arrived there on the 8th of October. Captain Sabine says, " It had been the good fortune of Captain Clavering and myself to have experienced at each of the inhabited stations which we had visited the most marked hospitality and kindness, but at none were our obligations in these respects greater than at Dron- theim." Among others, he mentions the governor (Count Trampe), Mr. Schnitler, the British consul, and Mr. Knutson and his amiable family, from whom every Englishman that visits this part of Norway is sure to meet with a kind reception. Every assistance was af- forded toward the accomplishment of this last series of experiments, and they were enabled to weigh anchor at Drontheim on the 13th of November; but, owing to vi- olent gales of wind and very bad weather, the Griper did not arrive at Deptford till the 19th of December, 1823. Captain Sabine says, the boisterous weather they had was accompanied by very vivid lightning, which is par- ticularly unusual in high latitudes in winter, and by the frequent appearance and continuance, for several minutes at a time, of balis of fire at the extremities of the yard ai-ms and mast heads ; of these not less than eight were counted at one time. AU the experiments were carefully gone over in Lon- don, and examined by the Council of the Royal Society and Board of Longitude, with other individuals most 104 ARCTIC VOYAGES. conversant in these observations, with the calculations for determining the variations in the length of the sec- onds' pendulum, from w^hence the following general de- duction is drawn for indicating the ellipticity of the earth, which is all that can be given here, the various cal- culations and the experiments occupying a large volume. The result then is : 39-01520 inches is the length of the equatorial pendulum ; 0-20245, the increase of gravitation between the Equator and Pole ; and the ellipticity -^J^^. That deduced from the increase of gravitation between London and Melville Island was 3^^. Thus, says Captain Sabine, "the attempt to deter- mine the figure of the earth, by the variations of gravity at its surface, has been carried into full execution on an arc of the meridian of the gi*eatest accessible extent, and the results which it has produced are seen to be con- sistent with each other, in combinations too varied to ad- mit a probability of the coiTespondence being accidental." They are, in fact, the combinations of Captain Sabine's 13 stations; of the French savans' 8 stations; of the British survey, 7 stations ; making, in all, 28 stations. This result, however, of the ellipticity " differs," says Sabine, " more considerably than could have been ex- pected from 30-57^5, which had been previously received on the authority of the most eminent geometrician of the age, as the concurrent indication of the measure- ments of terrestrial degrees, of pendulum experiments, and of the lunar inequalities dependent on the oblateness of the earth." The success that has attended the experiment of in- vestigating the figure of the earth by means of the pen- dulum, encourages, as Captain Sabine thinks, the belief that an equally satisfactory conclusion, and one highly interesting in the comparison, might be obtained by the measurement of , terrestrial degrees ; that is to say, by an actual measurement of a degi-ee of the meridian. This has, in fact, been done in various parts of the world, but centuries ago, when the instruments were inferior, and the mode of their most advantageous em- ployment less understood than at present. In India an arc has recently been measured, and one of an old date at the Cape of Good Hope remeasured; but Captain CLAVERING AND SABINE, 105 Sabine points out Spitzbergen, being near to the Polar extiemity of the meridian, "as the land of most conven- ient access in either hemisphere." He says : " The access to all parts of the interior is greatly facilitated by the extensive fiords, and arms of the sea, by which the land is intersected in so remarkable a manner ; these, wheth- er frozen over, as in the early part of the season, or open to navigation, as in the later months, form routes of communica- tion suited to the safe conveyance of instruments, either in sledges or boats : the fiord, in particular, which separates the western and eastern divisions of Spitzbergen, would be of great avail : it extends in a due north and south direction for above 120 miles, with a breadth varying irom 10 to 30 miles, and communicates at its northern extremity, by a short pass- age across the land, wdth the head of another fiord, proceed- ing to meet it fi:om the northern shores of the island, and af- fording similar facilities for carrying on either a ti-iangula- tion, or a direct measurement on the surface of the ice at the level of the ocean."— P. 362. He adds, what is very true, that the measurement of a portion of the meridian is one of the many experiment- al inquiries beyond the reach of individual means to accomplish. This officer, indefatigable in the pursuit of practical science, writes, in February, 1826, to Mr. Davies Gil- bert on the subject, enforcing the plan by additional proofs of its practicability, and offering his sei-vices : " Should the Council of the Royal Society think that I could be advantageously employed in conducting such an investigation, my services, as you well know, are at their command." He has, however, been reserved for a more laborious and not a less important task. The geographical deter- mination of the direction and intensity of the magnetic forces at different points of the earth's surface has been regarded as an object worthy of especial research. To examine, in different parts of the globe, the declination, inclination, and intensity of the magnetic force, and their periodical and secular variations, and mutual rela- tions and dependencies, could only be duly investigated in fixed magnetical obsei-vatories. On the Continent some such observatories were established, to which, in the year 1836, the attention of British philosophers was 106 ARCTIC VOYAGES. specifically drawn by a letter from the Baron von Hum- boldt to the Duke of Sussex, then President of the Royal Society. In consequence thei-eof, obsei-vatories for this special purpose were established at Greenwich, Dublin, Canada, Hobart Town, St. Helena, Cape of Good Hope, and other places. The observations made at Toronto have been received, examined, and printed, under the superintendence of Lieutenant-colonel Sabine — a work of extraordinary care and labor.* He has undertaken, besides, to examine and arrange the rest as they come in, which it is expected will be in the course of the present year, 1845. The volume now printed is inti'oduced by an able and well-written preface by Col- onel Sabine. * See note in Introduction, p. 17. \ CAPTAIN PARRY S SECOND VOYAGE. 107 CHAPTER VI. CAPTAIN PARRY'S SECOND VOYAGE. 1821-22-23. Journal of a Second Voyage for the Discovery of a North- west Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in his Maj- esty^s ships Fury and Hecla. The two vessels appointed for this voyage were strong and well-built bombs : the Fury, of 377 tons, and the Hecla, 375 tons ; commanded, officered, and manned as under : Hecla. Geo. Francis Lyon, Conuuander. Hen. Perkyns Hoppner, l-r . „. Charles Palmer, ' jLieuts. Alexander Fisher, Surgeon. John Jermain, Purser. AUan M'Laren, Assist. Surgeon. Joseph Sherer, "| Charles Richards, 1 Midship- W. Nelson Griffiths, f men. Edward Bird, J WDham Mogg, Clerk, n Officers. Joseph Macklin, Gunner. Joseph LiUy, Boatswain. Charles Piirfiu-, Carpenter. George Fife, Greenland Master. Alexander Elder, do. Mate. 5 Warrant Officers. 11 Petty Officers. 24 Able Seamen, 7 Marines. 58 Total on board. George Francis Lton was a smart, clever lieuten- ant, at first appointed as acting in the Berwick by Sir Edward PeUew ; he was wounded in an attack made on that ship's boats, and had his commission confirmed to her in 1814. He was then appointed to the Albion, and was in the battle of Algiers in 1816. Being of an adventurous turn, while he was serving in the squadron under Sir Charles Penrose, he asked and obtained per- FUEY. W. Edward Parry, Commander. George Fisher, Chaplain and As- tronomer, John Edwards, Surgeon. W. Har\-ey Hooper, Purser. James Skeoch, Assist. Surgeon. John Henderson, '\ Fr. R. M. Crozier, V Midshipmen. Jas. Clarke Ross, ) John Bushnan, Assistant Sur- veyor and Midshipman. James Hulse, Clerk. 12 Officers. 5 Warrant Officers. 11 Petty Officers. 24 Able Seamen. 8 Mai-ines (including 1 Sergeant). 60 Total on board. 108 ARCTIC VOYAGES. mission from Sir Charles to join Mr. Ritchie, a gentle- man appointed on a mission to Tripoli, Mourzouk, and other parts of North Africa, who was most desirous of having a naval officer to accompany him. Ritchie died shortly after, and Lyon succeeded him ; who concluded, reasonably enough, that among the Arab tribes the lieu- tenant might advantageously take upon him the title of captain — a rank which, it appears, he nominally carried into the present voyage of discoveiy. On his appoint- ment to the Hecla he received the rank of commander, and on the return of the ships in 1823 was raised to that of captain. Many of the officers who had served on the first voy- age were employed on this : Hoppner, as lieutenant of the Hecla ; Edwards, as surgeon ; Midshipman Palm- er, as lieutenant of the Hecla. The midshipmen NiAS and Reid were promoted as lieutenants of the Fury, and Ross, Bushnan, and Griffiths remained to sei-ve as midshipmen. Hooper, the purser, and Hulse, the clerk, each continued, as did Allison and Crawford, the Green- land master and mate, in the service, and aboard the Fury. She had also four midshipmen : two new ones, John Henderson and F. R. M. Crozier, besides Ross and Bushnan, who had served in the preceding voyage. Commander Parry observing on the late expeditioit a large inlet, not less than ten leagues wide at its mouth, crpening out on the southern coast of Barrow's Strait, and extending southernly, with an inclination to the westward, ran the ships into it, and continued to the southward about one hundred and twenty miles. The soundings were found to be two hundred fathoms and upward. The closeness of the ice, however, to the southwest induced him to return to the northward ; but his impression was, that this sti'ait might lead to the coast of America, and that the east and west lands which enclose it were probably islands ; and he says, " On an inspection of the charts, I think it will also ap- pear probable that a communication will one day be found to exist between this inlet and Hudson's Bay, either through the broad and unexplored channel called Sir Thomas Roe's Welcome, or through Repulse Bay, which has not yet been satisfactorily examined. It is 109 also probable that a channel will be found to exist be- tween the western land and the northern coast of America." In the passage above quoted a foundation appears to have been laid for a voyage, if not two, in farther search of a northwest passage. That search was not likely to be abandoned when so experienced and talented a man as Commander Parry pointed out what appeared to be a channel by which a passage might be found through the western laud to the northern coast of America. Accordingly, in a few months after his return fiom the last voyage, on the 30th of December, 1820, a commis- sion was signed appointing him commander of the Fuiy, and on the 4th of Januaiy Lieutenant Lyon was ap- pointed commander of the Hecla. His majesty having, on the representation of Lord Melville, ordered another attempt to be made to discover a passage by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and to ascertain the geogiaphy of the northern boundaries of the American continent, Parry's instruc- tions were to proceed toward or into Hudson's Strait. He was then to penetrate to the westward through that strait until he should reach, either in Repulse Bay or on some other part of the shore of Hudson's Bay, to the north of Wager River, some portion of the coast which he should feel convinced to be a portion of the continent of America. Failing of this, he was then to keep along the line of this coast to the northward, always examining every bend or inlet which should appear likely to afford a practicable passage to the westward, in which direc- tion it was the principal object of the voyage to endeavor to find a way from the Atlantic to the Pacific* These insti'uctions were sufficiently explicit, and accorded with the view taken by Commander Parry in his naiTative of the former voyage. On the 8th of May, 1821, the Fury and Hecla, ac- companied by the Nautilus transport (freighted with stores and provisions to be transhipped on arriving at the ice), sailed from the Nore, and, owing to bad weather, it was not tiU the 14th of June that they found them- selves in latitude 60° 48', and saw the first iceberg. At * Admiralty Insti'uctions. K 110 ARCTIC VOYAGES. the depth of 460 fathoms the temperature of the sea was 40°, that of the surface, 40^°, and that of the ah-, 414^°. On the 2d of July they were close to Resolution Island, the valleys of which were filled with snow, and, with the fog that hung over it, "rendered the scene before us indescribably dreary and disagreeable." " It requires," says Commander Pany, " a few days to be passed amid scenes of this nature to erase, in a certain degree, the impressions left by more animated land- scapes ; and not till then, perhaps, does the eye become familiarized, and the mind reconciled, to prospects of utter baiTenness and desolation such as these rugged shores present." The numerous icebergs, of which Commander Lyon counted fifty -four in sight at one time, some of them not less than two hundred feet above the sea, were not calculated to enliven the scene. On the 2d the ships were closely beset, though drift- ing rapidly about by the tides during the night. The ice consisted of loose masses of broken floes, among which the ships continued to be driven, sometimes in one di- rection and then in an opposite one ; and among these masses were counted thirty icebergs in sight at a time, many of them whirled about by the tides with great ra- pidity. Several of these immense bodies were from fif- ty to ninety feet above the surface of the sea, each prob- ably almost as many fathoms below it. The command- er, however, states that the bergs which thus drive about are less dangerous to approach than those aground, against which a ship is Uable to be cai-ried with the whole force of the tide. On the 8th they were still drifting about among the ice, close to Resolution Island, without knowing, during the night, in what du'ection they were carried ; but when it cleared up, they were surprised to find the Hecla elev- en or twelve miles to the westward, though stiU beset in the ice. On the 9th the ice closed round them, and they remained immovably beset for a week, though carried by it daily from one to four miles. This is precisely what was alluded to at the conclusion of the last expe- dition ; and it appears that the two ships were in less danger (in fact, there was none) than those on the shore of Melville Island. They were still, however, in the en- CAPTAIN parry's SECOND VOYAGE. Ill trance only of Hudson's Sti*ait, which, being exposed to the swell of the main ocean, and completely open to the influence of the whole Atlantic, has always been consid- ered, by the ships of the Hudson's Bay Company, a most dangerous and difficult position : three of these were seen here in a similar predicament with the discov- ery ships. In proceeding up the strait, several Esqui- maux canoes, or kayaks, made then- appearance, offer- ing seal and whale oO, spears, skins of the seal, bear, fox, &c., for sale. After them came a large oomiak, or woman's boat ; their filthy customs, however, disgusted the seamen, who gave them no sort of encouragement. "On the whole," says Parry, " it was impossible for us not to receive a very unfavorable impression of the general behavior and moral character of the natives of this part of Hudson's Strait, who seem to have acquired, by an annual intercourse with our ships for nearly a hun- dred years, many of the vices which unhappily attend a first intercourse with the civilized world, without having imbibed any of the virtues or refinements which adorn and render it happy." Having reached Southampton Island, near its northern extremity, where the continuity of the land appeared to be dissolved. Parry concluded they were not far from the eastern enti-ance of the Frozen Strait, which had occasioned so much angry discussion, a hundred years ago, as to whether any such strait existed, or whether it was not a chimera invented by Captain Middleton. As this geographical point had never been decided, Par- ry had some difficulty in determining the question of trying it or not, as, in his present position with regard to Repulse Bay, which he was ordered to examine, the distance was not more by passing that strait than fifty leagues, whereas, if compelled to pursue a route round the south end of Southampton Island, it would make the distance from one hundred and seventy to two hundred leagues. " After the most anxious consideration, I came to the resolution of attempting the direct passage of the Frozen Strait, though, I confess, not without some ap- prehension of the risk I was incurring, and of the seri- ous loss of time which — in case of failure, either from the non-existeuce of the strait, or from the insuperable 112 ARCTIC VOYAGES. obstacles which its name implies — ^would thus be inevi- tably occasioned to the expedition." His decision was right ; and, though much hampered by floes, and hommocs, and packs of ice, he was stUl less so than in the neighborhood of Resolution Island; and he was rewarded by the discovery, not far from its entrance, of what he calls " a magnificent bay," which the otficers honored with the name of the " Duke of York's Bay," having been first entered on his birthday. It is situated on the northeasterp extremity of South- ampton Island. The bay, however, on the western side was shut in by alow shore, which it was concluded could be no other than " the low, sliingly beach, like Dungen- ess," of Middleton. He found it necessary, therefore, to retrace his steps, and to encounter once more the Frozen Sti-ait, with its rocks and islets, its irregular tides and hommocs of float- ing ice ; and what was, perhaps, worse than all, dark, foggy weather, with compasses that had almost lost their action. He soon, however, got into water nearly free from ice, which allowed him to proceed westerly, but entirely by the lead for five or six hours, when, on the weather clearing up, he found himself almost entirely surrounded by land, " having unconsciously entered Re- pulse Bay, in which not a piece of ice was to be seen that could obsti'uct us in its thorough examination." This full examination was certainly given to it; and whatever doubts might hitherto have been entertained respecting its communication with the Polar Sea, Com- mander Parry and his party, by their complete investi- gation of the whole of its shores, have set that question entirely at rest. The boats entered every little creek and corner, " and thus was the question settled as to the continuity of land round Repulse Bay, and the doubts and conjectures which had so long been entertained re- specting it set at rest forever." Parry takes the oppor- tunity, moreover, of doing ample justice to that injured and persecuted navigator, Captain Middleton. " The whole account," he says, " that he has given of this bay, with the exception of its geographical position, is in gen- eral very accurate, particularly in the appearance of the lands, their relative situation, and in the nature and depth CAPTAIN PARR Y*S SECOND VOYAGE. 113 of the soundings." And with respect to the Frozen Strait, there can be little doubt, he says, that the account which Middleton has given of its appearance, as seen from Cape Frigid, is in the main a faithful one : " Above all, the accuracy of Captain Middleton is manifest upon the point most strenuously argued against him by Mr. Dobbs ; for our subsequent experience has not left the smallest doubt of Repulse Bay, and the northern part of the Welcome, being filled with a rapid tide, flowing into it from the eastward, through the Frozen Strait." The appearance of the shores of Repulse Bay was far from uninviting. " The suiTounding land rose from six or seven hundred to a thousand feet, and there was no want of vegetation usually found in this part of the Arctic regions, and in many parts it was extremely lux- uriant." Reindeer and hares were plentiful ; so were ducks, dovekies, and snow -buntings. Several black whales also were obseiTed in the bay. In one spot the remains of no less than sixty Esquimaux habitations were found, consisting of stones laid one over the other, in very regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter ; be- sides about a hundred artificial structures, fireplaces, store-houses, and other walled enclosures four or five feet high, used for keeping their skin canoes from being gnawed by the dogs. In various parts of the shore were found numbers of circles of stones, which were supposed to have been burying-places, a human skull being found near one of them. Among these stones the Hudson mouse was very abundant. " I do not know," says Par- ry, "whether the seals' flesh remaining on some of the bones was any attraction to these creatures, but it is cer- tain that, when two of them were put together into a cage, the larger killed the other, and ate a part, of it." Commander Parry having now satisfactorily deter- mined the non-existence of a passage to the westward through Repulse Bay, he was next, in compliance with his instructions, " to keep along the line of this coast to the northward, always examining every bend or inlet, which might appear likely to aflford a practicable passage to the westward ;" and he congratulates himself on hav- ing reached this point so early, and especially " at hav- ing passed, almost without impediment, the strait to 8 K 2 114 ARCTIC VOYAGES. which, on nearly the same day seventy-nine years be- fore, so forbidding a name had been applied." He had not yet, however, got rid of that formidable strait, with its obnoxious name. In coasting down the northern shore of Repulse Bay, it was necessary again to cross the northern part of the Frozen Strait, and pass through Kurd's Channel, which was nearly blocked up by Bushnan Island, leaving only a narrow passage at each extremity to get to the eastward ; and, when pass- ed, other islands and narrow channels occur, among which were found such rapid tides, hurling large masses of ice about, as to carry the ships every moment into imminent danger. And when they had in some meas- ure got through this labyrinth, after long, anxious, and toilsome labor, a fresh gale from the northward, on the 3d of September, drifted the large floe of ice to which the ships were attached to a greater distance than " I ever remember," says Parry, " to have happened before in the same time under any circumstances." But the most mortifying of all was the discovery that, after all their toil, they had been driven back past Baffin Island toward the two remarkable hills on Southampton Island, from which they were at noon not more than seven or eight leagues distant. " Thus," says Parry, " after a laborious investigation, which occupied one month, we had, by a concurrence of unavoidable circumstances, re- turned to nearly the same spot as that on which we had been on the 6th of August. This untoward event may serve to show the value of even the smallest geographi- cal information, in seas where not an hour must be thrown away or unprofitably employed." The whole of this voyage, from the first entrance of Hudson's Strait to the point now reached, has proved so harassing, so unproductive, and so dangerous withal, as to have required from him who had the conducting of it a more than ordinary share of patience, persever- ance, and equanimity, possessing a temper not easily to be ruffled ; and such an officer was PaiTy. His great object, when in exti'eme difficulty, he tells us, was to cheer up the spirits of his people, and to keep them constantly on the alert and moving whenever such difficulty occun-ed, even when there was no prospect of CAPTAIN parry's SECOND VOYAGE. 115 the ships* stirring ; to keep, in short, both their bodies and minds in a state of activity. Thus he says on the present disheartening occasion, " In the afternoon an attempt was made to move, for the mere sake, it must be confessed, of moving and keeping the people on the alert, rather than with the slightest prospect of gaining any.gi'ound." Indeed, throughout the whole of his Arctic voyages of discovery, the resources of his own mind never failed to supply the means of conveying a happy state of con- tentment into the minds of those who were serving under him, and of gaining their confidence. The pres- ent was a tiying moment. The 5th of September had ari'ived, the navigable season had nearly expired, and they were only at the commencement of their discov- eries. By the 15th of September, however, they had examined numerous inlets and openings on the Ameri- can coast, and among others, a very extensive and deep one, to which PaiTy gave the name of Lyon's Inlet. Various creeks and coves were also examined by the boats ; but the continuity of the land was every where determined, and no passage found to the westward. They feU in with a small tiibe of Esquimaux, whose habitations were visited, and the inmates found to be " a good-humored and decent sort of people." One lad, in particular, is described as " uncommonly quick and clever in comprehending our meaning, and seemed to possess a degi-ee of good-humor and docility which, on our short acquaintance, made him a great favorite among us." In some of the bays and inlets the ice remained fixed and unbroken, and, as far as could be seen, grounded along the coast. Still they proceeded, passing by no creek or inlet without landing or boating to examine it thoroughly. On the 1st of October some rain fell, which, immediately freezing, made the decks and ropes as smooth and slippery as glass. For several days be- fore, the thermometer had permanently fallen below the freezing point ; and the rapid formation of young ice near the shores gave pretty evident notice of the ap- proach of winter. On the 6th of October, Parry says, " There being now only an hour's daylight remaining, 116 ARCTIC VOYAGES. the young ice fast increasing, and a strong tide running in the offing, I was obliged to relinquish the idea of moving till the morning." On the 8th the thermome- ter was down to zero, and the sea was covered with young ice, of which we have the folloAving description : " The formation of young ice upon the surface of the water is the circumstance which most decidedly begins to put a stop to the navigation of these seas, and warns the seaman that his season of active operations is nearly at an end. It is indeed scarcely possible to conceive the degree of hinderance occa- sioned by this impediment, trifling as it always appears be- fore it is encoontered. When the sheet has acquired a thick- ness of about half an inch, and is of considerable extent, a ship is liable to be stopped by it unless favored by a strong and free wind ; and even when still retainiag her way through the water, at the rate of a mile an hour, her course is not always under the control of the helmsman, though assisted by the nicest attention to the action of the sails, but depends upon some accidental increase or decrease in the thickness of the sheet of ice, with which one bow or the other comes in contact. Nor is it possible in this situation for the boats to render their usual assistance, by running out lines or other- wise ; for, having once entered the young ice, they can only be propelled slowly through it by digging the oars and boat- hooks into it, at the same time breaking it across the bows, and by rolling the boat from side to side. After contiiming this laborious work for some time with little good effect, and considerable damage to the planks ' and oars, a boat is often obliged to return the same way that she came, backing out in the canal thus formed to no purpose. A ship in this help- less state, her sails in vain expanded to a favorable breeze, her ordinary resources failing, and suddenly arrested in her course upon the element through which she has been accus- tomed to move without restraint, has often reminded me of Gulliver tied down by the feeble hands of Lilliputians ; nor are the struggles she makes to effect a release, and the appa- rent insignificance of the means by v^rhich her efforts are op- posed, the least just or the least vexatious part of the resem- blance."— P. 116, 117. The expediency of fixing upon some eligible place for the security of the ships for the winter could no longer be doubted nor delayed. A small island lying off the northern point of the entrance into Lyon's Inlet was agreed upon by the two commanders, being found to afford good anchorage on its southern coast. " We CAPTAIN PARRY S SECOND VOYAGE. 117 now," says Parry, "for the first time walked on board the ships, and before night we had them moved into their places by sawing a canal for two or three hundred yards through the ice." He adds : " In reviewing the events of this our first season of naviga- tion, and considering what progress we had made toward the attainment of our main object, it vras impossible, howevei* trifling that progress might appear upon the chart, not to ex- perience considerable satisfaction. Small as our actual ad- vance had been toward Behring's Strait, the extent of coast newly discovered and minutely explored in pursuit of our objects, in the course of the last eight weeks, amounted to more than 200 leagues, nearly half of which belonged to the continent of North America. This service, notwithstanding our constant exposure to the risks which intricate, shoal, and unknown channels, a sea loaded with ice, and a rapid tide concurred in presenting, had providentially been effected without injury to the ships, or suffering to the officers and men ; and we had now once more met with tolerable security for the ensuing winter, when obliged to relinquish farther operations for the season. Above all, however, I derived the most sincere satisfaction from a conviction of having left no part of the coast from Repulse Bay eastw^ard in a state of doubt as to its connection with the continent. And as the main-land, now in sight from the hills, extended no farther to the eastward than about a N.N.E. bearing, we ventured to indulge a sanguine hope of our being very near the north- eastern boundary of America, and that the early part of the next season would find us employing our best efforts in push- ing along its northern shoi-es." — P. 118. Being now fixed in their winter quarters, it is scarcely necessary to say that the first and earhest attention of the provident commander was directed to the security of the ships, the arrangements for the preservation of cleanliness, health, and comfort during a long prospect- ive winter, as well as for the economical expenditure of provisions, fuel, and all other stores. At first, and for some time, apprehension was entertained respecting the security of the ships in an open roadstead facing the south, as the grounded masses on the shores of the bay began to show symptoms of instability, one or two hav- ing fallen over, and others turned round, so that, instead of being a protection, these masses might be looked upon rather as dangerous neighbors ; other circumstances 118 ARCTIC VOYAGES. were calculated to excite apprehensions of danger, but, happily, they escaped them all ; and the ships, once frozen in and beset by solid ice, remained firm as rocks. It may be quite certain that nothing was omitted by Parry tliat could tend to the health and comfort of his crew, as due attention to cleanliness, superior warmth, drying of clothes, ahing the bedding, and sleeping in hammocs, by which ventilation is materially promoted. He says : '•' While care was thus taken to adopt all physical means within our reach for the maintenance of health and comfort among the crews, recourse was also bad to some of a moral nature, which experience has shown to be useful auxiliaries ia the promotion of these desix-able objects. It would, per- haps, iudeed be difficult to imagine a situation in which cheer- fulness is more to be desired, or less likely to be maintained, than among a set of persons (and those persons seamen too) secluded for an uncertain and indefinite period fiom the rest of the world ; having little or no employment but that which is in a manner created to prevent idleness, and subject to a degree of tedious monotony ill according with their usual habits. It was not, however, simply as a general principle, apphcable in a greater or less degree to aU situations and societies, that the preservation of cheei'fulness and good hu- mor was in our case particularly desirable, but as imme- diately connected with the prevention of that disease to which our crews were most liable, and which indeed, in all human probability, we had alone any cause to dread. The astonish- mg effects produced by the passions of the mind, in inducing or removing scorbutic symptoms, are too weU known to need confirmation or to admit of doubt ; those calculated to excite hope and to impart a sensation of pleasure to the mind having been invariably found to aid in a surprising manner the cure of this extraordinary disease, and those of an opposite nature to aggravate its fatal malignity. As a source, therefore, of rational amusement to the men, I proposed to Commander Lyon and the officers of both ships once more to set on foot a series of theatrical entertainments, from which so much bene- ■fit in this way had on a former occasion been derived. This proposal was immediately and imanimoxisly acquiesced in. Lyon obligingly midertook to be our manager, and some preparation having been made for this purpose previous to leaving England, every thing was soon arranged for perform- ing a play on board the Fury once a fortnight. In this, as in more important matters, our fonner experience gave many 119 ttseful hints. Our theater was now laid out on a larger and more commodious scale ; its decorations much improved ; and, what w^as more essential both to actors and audience, a more efficient plan adopted for warming it, by which we succeeded in keeping the temperatm-e several degrees above zero on each night of performance throughout the winter." — P. 122, 123. And he adds, in a note, " I can not omit to mention that, just before w^e left Eng- land, a large and handsome phantasmagoria, or magic lan- tern, had been presented to me, for the use of the expedition, by a lady, who persisted ia keeping her name a secret from tiiose whom she was thus serving. This apparatus, which was excellent of its kind, was frequently resorted to during this and the succeeding winter ; and I am happy to avail my self' of this mode — the only one in my power — of thanking our benefactress, and assuring her that- her present afforded a fund of amusement, folly answering her kind intentions." No man was better acquainted with the character and feelings of seamen than Parry. He knew that mirth, and other excitements to cheerfulness, if too often re- peated with little or no variation, are apt to lose their effect. Fully aware of this, and with a view to higher objects, it did not escape his reflection that, during the long winter nights, when for a certain period the whole day was in fact a night, an opportunity might be afford- ed for instructing the men of both ships in at least the elementary parts of education. To this end he says, " To furnish rational and useful occupation to the men on the other evenings, a school w^as also estabhshed, under the voluntary superintendence of Mr. Hulse, for the instruction of such of the men as were wilHng to take advantage of this opportunity of learning to read and wiite, or of improving in those acquirements. The same plan was adopted on board the Hecla, Benjamin White, one of the seamen, who had been educated at Christ-church school, volunteering to officiate as schoolmaster. Tables were set up for the purpose in the midship part of the lower deck; some of the men, already thus qualified, undertook the task of assisting in the instruction of their shipmates ; and thus were about twenty individuals belonging to each ship occupied every evening, from six to eight o'clock. I made a point of visiting the school occasion- ally during the winter, by way of encouraging the men ia t^is praiseworthy occupation, and I can safely say that I hav9 120 ARCTIC VOYAGES. „ seldom experienced feelings of higher gratification than on this rare and interesting sight." — P. 123, 124. And well might he be gratified ; for we are assured by him, on the return of the ships to England, that " every man on board could read his Bible." Nor were the interests of science neglected while these domestic an-angements were in progress. A port- able observatory was erected for magnetical obsei-va- tions, and a house built for the reception of the requisite insti-uments for asti'onomical observations, and for various experiments recommended by a committee of the Roy- al Society. In short, nothing was neglected or omitted that could contiibute to the fulfillment of the instructions received by the commander of the expedition from the Lords of the Admiralty. An obsei-vation of PaiTy shows that the Arctic cli- mate, equally with our ow^n, is influenced by a change of the wind. Thus, on the 20th of October, when the wind was N.N.W., the thermometer feU to — 10° ; but veering to the S.E. on the 24th and 25th, it rose to 4-23°. " I may possibly," he says, " incur the charge of affectation in stating that this temperature was much too high to be agi'eeable to us ; but it is, nevertheless, the fact, that every body felt and complained of the change. This is explained by their clothing, bedding, fires, and other precautions against the severity of the climate, having been once adapted to a low degree of cold, an increase of temperature renders them oppress- ive and inconvenient." Another circumstance is men- tioned, which may serve to confirai a conjecture which has long been maintained by some, that an open sea, free of ice, exists at or near the Pole. " On the 2d of November " says PaiTy, " the wind, fi'eshened up to a gale from N. by W., lowered the thermometer before midnight to — 5°, whereas a rise of wind at Melville Island was generally accompanied by a simultaneous rise in the thermometer at low temperatures. May not this," he asks, " be occasioned by the wind blowing over an open sea in the quarter from which the wind blows, and tends to confirm the opinion that at or near the Pole an open sea free of ice exists ?" If the ice which a sin- gle night of six months' continuous duration must pro- duce were not dispersed by the current that is known 121 to exist, and which the Pole itself may probably be the cause of producing, the north wind, instead of being cold and boisterous, would be mild. The aurora and haloes round the sun and moon were of frequent appearance, but none of them very remarkable. The magnetic nee- dle, attentively watched, was not found to be at aU af- fected by any of these phenomena. The shortest day passed without any interest being attached to it. " On a former occasion, novelty and the peculiarity of our situation gave it importance. Now the case was very different; their wintering was no longer an experiment ; their comforts were greatly in- creased, and the prospect of an early release as favor- able as could be desired." On Christmas-day divine sei-vice was performed on board the Fury, and attended by the officers and crews of both ships ; an additional allowance of provisions was issued, " and the day was marked by the most cheerful hilanty, accompanied by the utmost regularity and good order." Among the lux- uries was a joint of good English roast beef, preserved by the outside being rubbed with salt. The last day of the year brought with it the high gratification of obsei-v- ing the excellent health and spirits enjoyed by almost every officer and man in both ships. The one invalid was so much improved that sanguine hopes were enter- tained of his continued amendment. Having provided for the employment and recreation of the men, Parry still seemed to think that it might be imagined, as, indeed, had been anticipated, that want of novelty was a disadvantage likely to render the confine- ment of the officers more tedious than before at MelviUe Island ; but this, he says, was not the case ; the men had always employment enough to prevent their being idle, though not, perhaps, sufficient to prevent unpleasant thoughts from occasionally obtruding themselves ; but the officers also had mostly resources within themselves. With regard to them, he observes, that " what with reading, writing, making and calculating observations, ob- sei-ving the various natural phenomena, and taking the exercise necessary to preserve our health, nobody, I be- lieve, ever felt any symptoms of ennui during onr con- tinuance in winter quarters." He adds : L 122 ARCTIC VOYAGES. ' " Among the recreations which afforded the highest gratifi- cation to several among us, I may mention the musical parties we were enabled to muster, and which assembled, on stated evenings throughout the winter, alternately ia Commander Lyon's cabin and in my own. More skillful amateurs m music might well have smiled at these, our humble concerts ; but it will not incline them to think less of the science they admire to be assured that, in these remote and desolate regions of the globe, it has often furnished us with the most pleasurable sensa- tions which our situation was capable of affording ; for, inde- pendently of the mere gratification afforded to the ear by music, there is, perhaps, scarcely a person in the world, really fond of it, in whose mind its sound is not more or less connected with 'his far-distant home.' There are always some remem- brances which render them inseparable, and those associations are not to be despised which, w^hile w^e are engaged in the pei-formance of our duty, can still occasionally transport us into the social circle of our friends at home, in spite of the oceans that roll between us, " With our time thus occupied, our comforts so abundant, and the prospect to seaward so enlivening, it would indeed have been our own faults had w^e felt any thing but enjoyment in our present state, and the most Hvely hopes and expecta- tions for the future." — P. 148. The first day of the new year is described as being a very severe one in the open air, the thermometer down to — 22°, and the wind blowing strong from the N.W., on which it may be observed, that .the effect of a strong breeze on the feelings, even in temperate climates, is well known, but at low temperatures it becomes painful and almost insupportable. " Thus," says Parry, " with the thermometer at — 55°, and no wind stirring, the hands may remain uncovered for ten minutes or a quar- ter of an hour without inconvenience ; while, with a fresh breeze, and the thermometer nearly as high as zero, few people can keep their hands exposed so long without considerable pain." By means of Sylvester's stove, however, and a judicious arrangement of the flues, no inconvenience was felt in the ships, even at the tem- perature of — 59°. During the cold month of January frequent opportu- nities occurred of making a variety of meteorological observations on the Aurora Borealis, on parhelia, and paraselenae, and, at the same time, Mr. Fisher was fully CAPTAIN parry's SECOND VOYAGE. 123 employed in obsers^ing the dip, variation, and inclination of the magnetic needle. The electrometer was frequent- ly applied to the mast-head chain, and the magnetic needle constantly watched during all the appearances of the Aurora ; but neither of these was on any one oc- casion sensibly afifected. Franklin, it may be obsei-ved, on the shores of the Polar Sea, found it otherwise. On the 1st of February a new source of novelty and amusement most unexpectedly presented itself in the approach of some stiange people toward the ships. But Pany must describe the interview. " On the morning of the 1st of February it was reported to me that a number of strange people were seen to the west- ward, coming toward the ships over the ice. On directing a glass toward them w^e found them to be Esquimaux, and also discovered some appearance of huts on shore at the dis- tance of two miles from the ships, m the same direction. I immediately set out, accompanied by Commander Lyon, an officer from each ship, and two of the men, to meet the na- tives, who, to the number of five-and-twenty, were drawn up in a line abreast, and still advanced slowly toward us. As we approached nearer they stood still, remaining as before, in a compact line, fi-om which they did not move for some time after we reached them. Nothing could exceed their quiet and orderly behavior on this occasion, which presented a veiy striking contrast with the noisy demeanor of the natives of Hudson's Strait. They appeared at a distance to have arrows in their hands, but what we had taken for bows or spears proved to be only a few blades of w^halebone, which they had brought either as a peace-offering or for barter, and w^hich we immediately purchased for a few small nails and beads. Some of the women, of whom there were three or four, as well as two children, in this party, having handsome clothes on, which attracted our attention, they began, to our utter astonishment and consternation, to strip, though the thermometer stood at 23° below zero. We soon found, how- ever, that there was nothing so dreadful in this as we at first imagined, every individual among them having on a complete double suit. The whole were of deer skin, and looked both clean and comfortable." — P. 159. This party conducted themselves with great decomm, and without any apprehension visible on theh counte- nances or manner ; therefore, as soon as all that they had to sell had been pui-chased, a wish was expressed by 124 ARCTIC VOYAGES. signs to accompany them to their huts. The description which follows is curious and interesting : " When it is remembered that these habitations were fully within sight of the ships, and how many eyes were continually on the look-out among us for any thing that could afford variety or interest in our present situation, our surprise may in some degree be imagined at finding an establishment of five huts, w^ith canoes, sledges, dogs, and above sixty men, women, and children, as regularly, and to all appearance as permanently fixed, as if they had occupied the same spot for the whole winter. If the first view of the exterior of this little village w^as such as to create astonishment, that feelmg was in no small degree heightened on accepting the invitation soon given us to enter these extraordiaaiy houses, in the construc- tion of which we observed that not a single material was used but snow and ice. After creeping through two low passages, having each its arched door-way, we came to a. small circular apartment, of w^hich the roof was a perfect arched dome. From this three door-ways, also arched and of larger dimen- sions than the outer ones, led into as many inhabited apart- ments, one on each side, and the other facing us as we en- tered. The interior of these presented a scene no less novel than interesting. The -women v^rere seated on the beds at the sides of the huts, each having her little fireplace, or lamp, vdth all her domestic utensils about her ; the children crept behind their mothers, and the dogs, except the female ones^ which were indulged w^ith a part of the beds, slunk out past us in dismay. The construction of this inhabited part of the huts was similar to that of the outer apartment, being a dome formed by separate blocks of snow, laid with great regularity and no small art, each being cut into the shape requisite to form a substantial arch, from seven to eight feet high in the center, and having no support whatever but what this princi- ple of building supphed. I shall not here farther describe the peculiarities of these curious edifices, remarking only that a cheerfid and sufficient light was admitted to them by a cir- cular w^indow of ice, neatly fitted into the roof of each apart- ment." — P. 106. When we reflect how many volumes have been writ- ten, how much discussion has taken place, how much learned conjecture on the invention and origin of the arch, even in this later age, what merit are we prepared to bestow on one of the most rude, the most simple, and most isolated race of human beings that exist ? Nature, assisted perhaps by observation, has taught this people the true principle and construction of the arch. CAPTAIN parry's SECOND VOYAGE. 125 " "We found," says Parry, " oui^new acquaintance as desirous of pleasing us as we were ready to be pleased." A favorable impression was made on the first interview, which was not diminished during a constant intercourse of three or four months. These poor creatures, who, with all their unfortunate race, have been thrown by fate into the least habitable portions of the globe, amid eternal ice and snow, possess many valuable and amiable qualities, among some others that are less so, and are common to all savage or uneducated people. Those of the tribe here met with are described in then- behavior as being in the highest degree respectful, orderly, and good humored. They gave the voyagers every reas- on to believe that they possessed, in no ordinary de- gree, the quality of honesty — a quality not usually found among an uncivilized people; "but a quality," Pariy obsei-ves, " the more desirable to us, as we had on shore, besides the house and observatory, all our boats and other articles, which, had they been disposed to pilfer, it would have required aU our vigilance to guard. If we dropped a glove or a handkerchief with- out knowing it, they would immediately direct our atten- tion to it by pointing ; and if the owner had left the hut before they discovered it, they would run out after him to return it. Nay, more, if any thing happened to be left at the huts, they would travel down to the ships to return it to the owner. A pair of their dogs was pur- chased for the Hecla, which broke loose and disappear- ed ; but next day two were found chained up on board the Fury, which, on inquiry, proved to be the animals in question, and which had thus been faithfully restored to their rightful owners." Many other instances satis- fied the voyagers that dishonesty is not a prominent vice among these poor people. Judging from the sample who visited the ships at Winter Island, they exhibit none of those traits of stu- pidity by which they have generally been distinguished, but would rather appear to be lively and cheerful than to show any signs of dullness. Quiet and orderly, how- ever, as they were disposed to be on their first visit, they beti'ayed a strong inclination to merriment ; for Parry observes, that on Commander Lyon's ordering L 2 126 ARCTIC VOYAGES. his fiddler to exhibit upon the Hecla's deck, they danced with the seamen for an hour, and then returned in high glee and good humor to their huts. Another party took great delight in listening to the organ, and to any thing in the shape of music, singing, or dancing, of all which they appeared to be remarkably fond. The same party were asked to go through the pro- cess of building a snow -hut for the amusement and in- formation of the Europeans. " From the quickness," says Parry, "with which they completed this, our sur- prise at the sudden appearance of the village ceased, as we now saw that two or three hours would be more than sufficient to have completed the whole establish- ment just as we at first found it." The following day a number of natives came on board, according to prom- ise, to rebuild the hut in a more substantial manner, and to put a plate of ice in the roof as a window, which they did with great quickness as well as care, several of the women cheerfully assisting in the labor. The men seemed to take no small pride in showing in how expe- ditious and workmanlike a manner they could perform this ; and the hut, with its outer passage, was soon com- pleted. But they extend the use of this ti-ansparent material, applying that of frozen hommocs to other purposes. A sledge was required to cany a youth to some distance, and none at hand : . " We found, however, that a man, w^hom we had observed for some time at work among the hommocs of ice upon the beach, had been employed in cutting out of that abmidant material a neat and serviceable little sledge, hollo^red like a bowl or tray out of a sohd block, and smoothly romided at the bottom. The thong to which the dogs were attached was secured to a groove cut romid its upper edge ; and the young seal-catcher, seated in this simple vehicle, was dragged along with great convenience and comfort." — P. 206. Captain PaiTy being desirous of trying how far they might be disposed to pari with their children, proposed to buy a fine lad, named Toolooak, for the valuable con- sideration of a handsome butcher's knife. His father, apparently understanding the meaning, joyfully accepted the knife, and the boy set off in high spirits, and at first assisted in drawing a sledge ; but beginning, by some 127 additional signs, more clearly to comprehend the true meaning of his situation, took the opportunity to slink off among some hommocs of ice, so that, when the party arrived on board, Toolooak was missing. Toolooak, however, was a constant visitor to Pany, and considered himself fully privileged to find his w^ay into the cabin. " He sat with me," says Parry, " one day for a couple of hours, quietly drawing faces and animals, an occupation to which he took a great fancy , and we often were reminded by this circumstance of a similar propensity displayed by his amiable countryman, our lamented friend, John Sacldiouse." He goes on to say : " We soon found that Toolooak possessed a capacity equal to any thing he chose to take an interest in learning ; and could he, at his present age, have been voluntarily removed from his companions, and his atten- tion directed to the acquu'ement of higher branches of knowledge than that of catching seals, he would amply have repaid any pains bestowed upon his education." An overture made by Pai-ry to this effect, and of re- moving him, brought forward, as it was intended, a fine trait of feeling and character in this youth, and probably not uncommon in this too much despised people. Pany adds : " I had always entertained a great objection to taking away any such individual from his home, on the doubtful chance of benefiting himself, or of his doing any service to the pubHc as an interpreter. My scruples on this head had hitherto been confined to the consideration due to the individual him- self, and to the relatives he leaves behind. In our present case, how^ever, not the smallest public advantage could be de- rived from it; for it had long ago become evident that we shoidd soon know^ more of the Esquimaux language than any of them were likely to learn of English, in any reasonable pe- riod of time : I was, therefore, far from desu-ing to receive from Toolooak an answer in the affirmative, when I to-day plainly put the question to him, whether he w^ould go with me to Kabloona Noona (European country) ? Never was a more decisive negative given than Toolooak gave to this pro- posal. He eagerly repeated the word, Na-o (No), half a doz- en times, and then told me that if he went away his father would cry. This simple but irresistible appeal to paternal af- fection^ his decisive manner of making it, and the feelings by which his reply was e\'idently dictated, were just what could 128 ARCTIC VOYAGES. have been wished. No more could be necessary to convince those who witnessed it that these people may justly lay equal claim, with ourselves, to these common feehngs of our nature ; and having once satisfied myself of this, I determuied never again to excite in Toolooak's mind another disagreeable sen- sation by talking to him on this subject." — P. 173, 174. On an early visit to the huts, which was made by- Parry, he found only women and children, the men having gone on a seahng excursion; one of the former, named lUghuk, the mother of the lad Toolooak, favored him with a song, which, he says, gave proofs of her " having a remarkably soft voice, an excellent ear, and a gi'eat fondness for singing. We had, on then* first visit to the ships, remarked this trait in Iligliuk's dispo- sition when she was hstening, for the first time, to the sound of the organ, of which she seemed never to have enough, and almost every day she now began to display some symptom of that superiority of understanding for which she was so remarkably distinguished." This Esquimaux female was indeed a most extraor- dinaiy creature, and one that would have distinguished herself in any society, not merely by her musical cra- vings, for her whole soul appears to have been music, but more by her untaught intellectual powers. In her exhibition of the former quality, on various occasions, she is chargeable only with one of. the two vices which Horace brings against the whole tribe of singers in his day — omnibus cantoribus — so far from requiring to be coaxed, she was always most ready to sing ; but Parry says, " there was scarcely any stopping her when she had once begun." A party of her countrywomen were one day on board, when, to amuse them, the little band of flutes and violins was struck up, and also some songs, with which they were all delighted. " I feared," Parry says, " that some of them, especially Ilighuk, would have gone into fits with rapture when we introduced into our song some of their names mingled with our own." It was enough, we are told, for this interesting creature just to make the motion of turning the handle of the organ, which, conveying to her mind the idea of music, was always sure to put her immediately into high spu'its. CAPTAIN PARRY S SECOND VOYAGE. 129 A trait of the superior character and proud feeling of this remarkable female manifested itself at an early pe- riod, which, among many others, appears to be quite sufficient to prove that such persons as Iligliuk, her son Toolooak, and John Sackhouse, require but a moderate degree of education to give them a due place in civilized society. Parry says : '• On the 28tli of Febniary, Okotook (the husband of Ihgli- uk), with his wife, came on board, when an occurrence took place, which, as it shows the disposition of the Esquimaux, and especially of one of the most intelligent and interesting among them, I may here relate. Some time before, Ilgliuik, who, from the superior neatness and cleanliness with which she performed her work, was by this time in great request as a seamsti'ess, had promised to cover for me a little model of a canoe, and had in fact sent it to me by the sergeant of maiTnes, though I had not rightly imderstood from the latter from W'hich of the women it came. Believing that she had failed in her promise, I now taxed her with it, when she immedi- ately defended herself with considerable warmth and seri- ousness, but without making me comprehend her meaning. Finding that she was wasting her words upon me, she said no more till an hour afterward, when the sergeant accident- ally coming into the cabui, she, with the utmost composure, but with a decision of manner peculiar to herself, took hold of his arm to engage his attention, and then looking him stead- fastly in the face, accused him of not having faithfully execu- ted her commission to me. The mistake was thns instantly explained, and I thanked Ilighulc for her canoe ; but it is im- possible for me to describe the quiet, yet pi'oud satisfaction displayed in her countenance at having thus cleared herself from the imputation of a breach of promise." — P. 179, 180. But the superior intelligence of this exti'aordinaiy woman was, perhaps, most apptirent m the readiness with which she was made to comprehend the mode of communicating a knowledge of the geographical outhne of the sea-coast of the country, and of the islands that were near it. The first attempt of this kind was by placing several sheets of paper before Ihgliuk, and draw- ing roughly on a large scale an outline of the land about Repulse Bay and Lyon Inlet, and continuing it north- erly to the present winter station of the ships. The scale being large, it was necessary, when she came to the end of one piece of paper, to tack on another, till at 9 130 ARCTIC VOYAGES. length she had fiEed ten or twelve sheets, and had com- pletely lost sight of Winter Island at the other end of the table. Two charts, one made by Ihgliuk for Com- mander Lyon, are given (in the volume) on a reduced scale ; and very exti-aordinary they are, containing, though with much error, a general correct view of the coast, and of its communication with the western coast of the Polar Sea. Pariy says : " Being extremely desirous of obtaining more certain infor- mation on this part of the subject, it occurred to me to attempt the thing with Ilighuk on a smaller scale, such as might ena- ble her to keep in view, at the same time, eveiy part of the coast to be delineated. This attempt was also much favored by our having lately obtained the Esquimaux words for the four cardinal points of the horizon, which were, therefore, previously laid down by lines on the chart. Having, in addi- tion to this, delineated the usual portion of the coast, and made Iligliuk 'box the compass' repeatedly, so as to render her quite familiar with the exact relative position of the lands we had laid dov\Ti, we desired her to complete the rest, and to do it mikkce (small), when, with a countenance of the most grave attention and pecuhar iatelligence, she drew the coast of the continent beyond her own countiy , as lying nearly north from Winter Island. The most important part still remained, and it would have amused an unconcerned looker-on to have observed the anxiety and stispense depicted on the counte- nances of our part of the group till this was accomplished, for never w^ere the tracings of a pencil watched with more eager solicitude. Our surj^rise and satisfaction may therefore, in some degree, be imagined when, without taking it from the paper, Iligliuk brought the continental coast short romid to the westward, and afterward to the S.S.W., so as to come within three or four days' journey of Repulse Bay. The coun- try thus situated upon the shores of the Western or Polar Sea is called Akkoolee, and is inhabited by numerous Esquimaux ; and half w^ay between that coast and Repulse Bay Iligliuk drew a lake of considerable size, having small streams mn- niug from it to the sea on each side. To this lake her coun- tiymen are annually in the habit of resorting during the sum- mer, and catch there large fish of the salmon kind, while on the banks are found abmidance of reindeer. To the w-estw^ard of Akkoolee, as far as they can see from the hills, which she described as high ones, nothing can be distingiiislied but one wide-extended sea. Being desirous of seeing whether Iligli- uk would interfere with Wager River, as we know it to exist. CAPTIAN parry's SECOND VOYAGE. 131 I requested her to continue the coast-Hue to the southward of Akkoolee, when she immediately dropped the pencil, and said she knew no more about it." — P. 197, 198. Well might Pany consider this new information, thus unexpectedly opened to him, as a satisfactory prospect of his soon rounding the northeastern point of America, which, in point of fact, he subsequently discovered to be as, and ivhere, represented by this intelligent woman. To her alone, therefore, is the merit due of the discov- ery of the extreme northern boundary of America, or, which is the same thing, the northeastern extremity of that continent, which Captain Parry is told, in his in- sti'uctions, to be the object next to the finding a passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific. It is true that he might, in his progress along the coast on which he was about to proceed, have made the discovery, but the confidence he placed in the indication he had acquired from the Esqui- maux lady was sufficient to induce a more than common attention to the spot where it received full confirmation. Nor were the poAvers of mind in this superior woman confined to the love of music, or drawing, or needle-work; every thing she observed the people of the ships to be employed upon caught her attention. One day, accom- panied by her husband and son, they paid a visit to the ships, and the season for departure approaching, being desu'ous, says Parry, of entertaining them well, after providing abundance to eat, we showed them every thing about the ship that we thought likely to amuse them : " Of all the wonders they had ever witnessed on board, there was nothing that seemed to impress them so strongly with a sense of our superiority as the forge, and the work which the annorer performed with it. The welding of two pieces of iron especially excited their admiration, and I never saw HigHuk express so much astonishment at any thing be- fore. Even in this her superior good sense was observable, for it was evident that the utility of what she saw going on was what forced itself upon her mind ; and she watched ev- ery stroke of the hammer, and each blast of the bellows, with extreme eagerness, while numbers of other Esquimaux looked Dtupidly on, without expressing the smallest curiosity or in- terest in the operation, except by desiring to have some spear heads fashioned out by this means." — P. 210. Her attention to her husband, who was taken ill, was 132 ARCTIC VOYAGES. V8iy sti-iking. Having, together with him, been three hours on a sledge, Mr. Bushnan, who was of the party, told Parry that Iligliuk had scarcely taken her eyes off her husband's face the whole time, and seemed almost worn out with fatigue and anxiety. Her husband took a dose of physic for the first time in his life, and not without great dread ; " before he put the cup to his lips with one hand, he held on by his wife with the other, and she by him with both hers, as though they expected an explosion. Iligliuk had one side of her hair loose, and now loosened the other also, fancying Okotook to be worse ; for even in this sequestered corner of the globe disheveled locks bespeak mourning." Hers, however. Parry says, was not the mere semblance of giief, for she was really much distressed throughout the day. It is pleasing to dwell on these amiable traits of char- acter in one whom the world at large would set down, being an Esquimaux, as little, if it all, removed from the ordinary race of savages ; and it is only from such a man as Parry and his associates that her virtues, and her un- accountable strength and clearness of understanding, could have been brought out and duly appreciated. Would that, by making publicly known to the world this de- spised and persecuted race (for nothing short of per- secution could have driven them to take up their abode in these extreme parts of the glabe, amid ice and snow, where worse than Cimmerian darkness dwells for half the year) — would that they might be looked upon more generally than they are as rational beings, and ti-eated accordingly. Theirs, it must be confessed, is a most cruel and wretched lot, for whom any permanent relief appears to be hopeless, surrounded as they are in eveiy part of the coast-land bounding the dreary Polar Sea — in Asia, Europe, and America — and driven as they are into by-creeks and corners, or what is still worse, by the savage Indians of the northern parts of America, to the very shores of that sea — the Ultima Thule of all civih- zation — what hope, then, is there that any change or any exertion of humane and well-disposed communities can afford them relief from a state of perpetual oppres- sion, miseiy, and starvation ? At the same thne that Parry dwells with pleasure on CAPTAIN PARRY S SECOND VOYAGE. 133 the virtues and the superior understanding of Iligliuk, he is not blind to her failings, the chief of which appears to be vanity (to w^hich he has himself not a little contrib- uted), selfishness, and ingratitude. " I am compelled to acknowledge," he says, " that in proportion as the su- perior understanding of this extraordmaiy woman became more and more developed, her head (for what female head is indifferent to praise?) began to be turned with the general attention and numberless presents she re- ceived." She refused, it seems, on the eve of parting, Commander Lyon's request to her to make for him a few Httle models of their clothing ; " which," Parry ob- serves, " shows in a strong light that deep-rooted selfish- ness that, in numberless instances, detracted from the amiability of her disposition." It is not quite clear, from what occuiTed on the day that Okotook and Iligliuk came on board to pay their last visit, that PaiTy did not unintentionally ofiTend the pride of the latter. He says : " As these good folks found them- selves perfectly at home in my cabin, I was usually in the habit of continuing niy occupations when they were there without being disturbed by them. Being now en- gaged in writing, my attention was unexpectedly direct- ed toward them by Iligliuk's suddenly starting from her seat, moving quickly toward the door, and, without say- ing a word either to me or any of the officers present, hastening directly on deck. Okotook, indeed, as he fol- lowed her out of the cabin, turned round and said ' Good- by ;' and, without giving us time to return the compli- ment, they both hurried out of the ship, leaving us in some astonishment at this singular leave-taking." It is not unnatural to suppose that, after so long and friendly an intercourse, they should, on this particular visit, feel themselves somewhat neglected ; it could hardly be ex- pected that they should not feel, on such an occasion, an apparent indifference so contrary to the uniform atten- tion and kindness they had received. But Pany found a change had taken place in Iligliuk's conduct, and ex- plains the causes which gave rise to it. " I am, however, compelled to acknowledge that the supe- rior decency and even modesty of her behavior had com- bined, with her intellectual qualities, to raise her in our esti- M 134 ARCTIC VOYAGES. mation far above her compaBions ; and I often lieard otliers express, what I could not but agree m, that for Iligliuk alone, of all the Esquimaux women, that kind of respect would be entertained which modesty in a female never fails to com- mand in our sex. Thus regarded, she had always been free- ly admitted into the ships, the quarter-masters at the ga.ii gway never thinking of refusing entrance to the * wise v^oman,' as they called her. Whenever any explanation was necessary between the Esquimaux and us, Ihgliuk was sent for, quite as an interpreter; information was chiefly ob tamed through her, and she thus fomid herself rising into a degree of conse- quence to w^hich, but for us, she could never have attained. It may not, therefore, be wondered at if she became giddy with her exaltation, assuming airs which, though infinitely di- versified in their operation, according to circumstances, per- haps universally attend a too sudden accession of good for- tune in every child of Adam from the Equator to the Poles. The consequence \vas, Iligliuk was soon spoiled ; considered her admission into the ships, and most of the cabins, no lon- ger as an indulgence, but a right ; ceased to return the slight- est acknowledgment for any kindness or presents ; became listless and inattentive in unraveling the meaning of our ques- tions, and careless whether her answers conveyed the infor- mation we desired. In short, Ihgliuk in Febraaiy and Ili- gliuk ia Apiil were confessedly very different persons ; and it was at last amusing to recollect, though not veiy easy to per- suade one's self, that the woman who now sat demurely in a chair, so confidently expecting the notice of those around her, and she who had at first, with eager and wild delight, assist- ed in cutting snow for the buildmg of a hut, and with the hope of obtaining a suigle needle, ^vere actually one and the same individual." — P. 219, 220. Iligliuk was unquestionably altered and spoiled, and to Captain Pany and his associates was owing the meta- morphosis ; but it was a natural consequence, and could not be otherwise ; nor does the change in her conduct detract in any degi-ee from that quiet, orderly, and cheer- ful behavior which prevailed almost universally among the tribe to which she belonged. Of the peculiar habits, the disposition, the general char- acter, the resources and employments, and the state of society among these poor creatures, doomed to consume their lives in this countiy, the most dreary and dismal, perhaps, in the whole world, Parry has given a full ac- count in his concluding chapter. Here, however, th© CAPTAIN parry's SECOND VOYAGE. 135 occuiTences only will be mentioned. As a general one, it may be stated that, dming the months of March, April, and May, when they depend mostly on the capture of the seal and the wahus, which is attended with the gi'eat- est difficulty and watchfulness on the ice, the whole ti'ibe may be said to be hterally in a state of stai-vation. Had they not, indeed, on many occasions, been supplied from the ships, numbers of them must undoubtedly have perished of hunger. All the bread-dust was col- lected and presei'ved for their use ; yet, in the height of their distress, they appeared never to be deprived of that happy and cheerful temper of mind, and that good hu- mor which they naturally possessed, and preserved, even when severely pinched by hunger and cold, and wholly deprived, for days together, of food, and light, and fuel, privations to which they were constantly liable. But no calamity of this kind, frequently as it occurs, has taught them to be provident. They live but from day to day : with them it is always a feast or a famine ; they wiU eat at any period of the day when victuals are to be had, from five to eight pomids of animal food. From May to October, when the migratory animals have arrived from the southwai'd — the musk-ox, the reindeer, the hares, the swans, and various other fowls and quadrupeds — they are able to procure a good supply of food ; and those few who add frugality to their industiy, contrive to pound the flesh with the fat of the animal, and make a little of what they call pcmmican, for preservation — a compound well known to our Arctic voyagers. In the early part of April, some of the tribe that frequented the Winter Island began to migrate from the seashore to the west- ward in quest of food ; and the change of scene in their once happy vUlage, and more especially in their clean and comfortable snow huts while new, is thus described : " On going out to the village, we found one half of the peo- ple had quitted their late habitations, taking with them ev- ery article of their property, and had gone over the ice, we knew not where, in quest of more abundant food. The wretched appearance which the interior of the huts now pre- sented baffles all description. In each of the larger ones some of the apartments were either wholly or in part desert- ed, the very snow which composed the beds and fireplaces 136 ARCTIC VOYAGES. haviag been turned up, that no article might be left behind. Even tlie bare walls, whose original color was scarcely per- ceptible for lampblack, blood, and other filth, were not left perfect, large holes having been made ia the sides and roofs for the convenience of handing out the goods and chattels. The sight of a deserted habitation is at all times calculated to excite in the muid a sensation of dreaiiness and desolation, especially when we have lately seen it fiUed with cheerful inhabitants ; but the feehng is even heightened rather than diinuiished when a small portion of these inhabitants remain behind to endure the wretchedness which such a scene ex- hibits. This was now the case at the village, where, though the remauiing tenants of each hut had combuied to occupy one of the apartments, a great part of the bed-places were still bare, and the wmd and drift blowing in through the holes which they had not yet taken the trouble to stop up. The old man Hikkeiera and his wife occupied a hut by them- selves, without any lamp or a single ounce of meat belongiag to them ; while three small skins, on which the former was lying, were all that they possessed ia the way of blankets. Upon the whole, I never beheld a more miserable spectacle, and it seemed a charity to hope that a violent and constant cough w^ith which the old man was afflicted would speedily combiae with his age and infiiTnities to release him from his present sufferings. Yet in the midst of all this he was even cheerful, nor was there a gloomy coimtenance to be seen at the village."— P. 201, 203. There is something very extraordinaiy, as it would appear, in the physical constitution of these people. At this moment, when in want of eveiy kind of subsistence, and kept ahve by the distribution of bread-dust, on a hint from the commander that he wished the females to let him witness some of their games, the proposal was scarcely made before every female that was left in the village, not excepting even the oldest of them, joined in the performance of singing and in never-ceasing merri- ment and laughter. " Neither the want of food and fu- el, nor the uncertain prospect of obtaining any that night, were sufficient to deprive these poor creatures of that cheerfulness and good humor which it seems at all times their peculiar happiness to enjoy." Theb hilarity was not disturbed this night, for positive intelligence amved from the ice that two walruses had been taken. " If," says Pariy, "the women were only cheerful before, they were now absolutely frantic." 137 The end of May having arrived, and the Esquimaux being ready to depart to the northward, the commander made tliem what they considered a most valuable pres- ent, which produced in the women such immoderate fits of laughter as to amount almost to hysterics, which were succeeded by a flood of tears. The men seemed thank- ful, though less noisy in their acknowledgments. " On taking their departure," says Pany, "these good-hu- mored and ever-cheerful people gi'eeted us with thi'ee cheers in the true Kabloona (English) style." Little desei-ving of notice occurred tUl the middle of June, when the expedition also was preparing to depart to the northward, by cutting out the ships from the ice, taking down the tents and the obsei-vatory, and em- barking the insti'uments ; but, before leaving Winter Island, after a residence of nine months. Commander Pany states, " It becomes my painful duty to turn from these busy occupations, where animation, cheerfulness, and hope prevailed, to the sad and solemn scenes of sickness and of death, for with both of these did it please the Almighty to visit us at this period." Two seamen, Souter and Reid, in Pariy's ship, died; and one, Prin- gle, in Lyon's. They were buried in the same grave ; the former with a handsome tomb of stone and mortar over it, and a slab of the same kind, with a suitable in- scription, over the latter. It was not tUl the 2d of July that the ships were moved out of then* winter's dock, and they put to sea on the 8th with no very favorable auspices of what was to befall them in their progress to the northward, along the eastern coast of North America. The dangers that thi-eatened them at starting will be seen from Command- er Lyon's report : "■ The flood tide coming down loaded with a more than or- dinary quantity of ice, pressed the ship very much between six and seven A.M., and rendered it necessary to run out the sti'eam cable, in addition to the hawsers which were fast to the land ice. This was scarcely accomplished when a very heavy and extensive floe took the ship on her broadside, and, beiQg backed by another large body of ice, graduaUy hfted her stem as if by the action of a wedge. The weight, every moment increasing, obliged us to veer on the hawsers, whose hiction was so great as nearly to cut through the bitt-heads, M2 138 ARCTIC VOYAGES. and ultimately set tlaem on fire, so that it became requisite for people to attend with buckets of water. The pressure was at length too powerful for resistance, and the stream ca- ble, with two six and one five inch hawsers, went at the same moment. Three others soon followed. The sea was too fuU of ice to allow the ship to drive, and the only way by which she could yield to the enormous weight which oppressed her was by leamng over the land-ice, while her stem, at the same time, was entirely lifted more than five feet out of the water. The lower deck beams now complained veiy much, and the whole frame of the ship underwent a trial which would have proved fatal to any less strengthened vessel. At this moment the rudder was unhung with a sudden jerk, which broke up the radder case and strack the diiver boom with great force. In this state I made known our situation by telegraph, as I clearly saw that, ia the event of another floe backing the one which lifted us, the ship nuist inevitably turn over, or part in midships. The pressure which had been so dangerous at length pi'oved our friend, for by its increasing weight the floe on which we were borne burst upward, unable to resist its force. The ship righted, and, a small slack opening in the water, drove several miles to the southward before she could be again secured to get the rudder hung ; circumstances much to be regretted at the moment, as our people had been employed with but little intermission for three days and nights, attending to the safety of the ship in tliis dangerous tideway."— P. 258. The Fury had almost as nan-ow an escape as the Hecla. The next day the Fmy for an hour or two was continually gi-azed, and sometimes heeled over, by a de- gree of pressure which, under other circumstances, would not have been a moderate one. " A little before noon, a heavy floe, some miles m. length, being probably a part of that lately detached from the shore, came driving down fast toward us, gi^ang us serious reason to apprehend some more fatal catastrophe than any we had yet encountered. In a few minutes it came in contact, at the rate of a mile and a half an hour, with a point of the land-ice left the preceding night by its own separation, breaking it up with a tremendous crash, and forcing numberless immense masses, perhaps many tons in w^eight, to the height of fifty or sixty feet, from whence they again rolled down on the inner or land side, and were quickly succeeded by a fresh supply. While we were obliged to be quiet spectators of this grand but terrific sight, being within five or six himdred yards of CAPTAIN parry's SECOND VOYAGE. 139 the point, the danger to ourselves -was twofold ; firat, lest the floe should now swing in, and sei-ve us much in the same manner ; and, secondly, lest its pressure should detach the laud-ice to which we w^ere secured, and thus set us adrift to the mercy of the tides. Happily, however, neither of these occurred, the floe remaining stationary for the rest of the tide, and setting off with the ebb which made soon after." — P. 260. In addition to the danger which threatened to crush and overwhelm the ships among these tremendous mass- es of ice thus thrown into violent commotion, was the chance of being beset in the midst of the floes, and in that helpless state swept away with the flood tide and cun-ent to the southward, and diifted back again to Southampton Island, as had happened to them before, and thus again would the labor of weeks be inevitably- lost. By the 12th of July, however, after long and un- remitting perseverance, and by taking advantage of every opening and breeze of wind to move the ships to the northward, they had reached the latitude of 67° 18', op- posite to a considerable opening in the land, out of which a strong current was obsei^ved to set into the sea. It had not the least appearance of a passage ; but as it of- fered a security against any ice coming in. Parry deter- mined to anchor as near it as possible, and to examine what he justly supposed to be a fresh- water river; and a fresh-water river, as may be supposed, was too great a luxuiy, as well as novelty, in a region of ice and snow, to be slightly passed over. The boats of both ships were therefore employed in landing parties to partake of this oasis in the desert. " Landing on the south shore and hauling the boats up above high-water mark, we rambled up the banks of the stream, which are low next the water, but rise almost im- mediately to the height of about two hundred feet. As we proceeded we gradually heard the noise of a fall of water ; and being presently obliged to sti-ike more inland, as the bank became more precipitous, soon obtained a fresh view of the sti-eam, nuxaing on a much higher level than before, and dashing wdth great impetuosity down two small cata- racts. Just below this, however, where the river turns al- most at a right angle, we perceived a much greater spray, as well as a louder sound ; and havinsr walked a short dis- 140 ARCTIC VOYAGES. tance dowii the bank, suddenly came upon the pidncipal fall, of whose magnificence I am at a loss to give any adequate description. At the head of the fall, or where it commences its principal descent, the river is contracted to about one hundred and fifty feet in breadth, the channel being hol- lowed out thi-ough a solid rock of gneiss. After falling about fifteen feet, at an angle of 30° with a vertical line, the ■width of the stream is still narrowed to about forty yards, and then, as if mustering its whole force previous to its fiinal descent, is precipitated in one vast continuous sheet of water almost perpendicularly for ninety feet more. So nearly, in- deed, is the rock perpendicular, that we were enabled to let down a sounding lead and Ime for the purpose of measuring its actual height, while a man descended from crag to crag with a second line attached to him, to see when the lead touched the water below. The dashing of the water from such a height jjroduced the usual accompaniment of a cloud of spray, broad columns of which vvere constantly forced up, like the successive rushes of smoke from a vast furnace, and on this, near the top, a vivid iris or i-ainbow was occasion- ally formed by the bright rays of an imclouded sun. ' The roaring of the mountain-cataract,' which constitutes a prin- cipal feature of the sublime in scenery of this inagnificent nature, was here almost deafening ; and as we were able to approach the head of the fall even so close as a single yard, the very rock seemed to suffer a concussion tinder our feet. The basin that receives the water at the foot of the fall is nearly of a circular form, and about four hundred yards in diameter, being rather wider than the river immediately below it. The fall is about three quarters of a mile above our landing-place, or two miles and a quarter from the en- trance of the river. After remaining nearly an hour, fixed, as it were, to the spot by the novelty and magnificence of the scene before us, we contimxed our walk upwai'd along the banks, and, after passing the two smaller cataracts, found the river again increased in width to above two hundred yards, winding in the most romantic manner imaginable among the hills, and preserving a smooth and unniffled surface for a dis- tance of three or four miles that we traced it to the southwest above the fall. What added extremely to the beauty of this picturesque river, which Commander Lyon and myself named after our mutual friend, Mr. Barrow, secretaiy to the Admi- ralty, was the richness of the vegetation on its banks, the en- livening brilliancy of a cloudless sky, and the animation giv- en to the scene by several reindeer that were grazing beside the stream."— P. 264, 265. CAPTAIN parry's SECOND VOYAGE. 141 Returning on board, they found a strong southerly breeze to have driven the ice off from the shore, afford- ing an open channel between the ice and the land of not less than nine miles in width. Up this they proceeded, and passed several headlands, to each of which they gave a name. Such was the advantage of a fair wind and open water, that, as Parry says, " we had been fa- vored with an unobstructed ran of fifty miles : an event of no trifling importance in this tedious and uncertain navigation." The great increase in the number of sea- horses confirmed the navigators in the belief that they were now approaching Amitioke, the countiy of Iligliuk, in the neighborhood of which she and her companions had frequently represented them as abundant. As they proceeded, these wahuses became more and more nu- merous eveiy hour, lying in large herds upon the loose pieces of di'ift-ice, huddled close to and lying upon each other, in separate droves of from twelve to thirty, the whole number near the boats being probably about two hundi-ed. On the 16th a gi'eat deal of high land was brought in sight to the northward and eastward, which, on the first inspection of the Esquimaux charts, was decided to be that large portion between which and the continent lay the promised strait, that was to lead the ships to the westward into the Polar Sea. So far all was satisfac- tory ; " but, after sailing a few miles farther, it is impos- sible to describe our disappointment and mortification on perceiving an unbroken sheet of ice extending complete- ly across the supposed passage, from one land to the other." Here they were joined by several Esquimaux, but none of their old friends, who had not yet arrived at any of their stations. They obtained from the new ones, however, one very interesting piece of information, name- ly, that it was Igloolik on which they were now about to land, and which they knew from their Winter-Island friends, Iligliuk in particular, was near to the strait that was to conduct them into the Polar Sea. In this neigh- borhood were numerous Esquimaux of the same friend- ly and cheerful character as those of Winter Island, but apparently somewhat less intellectual. Pany now, how- ever, had but one great object at heart, which was to at- 142 ARCTIC VOYAGES. tempt the navigation of the strait. The ships made sev- eral ineffectual endeavors ; but the whole entrance, up to the narrowest part, was so blocked up with old ice not likely to remove, and the middle of August having ar- rived, he determined at least to satisfy his mind as to its communication with the Polar Sea. It will readily be believed that " every hour's delay added an indescribable weight to his anxiety ;" and "stop- ped," he says, " as we had now been, at the very thresh- old of the Northwest Passage for nearly four weeks, without advancing twice as many miles to the westward, suspense at such a crisis was scarcely the less painful because we knew it to be inevita,ble." He therefore de- termined on attempting a journey to the westward, en- .deavoring first to reach some of the islands lying in that direction, and by passing from one to the other, at length to gain the main land, from whence it might not, per- haps, be difficult to travel to the strait itself, and " thus to end every doubt as well as every conjecture respect- ing it." Accordingly, on the 14th of August he set out, on the 17th crossed the Bouverie Islands, and on the following day arrived at a peninsula, which he examined, and pro- ceeded to its extreme northern point, which was found to overlook the narrowest part of the desired strait, of which he gives the following brief account : " The strait lay immediately below us, in about an east and v^est direction, being two miles in width, apparently very deep, and with a tide or current of at least two knots, setting the loose ice through to the eastward. Beyond us, to the west, the shores again separated to the distance of several leagues, and for more than three points of the compass in that direction no land could be seen to the utmost limits of a clear horizon, except one island six or seven miles distant. Over this we could entertain no doubt of having discovered the Polar Sea ; and, loaded as it was with ice, we already felt as if we were on the point of forcing our way through it along the northern shores of America. " After dispatching one of our party to the foot of the point for some of the sea water, which was found extremely salt to the taste, we hailed the interesting event of the morning by three hearty cheers, and by a small extra allowance of grog to our people, to drink a safe and speedy passage through the channel just discovered, which I ventured to name, by antio CAPTAIN parry's SECOND VOYAGE. 143 ipation, the Strait of the Fury and Hecla. Having built a pile of stones on the promontory, which, from its situation with respect to the. continent of America, I called Cape North- east, we walked back to our tent and luggage, these having, for the sake of greater expedition, been left two miles behind, and, after resting a few hours, set out at 3 P.M. on our re- turn."— P. 312. This little journey proved satisfactory as far as it went; it gave to Pany a personal view of the sti-ait, and satisfied him that its water was that of the sea. But as the northeast point from which he saw it forms the eastern entrance only from the south side of the strait, and he deemed it expedient that something more of it should be known, he took measures accordingly. In the course of a week following, a light northeasterly breeze allowed the ships to be steered under aU possible sail up the strait. By keeping on the south or continental shore, and passing along by Cape Northeast within two or three hundred yards of the rocks, they succeeded, with the assistance of the boats ahead, in getting through the nar- row channel. The length of this narrowest part of the strait is said to extend about three mUes in the direction of west by north : it is here two mUes across, and keeps its width the whole way through this narrow part. Two considerable islands almost shut up the said part, named by Parry Ormond and Liddon Islands ; the southern point on the fonner of which, being directly opposite to Cape Northeast, forms the northern point of the naiTOW entrance, to which Parry assigned the name of Cape Ossory. The ships, however, were soon stopped by apparently permanent ice cMnging to the shores of the above-mentioned islands and of the continent; "and thus," says Pany, " after a vexatious delay of six weeks at the eastern entrance of the sti'ait, and at a time when we had every reason to hope that Nature, though hith- erto tardy in her annual disruption of the ice, had at length made an effort to complete it, did we find our prog- ress once more opposed by a barrier of the same con- tinuous, impenetrable, and hopeless nature as at first." Hopeless as it was that much more could be done, as concerned the movements of the expedition, now that the month of August was just expiring, Parry veiy prop- erly determined that all doubts should be satisfied, as 144 ARCTIC VOYAGES. well as that every information should be gained, as to the length of the sti'ait, and the extent of the fixed ice there- in. For this purpose, three exploring parties were sent out in different directions ; that for deciding the point in question consisted of Mr. Bushnan with three men, un- der the orders of Lieutenant Reid, who was instructed to proceed along the northern coast of the strait to the westward, to gain as much information as possible re- specting the termination of the strait, and to return to the ships in four days. By his report it appears that, by an observation on the second day of his journey, the latitude he reached was 70° 00' 05", and that from this point he could perceive that the opposite or main-land (that is, the south shore of the sti-ait) gradually trended to the southward, leaving a broad entrance into the west- ern sea. He says : " The weather being clear, afforded us an extensive prospect to the westward, and we could now perceive that a bhiff near the north shore, which had before appeared insular, formed, in reality, the north- ern point of the entrance, and I named it Cape Hallow- ell, out of respect to Vice-admiral Sir Benjamin Hallow- ell." To a fine bay on the Cockburn-Island shore (the north) he gave the name of Autridge, and to an inlet in the same land that of White ; and he concludes this part of his report by saying that " the opening of the strait into the Polar Sea was now so decided, that I consider- ed the principal object of my journey accomplished." It would have been more satisfactory if Mr. Reid had been a little more circumstantial in his observation on the two western points of the strait ; that which is named Englefield on the chart, but by whose authority does not appear, is not mentioned as a cape, gi-aduaUy ti-end- ing to the southward, and leaving a broad entrance into the Western Sea. It may hardly be necessaiy to ob- serve that a point of land seen obliquely from a distance of twenty or thirty miles must be very unsatisfactorily laid down on paper. The width between the two shores opening into the sea appears to be about six or seven miles, which, compared with its length of sixty miles, can scarcely be called a " magnificent passage." Its ca- pacity, however, notwithstanding the obstructing islands, may be amply sufficient to admit a passage into the Po- CAPTAIN PARRY S SECOND VOYAGE. 145 lar Sea for ships of a moderate size, though it is pretty- certain that no ship will ever attempt it, not merely on account of the ice with which it appears to be perma- nently blocked up, but also of the perpetual current set- ting down it, occasioning such a tumultuous swell and disturbance among the ice as must render it still more dangerous for ships to anchor in any part near the east- ern mouth of the strait. The 24th of September having now arrived. Parry considered it no longer safe to venture the ships to re- main in this sea, their situation being one of almost con- stant and unavoidable danger. He determined, there- fore, to run over to Igloolik in search of winter quarters, which was accomplished, though not without imminent danger to both ships. The situation was not very favor- able for passing the winter in, but, by cutting a canal in the ice as usual, they were placed in security. The whole length of this canal was 4343 feet ; the thickness of the ice in the level and regular parts from 12 to 14 inches, but in many places where a separation had oc- curred it amounted to several feet. " I can not," says Pany, " sufficiently do justice to the cheerful alacrity with which the men continued tliis laborious work dur- ing thirteen days, the thennometer being frequently at zero, and once as low as — 9° in that interval. Being now established in winter quarters for the sec- ond time in the present voyage, Parry's thoughts were naturally employed in considering what farther steps should be pursued, and what expedient he should have recourse to on their liberation from the ice some ten or eleven months hence. His resolute and enterprising character was not likely to be satisfied with the little progress that had been made in the discovery of a north- west passage, which was the main object of the voyage. The measure he contemplated appears to have been a bold one, and one which, situated as the ships were, could not possibly have been attended with any advan- tage to that object, and would, to a certainty, have been productive of fatal results to himself and the whole crew ; but let him speak for himself: " Flattering as our prospects appeared at the commence- ment of the past summer, our efforts had certainly not been 10 N 146 ARCTIC VOYAGES, attended with a proportionate degree of success, and little sat- isfaction remained to us at the close of the season but the con- sciousness of having left no means within our reach untried that could in any way promote our object. It required, in- deed, but a single glance at the chart to perceive that what- ever the last summer's navigation had added to our geograph- ical knowledge of the eastern coast of America and its adja- cent lands, very little had in reality been effected in further- ance of the Northwest Passage. Even the actual discovery of the desired opening into the Polar Sea had been of no prac- tical benefit in the prosecution of our enterprise ; for we ha,d only discovered this channel to find it unpassable, and to see the barriers of natiu-e impenetrably closed against us, to the utmost limit of the navigable season. "Viewing the matter in this light, it appeared to resolve itself into the single question, by what means the resources of the expedition could possibly be extended beyond the pe- riod to which they were at present calculated to last, namely, the close of the year 1824. Only one expedient suggested itself by which that object could be attained, and this I deter- mined to adopt, should no miforeseen occurrence arise to pre- vent it. It was, to send the Hecla to England in the follow- ing season, taking from her a twelvemonth's provisions and fuel to complete the Fury's resources to the end of the year 1825, and then continuing our efforts in that ship singly as long as a reasonable hope remained of our xiltimate success. One or two collateral advantages occuired to me as likely to be derived from this plan, the first of which was the oppor- tunity thus afforded of transmitting to the Lords Commission- ers of the Admiralty a full account of our past proceedmgs and present situation and intentions, whereby, perhaps, much needless anxiety on our account might be prevented. It would also, as I hoped, allow their lordships the option of making any alteration which they might now deem requisite in the arrangements pointed out in my instructions respecting the ship to be sent to meet us near Behring's Strait, for which the orders might not, perhaps, leave England before the arri- val of the Hecla 'there in the autumn of 1823. These were, however, minor and less important considerations ; my prin- cipal object and determination being to persevere, to the ut- most extent of our resources, in the prosecution of the enter- prise w^ith which I had the honor to be charged. Having suggested this expedient to Captain Lyon, I had much satis- faction in finding his opinion entirely coincide with my own, and without at present mentioning it to the other individuals belonging to the expedition, we continued to consult together from time to time during the winter concerning the arrange- CAPTAIN parry's SECOND VOYAGE. 147 ments it would be requisite to make for commencing the ex- ecution of our plan in the course of the following spiing." — P. 372-374. One of the first operations was to build a wall of snow twelve feet high round the Fury, and at the distance of twenty yards fi-om her, " forming a large square, like that of a farm-yard," by which not only was the snow- drift kept out, but a good sheltered walk was afforded against eveiy wind. The Fury and the Hecla were separated on account of the large hommocs of ice. " The distance between the two ships, though not such as to prevent constant intercourse, was nevertheless too great to allow of our contiauing the theatrical entertainments, by w^hich our former winters had been considerably enlivened. This was, however, the less requisite, and, indeed, entirely imnecessaiy, on accoimt of our neighborhood to the Esqui- maux, whose daily visits to the ships throughout the winter afforded both to officers and men a fund of constant variety and never-failing amusement, which no resources of our own could possibly have furnished. Our people were, however, too well aware of the advantage they derived from the schools not to be desirous of their re-establishment, which ac- cordingly took place soon after our arrival at Igloolik, and they were glad to continue this as their evening occupation during the six succeeding months." — P. 377-378. In the mention of 'the Esquimaux, some of whom, it appears, had come from Amitioke, and among whom T^re many of the old acquaintances of Winter Island, it might have been expected that Iligliuk would have been among tlie first and foremost ; but, strange as it may appear, the name even of this exti-aordinary person, from whom so much valuable and correct information had been received, is only once mentioned, and then rather reproachfully, as a name in the general account of these people ; an account that extends to at least a hundi-ed pages, descriptive of theh character, manners, and customs, and detaihng the various transactions that took place during the confinement of the ships. Among the visitors fi-om Amitioke was that distinguished youth Toolooak, the son of Iligliuk, who is repeatedly men- tioned and commended. " I counted to-day," says Pany, "on a girdle worn round the waist by Toolooak's mother, twenty-nine deer's ears, procured by this young man's 148 ARCTIC VOYAGES. own exertions : a girdle which she constantly wears, as a proud trophy of her son's exploits ; and," he adds, " there are few mothers, indeed, who might not be proud of such a son as Toolooak, who, on longer ac- quaintance, quite maintained his former character, of possessing many excellent qualities both of head and heart." Poor Iligliuk ! a name appearing to be no lon- ger remembered but as Toolooak's mother ; but Parry no doubt meant to say that Toolooak wore the girdle, " which was worn {usually) round the waist of his mother." But enough for the present of the Esqui- maux. The appearance of scurvy in some slight but unequiv- ocal symptoms could scarcely be a subject of wonder, considering the length of time the ships' crews had no other dependence than upon their own resources, unas- sisted as they had been by any supply of fresh anti- scorbutic plants or other vegetables, a case unparal- leled in the annals of navigation. The month of August had commenced, when, as Pany observes, " incredible as it may appear, the ships were as securely confined in the ice as in the middle of winter, except that a pool of water about twice their own length in diameter was now open around them. 1 determined, therefore," he adds, " notwithstanding the apparent hopelessness of sawing our way through four or five miles of ice, to be- gin that laborious process." By the 6th of August about four hundred yards of ice were sawn through and floated out, leaving now a broad canal eleven hundred yards in length. Through this, and by the disruption of the floe, the Fury was liberated and floated into open water on the 8th of August, and on the 12th was fol- lowed by the Hecla. Parry, now that the ships were once more afloat, began to reflect on what he had pro- posed to do on the return of summer. " When the lateness of the season to which the ships had now been detained in the ice is considered, w^ith reference to the probability of the Fury's effecting any thing of importance during the shoi-t remainder of the present summer, it will not be wondered at that, coupling this consideration with that of the health of my officers and men, I began to entertain doubts whether it would still be prudent to adopt the intended meas- CAPTAIN parry's SECOND VOYAGE- 149 ure of remaiuiug out in the Fuiy as a single ship ; whether, in short, imder existing circumstances, the probable evil did not far outweigh the possible good. In order to assist my own judgment on this occasion upon one of the most material points, I requested the medical officers of the Fury to furnish me with their opmions as to the probable effect that a third whiter passed in these regions would produce on the health of the officers, seamen, and marines of that ship, taking into consideration eveiy ckcumstance connected with our situa- tion."— P. 470. The reply of Mr. Edwards, the surgeon, was, as might be expected, decisive. Under any circumstances, he stated that an increase of general debility, with a cor- responding degree of sickness, might be expected ; but, considering the matter as in a single ship, it assumes a much more important shape. In that view, the increase of labor and exposure, from the separation of the vessels, the privation of many salutary occupations, mental and corporeal, attending their union, and, at this late period of the season, the hopelessness of the success of the ensuing navigation, would be such as to excite feelings sufficiently lively to counteract those depressing causes. The substance of the answer being sent to Commander Lyon, after noticing the great change he had observed in the constitution of the officers and men of the Hecla from the continuance of one particular diet, almost total deprivation of fresh animal and vegetable food for above two years, and the necessaiy and close confinement for several months of each severe winter, " I conceive," he says, " that a continued exposure to the same depriva- tions and confinements, the solitude of a single ship, and the painful monotony of a third winter to men whose health is precarious, would in all probability be attended with very serious consequences." But he goes farther, and notices the inutifity of the measure. From the circumstance of being detained in the ice until the present time, the 10th of August, "I am of opinion," he says, " that the season in which it is possible to navigate has now so far passed that nothing material can be effected either by one or both ships. We know, from the experience of last year, that it is not before the end of August or the beginning of Sep- tember that the ice breaks up in the Strait of the Fury N 2 150 ARCTIC VOYAGES. and Hecla, and that it is not until that period that you will be enabled to re-examine its western entrance." And he wisely concludes by advising that the Fury and Hecla return to England together, which Parry as wisely accepts. " Under such circumstances," he says, " I no longer considered it prudent or justifiable, upon the slender chance of eventual success now before us, to risk the safety of the officers and men committed to my charge, and whom it was now my first wish to reconduct in good health to their country and theh* friends." Having come to this decision, and having exti'icated the ships from their confinement, on the 12th of August they stood out to the eastward, and finally took their departure from Igloolik. The current rapidly hurried them to the southward, their drift being twenty-one miles in twenty -four hom-s, though closely beset, and without a single pool of water in sight the whole time. At one place the ships were whii'led round a headland at the rate of two or three knots an hour. After pass- ing the Barrow River, they were diifted out nine or ten miles from the land, the influence of this river having probably thus set them out. On the 30th they were close to Winter Island. " Thus had we," says Parry, " in a most singular manner, once more arrived at our old winter quarters, ^A^ith scarcely a single successful exertion on our parts toward eflFecting that object. The distance from Ooglit to our present station was about one hundred and sixty miles along the coast. Of this we had never sailed above forty, the rest of the distance having been accomplished, while we were immovably beset, by mere drifting. The intel'^^al thus employed having been barely eight days, gives an average drift to the southward of above fifteen miles per day." — P. 478. Being set fast in the ice in proceeding to the south- ward, a strong westerly breeze on the 17th of Septem- ber allowed them to shape their course for the Trinity Islands in a perfectly open sea. From hence they ran down Hudson's Sti^ait without meeting with any ob- struction, and on the 10th of October entered the harbor of Bressay Sound in Lerwick, where they enjoyed the " first trace of civilized man that they had seen for CAPTAIN PAHRy's SECOND VOYAGE. 151 seven-and-twenty montlis." The kindness which they received from these poor but hospitable people is thus feelingly described : " I feel it utterly impossible adequately to express the kind- ness and attention we received for the three or four days that ^ve were detained in Bressay Sound by a continuance of un- favorable winds. On the first infoi'mation of our an-ival the beUs of Lerwick were set i-iuging, the inhabitants flocked from every part of the country to express their joy at our un- expected return, and the town was at night illuminated, as if each individual had a brother or a son among us. On the 12th, being Sunday, the officers and men of both ships. at- tended divine service on shore, when the worthy rtunister, the Reverend Mr. Menzies, who was before well known to many among us, offered up, in the most solemn and impi-essive manner, a thanksgiving for our safe return, at the same time calling upon us, with great earnestness, never to forget w^hat we owed to Him w^ho had been ' about our path and about our bed, and who spieth out all our ways.' The peculiarity' of the circumstances under which we had joined the congre- gation, the wannth of feeling exhibited by eveiy person as- sembled within the sacred walls, together with the affection- ate energy of the preacher, combined to produce an effect of which words can convey but little idea, but which will not easily be effaced from the minds of those who w^ere present on this affecting occasion." — P. 486. On the 18th Captain Pany amved at the Admiralty, and the ships were paid off on the 16th of November. On looking back at the hoiTible navigation from the enti-ance of Hudson's Sti-ait to Winter Island, tlirough Middleton's Frozen Strait, along the coast of the land which separates Prince Regent's Inlet from Fox's Chan- nel, and the same villanous kind of navigation along the eame coast from Winter Island to Igloolik, near the mouth of the Fuiy and Hecla Sti'ait, there does not appear to be the shghtest encom'agement ever to send another ship to that quarter, even had the navigation of that sti'ait been always open, safe, and convenient, for in that case it could not afford any advantage. It opens into a sti'ait, among islands of the Polar Sea, called Prince Regent's Inlet, of the lower part of which noth- ing was at this time known beyond Ihgliuk's information (correct in all other parts), that it terminates at Akkoo- lee, nearly opposite to Repulse Bay. But, had it ex- 152 ARCTIC VOYAGES. tended to the coast of America, the islands in that cor-, ner are so clustered and crowded together as to admit of no probability of a navigable passage there for large ships to the westward, and no man in his senses would take that line of route to get into Lancaster Sound when he could go there direct in half the time, and without any of the danger which Fox's Channel and the Fury and Hecla Sti'ait would occasion. Toward the conclusion of his narrative, Captain Pariy repeats his opinion of the advantages of continuous land in the navigation of the Polar Seas, and that the princi- ple of coasting the northern shore of America must still be carefully kept in view; and he adds, "there is no known opening which seems to present itself so favora- bly for this purpose as Prince Regent's Inlet." This opinion, thus publicly given, is obviously an indication of the expedition which succeeded this, and which may possibly have made some change in Captain P any 's sen- timents on this head. Ample proof has since been given by the reports of Franklin, Richardson, Back, and sub-, seqnently by Simpson, that the coast of North America, which is the southern shore of the Polar Sea, is naviga- ble throughout but by canoes or boats only, and that large ships could not attempt it unless at a very consid- erable distance from the shore on the sea, and outside the numerous chains of small islands that, on the eastern portion in particular, run parallel to the coast. 4 CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 153 CHAPTER Vn. CAPTAIN GEORGE F. ITON. 1824. Narrative of a Voyage to Wager River, or Repulse Bay, in his Majesty^s ship Griper, and thence to the Polar Coast of North America over land. The Griper was commanded, officered, and manned as under : George F. Lyon, Captain. Peter Manico, ^Lieutenants. Francis Harding, jj^icixucuo^ic. Mr. Kendal, Assistant Surveyor. 'i'homas Evans, Purser. John Tom, Midshipman. WUliani Leyson, Assistant Surgeon. "7 Officers. 1 Gunner. 7 Petty Officers. 1 Corporal of Marines. 25 Able Seamen. 41 Total on board. This incomplete voyage lias only an indirect relation to the discovery of a northwest passage, its sole object having been to complete the land survey of the eastern portion of the north coast of North America, from the western shore of Melville Peninsula as far as to Cape Tm-n-again, where Captain Franklin's late journey ter- minated. Being, therefore, connected with Arctic dis- covery, and under the orders of an officer who com- manded the second ship in Parry's second voyage, and directed to proceed to the same portion of the Arctic Seas where he had already been with Parry, it is deem- ed right and proper to give to this expedition a place in the present naiTative ; and the more so, as it furnishes a beautiful and sti-iking example of that obedience to or- ders, that calm and uncomplaining submission, accom- panied with pious resignation to the Divine will in the hour of exti-eme danger, and when the awful moment of death is approaching, which^ aJl so conspicuous in the 154 ARCTIC VOYAGES. character of Britisli seamen, are exemplified in this voy- age. In order to effect the object in view, it v^as decided, as being the readiest and most simple mode of proceed- ing, to send a small vessel to "Wager River or Repulse Bay, under the orders of an inteEigent officer, who, with a small party, should be insti'ucted to cross the Melville Peninsula from one or other of the above-mentioned places, and traverse, by land, the western shore of that peninsula, and the northern shore of North America, to Point Turn-again. Captain Lyon, having been promot- ed for his services, was selected by Lord Bathurst for this duty ; and the Lords Commissioners of the Admi- ralty having appointed the Griper, a gun-brig of 1 80 tons, to receive him, gave him dhections to leave the ship, dming his land journey, in charge of the senior lieuten- ant. Lieutenant Francis Harding, after paying off the Griper, served three years as lieutenant of the Espoir, then in the Hecla, and was made commander in 1830 ; he served in that rank in several ships tiU the year 1839, and was promoted to the rank of captain in the general promotion of 1841. Peter Manico was made lieutenant in 1814, served in the present voyage, and is still on the list of lieuten- ants. John Tom was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1826, where he stiU remains. The Griper was considered a very useful vessel of her class ; her strength was proved between the ice and the shore of Melville Island, and Captain Clavering had but anived in England in her, at the end of the preced- ing year, from a voyage to Spitzbergen and Greenland. She was now, for her present voyage, examined and weU strengthened ; but, on being stored and amply pro- visioned, was found to be too deeply laden to cross the Atlantic alone, and therefore his majesty's surveying vessel the Snap, commanded by Lieutenant Bullock, was ordered to receive a portion of them, and to accom- pany the Griper until she reached the ice, or arrived off Cape Chidley, They sailed from Yarmouth Roads on the 19th of CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 155 June, and arrived at Stromness on the 30th. " On the 3d of July," Captain Lyon says, "we hoisted in two very powerful little ponies, procured at Kh'kwall, the only t\vo on the island, and which had been sent from Shetland to an Orkney laii-d ; one was forty inches, the other thirty-eight in height." They also received a fat cow and eight sheep for the crew. The poor cow, it seems, refused to eat, and was therefore killed for pres- ent use ; but the ponies proved better sailors, walked about the ship as familiarly as large dogs, and improved in their appearance daUy. On examining the bags of pemmican, to their gi'eat mortification it was found that the fat had melted, and that the water-proof caoutchouc was oozing in a clammy state thi'ough the canvas. The worst of aE was, that the sluggish Griper requir- ed to be towed by the Snap, till a strong breeze and a heavy sweU for two days' continuance obliged the for- mer to cast off, when she shipped so many tremendous seas that it became necessary to bring her to under storm stay-sails, which was the more mortifying on observing her companion to be perfectly dry. In short, through- out the whole passage across the Atlantic the Griper was obliged to be towed by the Snap eveiy second or third day, without which she could not have made any progress. On the 3d of August, however, the two ships made the ice, consisting of bergs among the floes ; when, according to the insti'uctions, they began to remove the stores and provisions out of the Snap, by which the decks of the Griper were completely crowded. Lyon says the gangways, forecastle, and abaft the mizzen-mast were filled with casks, hawsers, whale-lines, and stream-ca- bles ; the lower deck cro^vded with casks and other stores ; not a place left vacant except the mess-tables of the men. Thus lumbered and brought down deep, her sailing qualities, bad enough before, were now expected to be much worse. It was found, also, by observation, that for two days they had been exposed to the united force of the sti'ong cmTents from Davis's and Hudson's Straits, toward the latter of which they were approach- ing. On the 4th of August the Snap parted company, to proceed in the farther execution of her services. On the 6th the Griper had approached Resolution 156 ARCTIC VOYAGES, Island, the sea covered with loose heavy ice, but the day described as lovely, and the sky brilliant ; yet the brill- iancy and loveliness which surrounded Captain Lyon were not sufficient to prevent him from " yielding to a sensation of loneliness he had never experienced on the former voyage." " I felt most forcibly," he says, " the want of an accompanying ship, if not to help us, at least to break the death-like stillness of the scene." No won- der at this feeling, when all the cu'cumstances of his po- sition are considered. It must indeed be owned that there was a more than usual want of prudence in sending such a small and slug- gish ship alone, through a navigation which had been proved and condemned as one of the most difficult and dangerous of the many difficult ones that occur in this part of the Arctic Seas. The old voyagers, it is true, proceeded in ships much inferior in size and strength to the Griper ; yet they rarely navigated those seas alone, and not unfrequently with three or four in company. Captain Lyon says, however, that he was amply com- pensated for want of a more extensive society, " by hav- ing the happiness of knowing that I had officers and men with whom I was confident of continuing on the most friendly terms." Two days after this the ship struck on a rock, and the heavy and continued shocks heeled her so much that the commander " imagined she was turning over." She might have gone down, in which case Lyon's " ample compensation" would have been of little use in this uninhabited and desolate part of the globe. The constant shipping of seas and the continued w^et weather had rendered every thing within the ship " very damp." The two ponies, therefore, with the ducks, geese, and fowls, were handed out upon the ice, where, the captain says, " they presented a most novel appear- ance." To enliven the scene, about sixty Esquimaux, men and women, in kayaks and oomiaks, visited the strangers, made a loud, screaming noise, and brought with them some trifling articles of barter, chiefly weap- ons and skin clothes ; and our captain says, " 1 blush while I relate it, two of the fail- sex actually disposed of their nether garments — a piece of indecorum I had nev- CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 157 er before witnessed." There was no need, however, of blushing, for in the same neighborhood Pany was offer- ed the same thing, but his blushes were spared on find- ing that the lady wore a double set. Lyon must have been present when Parry's blushes were spared. Notwithstanding the Griper's duU sailing, they con- trived to get her past Charles's Island, Digges's Island, and Cape Wolstenliolm by the 20th of August, and tAVO days after saw the high land of Southamptou Island. Off Cape Pembroke their compasses were found to be quite useless with the ship's head to the southward, and so powerless that the north point stood wherever it was placed by the finger, but with the ship's head to the north- ward they all ti-aversed again. This has been always a constant complaint Avithin the Arctic Chcle, and particu- larly near to and between the two northern magnetic poles. It is a subject of such great importance, and has excited so much interest, and for the last five years has been so extensively inquired into experimentally, that there is every reason to hope the principles of terrestri- al magnetism will receive a satisfactory elucidation, as- sisted by the obsei'vations conducted under the direction of Captain Sir James Ross in the southern antarctic seas, and also by those which Sir John Franklin has been instructed to make on his present voyage. Captain Lyon suggests whether this wildness in the compasses may not be caused by the absence of the sun or the presence of the aurora. Mr. Kendall, he says, observed that, during the prevalence of a brilliant aurora, the larboard binnacle compass would remain stationary at no particular point, while the starboard one, by a bear- ing of the pole star, had lessened its usual error two points. As Captain Lyon was taking his walks on shore, he fell in with a little incident which gave expression to a sentiment of that kindly feeling he was known to pos- sess, and which his own words will best convey. He was crossing an Esquimaux burial-place : " Near the large grave was a third pile of stones, covering the body of a child, w^hich w^as coiled up in the same manner [as the other]. A snow-bunting had found its way through file loose stones which composed this little tomb, and its now o 158, ARCTIC VOYAGES. forsaken, neatly-built nest was found placed on the neck of the child. As the snow-bunting has all the domestic virtues of our English redbreast, it has always been considered by us as the robin of these dreary wilds, and its lively chirp and fearless confidence have rendered it respected by the most hungry sportsman. I could not, on this occasion, view its little nest, placed on the breast of infancy, without wishing that I possessed the power of poetically expressing the feel- ings it excited."* — P. 68-69. The farther they proceeded to the northward up the Welcome, the more sluggish and uTegular the compass- es got; and Lyon quotes a passage out of Ellis, in his account of Dobbs's expedition in the year 1746, to show that they were the same at that time. A thick fog and a heavy sea, and no land to be seen nor any ti'ust to be placed in the compasses, and withal the water shallow- ing ; the ship not able to face the sea or keep steerage way on her, Captain Lyon says : "I most reluctantly brought her up with three bowers and a stream anchor in succession, but not before we had shoaled to five and a half fathoms, the ship pitching bows under, and a tre- mendous sea running." In this perilous condition, ig- norant in what direction and how distant the land might be, and under the dread, moreover, that the falling tide (from twelve to fifteen feet) would most probably occa- sion the total destruction of the ship — in order to pro- vide for such an unfortunate event, the longboat was prepared to be hoisted out with the four small ones, and ordered to be stored with arms, ammunition, and pro- visions ; the officers drew lots for their respective boats, * On reading tliis passage to an accomplished lady, she said she felt a desire to try what she could do with so interesting a subject in the way wished for by Captain Lyon, and produced the foUowing lines : TO THE SNOW-BTJNTING. " Sweet bh-d ! the breast of innocence Hath fadeless charms for thee ; Although the spirit long has fled, And lifeless clay it be ; Thou di-eadest not to dwell with deatli, Secure fi-om harm or ill, For on an infant's heart thy nest Is wrought with fearless skill. And, like our o%vn familiar bird That seeks the human friend, Tliou cheer'st the wandering seaman's thoughts With home, his aim and end." — Georgiana. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 159 and the ship's company were stationed to them. " Ev- eiy officer and man," says the captain, " drew his lot with the greatest composm'e, although two of the boats would have been swamped the instant they were low- ered." In the mean time, the heavy seas continued to sweep over the crowded decks. On the weather clear- ing a Uttle, a low beach was discovered all round astern of the ship, on which the surf was running to an awful height, and " it appeared but too evident that no human power could save us if di'iven upon it." At this moment the ship, being lifted by a tremendous sea, struck with gi'eat violence the whole length of her keel. This was naturally conceived to be the forerunner of her total wi-eck. The decks were continually and deeply flood- ed : for twenty -four hours, it is stated, most of the men had not left these decks, and the captain had not been in bed for three nights. In such a hopeless case. Captain Lyon did that which a right-minded British naval officer never fails to do on the apparent approach of the last extremity. But it is due to him and his brave seamen to describe their situa- tion and conduct on this trying occasion in his own words : " Although few or none of us had any idea that we should survive the gale, we did not think that our comforts should be entirely neglected, and an order was therefore given to the men to put on their best and warmest clothing, to enable them to support life as long as possible. Every man, there- fore, brought his bag on deck, and dressed himself; and in the fine athletic forms which stood exposed before me, I did not see one muscle quiver, nor the slightest sign of alarm. The officers each secured some useful instrument about them for the purposes of obsei-vation, although it was acknowledged by all that not the slightest hope remained. And now that every thing in om- power had been done, I called all hands aft, and to a merciful God ofiered prayers for our preserva- tion. I thanked every one for their excellent conduct, and cautioned them, as we should, in all probability, soon appear before our Maker, to enter his presence as men resigned to their fate. We then all sat down in groups, and, sheltered from the wash of the sea by w^hatever we could find, many of us endeavored to obtain a httle sleep. Never, perhaps, was witnessed a finer scene than on the deck of my Httle ship, when all hope of life had left us. Noble as the character of 160 ARCTIC VOYAGES. the British sailor is always allowed to be in cases of danger, yet I did not believe it to be possible that, among forty-one persons, not one repining w^ord should have been uttered. The officers sat about wherever they, could find shelter from the sea, and the men lay down conversing with each other with the most perfect calmness. Each was at peace with his neighbor and aU the world ; and I am firmly persuaded that the resignation which was then shown to the wiU of the Al- mighty was the means of obtaining His mercy. God was merciful to us; and the tide, almost miraculously, fell no lower."— P. 79, 80. They were saved ; and the place of their extreme danger was, as speedily as possible, ascertained by ob- servation to be in lat. 63° 35' 48'', long. 86° 32' 0", and it was very properly named the Bay of God's Mercy. On the fog clearing away it was found to be immediately in the center of the Welcome. They now discovered that their fresh water, on the 4th of September, was so greatly reduced, that, in their present condition and the situation of the ship, none could be afforded for the poor little ponies which had survived the storm ; they were therefore obliged to be sacrificed ; their hay, besides, had been all thrown overboard in the storm. On the 12th of September, when they had arrived opposite the mouth of the Wager River, and between it and Southampton Island, a gale of wind arose, and with it also the sea ; the dull Griper now made no prog- ress, but " remained actually pitching forecastle under, with scarcely steerage way." One alternative alone re- mained, and that was to bring the ship up. "We found that the anchors , held, although the" ship was dipping bowsprit and foreca^tie under, and taking green seas over all. Thick-falling sleet covered the decks to some inches in depth, and, withal, the spray froze as it fell." To add to their anxiety, two or three streams of ice, with deep, solid pieces among them, were seen in the even- ing to be driving down upon the ship. The night was piercingly cold, the sea washed the decks fore and aft, constant snow fell, the lower deck was afloat, the men'f hammocs thoroughly soaked, and the poor fellows could get no rest. "^ ■ " Never shall I forget the dreariness of this most anxious night. Our ship pitched at such a rate that it was not possi- CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 161 ble to stand even below, while on deck we were unable to move without holding by ropes, w^hich w^ere stretched from side to side. The dnft-snow^ flew in such sharp, heavy flakes that we could not look to windward, and it froze on deck to above a foot in depth. The sea made incessant breaches quite fore and aft the ship, and the temporary w^armth it gave w^hUe it washed over us w^as most painfully checked by its almost immediately freezing on our clothes. To these dis- comforts w^ere added the horrible uncertainty as to whether the cables would hold until daylight, and the conviction also that if they failed us we should instantly be dashed to pieces, the wind blowing directly to the quarter in w^hich we knew the shore must he. Again, should they continue to hold us, we feared, by die ship's complaining so much forward, that the bits would be torn up, or that she would settle down at her anchors, overpowered by some of the tremendous seas which burst over."— P. 100, 101. The hurricane continuing, it can better be imagined than told what kind of night they were doomed to pass. *' I never beheld," says Captain Lyon, " a darker night." At dawn on the 13th the best bower anchor parted, and the gale blew with such terrific violence as to leave Uttle reason to expect that the other anchors would hold long. In short, the prospect was now most perilous and pit- iable. " At 6 A.M. all farther doubts on this particular point were at an end, for, having received two overwhelming seas, both the other cables went at the same moment, and we were left helpless, without anchors or any means of saving ourselves, should the shore, as w^e had every reason to expect, be close astern. And here again I had the happiness of witnessing the same general tranquillity as v^as shovm on the 1st of Sep- tember. There was no outcry that tfee cables w^ere gone ; but my friend Mr. Manico, with Mr. Carr, the gunner, came aft as soon as they recovered their legs, and in the low^est w^hisper informed me that the cables had all parted. The ship, in trending to the wind, lay quite down on her broad- side ; and as it then became evident that nothing held her, and that she was quite helpless, each man instinctively took his station, while the seamen at the leads, having secured themselves as well as was in their power, repeated their soundings, on which our preservation depended, with as much composure as if we had been entering a friendly port. Here again that Almighty power, which had before so mer- cifiihy preserved us, granted us his protection." — P. 102, 103. "11 2 162 ARCTIC VOYAGES. They were still, however, in a very melancholy con- dition, expecting every moment to strike, and not having the least idea where they had anchored or where they now were ; every rope was incrusted with a thick coat- ing of ice, the decks so deeply covered with frozen snow and freezing sea water as to make it scarcely possible to stand ; and all hands being wet and half frozen, without having had any refreshment for so many hom-s, " our situation," says the captoin, " was rendered miserable in the extreme." " In the afternoon, having well vs^eighed in my mind all the circumstances of our distressed situation, I turned the hands up, and informed them that, having now lost all our bower anchors and chains, and being, in consequence, unable to bring up in any part of the Welcome ; being exposed to the sets of a tremendous tideway and constant heavy gales, one of which was now rapidly sweeping us back to the south- ward, and being yet above eighty miles from Repulse Bay, with the shores leading to which we were unacquainted ; our compass useless, and it being impossible to continue under sail with any degree of safety in these dark twelve-hour nights, with the too often experienced certainty that the ship could not beat off a lee-shore even in moderate weather, I had determined, in making southing, to clear the narrows of the Welcome, after which I should decide on some plan for our iuture operations." — P. 105. Their situation, indeed, was a hopeless one : without anchors, and with a crippled ship — compasses which, in- stead of guiding, only misled them — what plan could be devised to pursue ? To approach the shore was the next step to the destruction of the ship, and in that event, to land in a snow-covered, frozen, and desolate country, producing nothing of food for man, and destitute of hu- man beings, would be equally and inevitably desti'uction to every living creature that might have escaped from the ship. Two alternatives, therefore, only were left: either to endeavor to let the ship float with the souther- ly current, with what sail she could carry, to Hudson's Bay, or to continue a direct course for England. In consulting his officers what they considered best to be done, they individually answered that, deprived as the ship was of anchors and much of her stores, with the little reliance to be placed on the compasses, they thought CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. ] 63 the best to be done would be to return to England with- out farther delay : a course was shaped accordingly. The voyage along this eastern coast of North Ameri- ca has been tried many times, and always found more or less disastrous. It is a route utterly void of interest in the best of ships, in the best of weather, and in the best part of the season. Pany, with his two well-equip- ped ships, was teased and hampered with the floating ice, the fogs, and the currents, which the state of his compasses also made still more embarrassing. But of this harassing navigation, in the present instance, nothing more need be said, as nothing farther occurred on the return passage that requires any notice, unless it be the intercourse they had in the lower part of the Welcome with a party of Esquimaux, whose character, so differ- ent from that generally of this mild and quiet race, is no doubt ti-uly explained. " I could not but compare the boisterous, noisy, fat fellows who were alongside, in excellent caiaoes, with well-furnished iron-headed weapons and handsome clothing, with the poor people we had seen at Southampton Island ; the latter with their spear-heads, arrows, and even knives of chipped flint, without canoes, wood, or iron, and with their tents and clothes full of holes, yet of mild manners, quiet in speech, and as grateful for kindness as they were anxious to return it, while those now alongside had, perhaps, scarcely a virtue left, owing to the roguery they had learned fi'om their annual visits to the Hudson's Bay ships. An air of saucy independ- ence, a most clamorous demand for presents, and several at- tempts at theft, some of which were successful, were their leading characteristics. Yet I saw not why I should constitute myself the censor of these poor savages ; and our barter was accordingly conducted in sticli a maimer as to enrich them very considerably." — P. 128, 129. Notwithstanding the indifferent character here given to this tribe. Captain Lyon allows them credit for con- siderable ingenuity. "Nothing new," he says, "was seen at this visit, if I except a most ingenious piece of carving, from the grinder of a walrus : this was a very spirited little figure of a dog lying down and gnaAving a 164 ARCTIC VOYAGES. bone ; and although not much above an inch in length, the animal's general expression was admirable."* He adds that they procured a few little ivory hears well ex- ecuted. The passage to England produced nothing remarka- ble ; the Griper arrived at Portsmouth on the 10th of November, her crew much exhausted by the severity of the weather and wash of the sea over the ship ; and three were sent to the hospital. Captain Lyon thus concludes his narrative : '' Thus ends the journal of our misuccessful expedition. Before I take leave of my readers, I hope I may be allowed to make a few observations respecting my shipmates, seamen as well as officers, M^hose conduct on all occasions was such as to entitle them to the warmest pi-aise I can bestow. I may with truth assert that there never was a happier little community than that assembled on board the Griper. Each succeeding day, and each escape from difficulties, seemed to bind us more strongly together ; and I am proud to say, that during the whole of our voyage neither punishment, com- plaint, nor even a dispute of any kind occurred among us." — P. 144. The narrative of this unsuccessful voyage displays a fine example of manly resolution under the most dis- tressing difficulties, and of pious resignation to the Di- vine will, on the part of both officers and men, at a time when a fatal crisis appeared to be inevitable. It is one of the many cases in which the devoutly rehgious char- acter of our British seamen is eminently conspicuous, and which never fails to guard them against desponden- cy, though surrounded with dangers and difficulties such as, to men unaccustomed to them, would be apt to cre- ate despair. Whether, in the present instance, the crit- ical eye of a thorough-bred seaman might or might not discover something approaching to indiscretion in con- ducting the navigation of the ship during a dense fog, with compasses inactive, or acting only to deceive, un- knowing in what direction the land lay ; whether it was judicious to let go all the anchors at once — these are points that are to be decided only by nautical men and * The spirited original of this little fig^ure was presented by Captain Lyon to the writer of this narrative, and is truly an ingenious piece of carving, though the wood engraving is far from doing it justice. CAPTAIN G. F. LYON. 165 by a direct knowledge of all the circumstances existing at the time. That which is here to be observed upon, especially by a landsman, is the cool, the unflinching, the obedient demeanor of the men, and the steady, un- disturbed conduct of the officers : these are the subjects under consideration, and which are deserving of the highest degree of admiration and praise. The drawing of lots for the choice of boats, " two of which must in- evitably have swamped the moment they were let down into the sea," and the cool and orderly manner in which eveiy man brought up his bag and dressed himself in his best clothes, to take leave of this world, are traits pecu- liar in the character of British seamen, not to be found in any other class of men, and are worthy of all admiration. The ship is commended by the captain for her strength, but condemned for her sluggish and bad sailing qualities. She appears, indeed, to have been utterly unfit to con- tend with this worst of aU possible navigations, though she had on more than one occasion to contend with the icy seas of the Arctic regions, both in the Polar and the Spitzbergen seas. But however fit a ship may be to encounter those seas, it certainly is not fitting, when employed on pecufiar service, that any ship should be sent into them alone. The smallness of her size is no objection. Our old navigators were content with barks of ten, fifteen, up to fifty tons' burden ; but then, as be- fore stated, they were rarely, if ever, sent alone ; two or three, and frequently more, formed their expeditions of discovery, and the reason is obvious ; a single ship wrecked in those seas, whose coasts are uninhabited by human beuigs, must entail certain destruction on the fife of every creature on board. There yet remains to be told, in the course of this narrative, another instance of the miraculous escape of a single ship, sent nearly into the same quarter, and for a similar purpose — an over- sight which, it is to be earnestly hoped, may never again be repeated. The people of England know the value of their seamen, and never grudge the expense which is fairly and honestly bestowed on her navy, the soul of which is her seamen, whose fives, were it only out of mere policy, ought not heedlessly, or from a mis- taken frugafity, to be endangered. 166 ARCTIC VOYAGES. CHAPTER VIII. PARRY'S THIRD VOYAGE, 1824, 1825, for the Discovery of a Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, in H. M. ships Hecla and Fury. Midship- ' men. The two ships appointed for this service were the same as on the former voyage, but Parry now took command of the Hecla, and Hoppner of the Fmy. They were commanded, officered, and manned as under : The Hecla. William Edward Parry, Captain and Commander. J. Land Wynn, ^ Joseph Sherer, \ Lieutenants. Henry Foster, y Samuel Neill, M.D., Surgeon. W. H. Hooper. Purser. William Rowland, Assist. Surg. John Brunton, "l F. R. M. Crozier, I Midsliip- Charles Richards, J men. Hor. Nelson Head, J IT Officers. James Harrison, Clerk. J. Brothers, Gunner. William Smith, Boatswain. George Fiddis, Carpenter. Jolm AUison, Greenland Master. Geo. Champion, Greenland Mate. 6 Warrant Officers. 45 Seamen and Maiiuea. 62 Total on board. Any thing approaching the shape of an apology from Captain Parry himself will be deemed, as it ought to be, superfluous ; nor will it be thought necessary that, on the introduction of his narrative, he should be called upon for any explanation. He says : " I have considered it expedient to avoid all minute and technical description of our first season's operations, w^hich, whatever vexation they may have cost om-selves, would probably have afforded Httle interest or amusement to the Fury. H. P. Hoppner, Commander. Hor. Tbos. Austin, ?t; «- *•= Jas. Clarke Ross, p^^^t^^^*^- A. M'Laren, Surgeon. James Hulse, Purser. Thomas Bell, Assistant Surgeon. Berkley Westropp, Chas. Crump Waller, Edward Bird, T Officers. WiUiam Mogg, Clerk. James Moore, Gimner. WilUam Wentworth. Boatswain. Charles Purfur, Carpenter. George Crawford, Greenland Master.' Thomas Donaldson, Greenland Mate. 6 Warrant Officers. 45 Seamen and Marines. 60" Total on board. parry's third voyage. 167 public. In tlie circumstances attending our second season's navigation, and particularly those relating to the loss of the Fuiy, I have deemed it right to enter more into detail ; considering, on the one hand, that the loss of one of his majesty's ships is an event too serious to be lightly disposed of, and on the other, that I could thus alone do justice to the unwearied zeal and exertions of Captain [Commander] Hoppner, our officers and men, on that occasion." — Intro- duction, p. xiii. Commander H. P. Hoppner served as lieutenant with Parry in the Alexander, and also as lieutenant in Parry's two preceding voyages, in all of which he was considered an able, active, and zealous officer. He had therefore worked his way to the rank of commander. *' To Commander Hoppner, who," says Parry, "has been my constant companion from the very commence- ment of these enterprises, I feel every possible obliga- tion for his steady and persevering zeal in this service, and for his advice and assistance on every occasion." Lieutenant Foster is highly spoken of by Captain PaiTy "for the various and multiplied branches of use- ful science to which his attention was at all times di- rected ;" and he adds, " our observations upon atmos- pheric refractions in high latitudes, and on the diurnal variation, and change of intensity of the magnetic needle, together with I^ieutenant Foster's experiments with an invariable pendulum, have been communicated to and read before the Royal Society. He was also first lieu- tenant of the Hecla, which cai'ried Pany to Spitzbergen on his attempt to reach the Pole. He accompanied Clavering and Sabine in the Griper to Spitzbergen and Greenland in 1823, and proved a most useful and intel- ligent assistant in the pendulum observations. His last service was that of co-operating with Mr. Lloyd in lev- eling across the Isthmus of Panama, when he was un- fortunately drowned in the River Chagres. By his death the service was deprived of one of its most useful, able, and scientific navigators, and his loss was felt and deeply lamented by all who had the pleasure of his ac- quaintance. His character, in fact, was established as among the first scientific officers of his time. Lieutenant James Clarke Ross. — Too much can not be said in praise of this young officer, who worked 168 ARCTIC VOYAGES. himself, entirely by his own exertions, to the rank of lieutenant, and by his own self-taught acquirements, which extended to every department of science, he arrived at the highest step in the service (short of the flag) : but more of him hereafter. Lieutenant Horatio T. Austin, after distinguish- ing himself as an able officer, and having much good and active service, received his promotion as captain in 1838, and is now captain of the WiUiam and Mary yacht. Lieutenant Joseph Sherer, by his good sei-vice, raised himself to the rank of captain in 1841, and re- ceived the honor of K.H. " The public," Parry says, " are very highly indebted to Dr. Samuel Neill, who, in addition to his profes- sional duties, entirely superintended the public collec- tion of specimens of natural history, and has furnished a variety of important geological notices ;" and he re- fers to the Zoological Appendix by Lieutenant Ross as "furnishing ample evidence of the attention paid by that gentleman (Neil!) to this department of science, in addition to the immediate duties of his station." F. R. M. Crozier, midshipman, a most zealous young officer, who, by his talents, attention, and energy, has succeeded in working himself up to the top of the ser- vice. He was lieutenant of the Hecla in Parry's Polar voyage, and volunteered with Captain James Ross to go in the midst of winter into the Arctic Seas for the i-elief of the missmg whale ships ; was made captain in 1841, and commanded the second ship in Captain James Ross's Antarctic Expedition, and is now second in command with Captain Sir John Franklin. John Brunton, the colleague of Crozier in this voy- age, arrived at no higher step than that of lieutenant, and is now serving as such in the Coast Guard. C. Richards and Horatio Nelson Head, midship- men, do not appear on the list of naval officers. Berkley Westropp, midshipman, was made a lieu- tenant in 1825, and still continues so, having left the navy for a civil employment in the Humane Society. Edward Bird appears on the list as a captain of 1843, but he is not to be found among the Arctic voy- agers. PARRY S THIRD VOYAGE. 169 Allan M'Laren was appointed surgeon of a ship of the line. William Harvey Hooper, purser, was the friend and associate of Captain Pariy, and served with him in the Alexander in Ross's voyage, and in all the three of Pany, a most faithful and trustworthy officer. He was rewarded for his -seivices by a civil appointment in Greenwich Hospital, where he died, and his widow is now mati-on of the Greenwich Schools. The ships sailed from the Nore on the 19th of May, 1824, the William Harris, transport, accompanying them. Their instructions were to make the best of their way to Davis's Strait and cross over to Lancaster Sound, and, proceeding through BaiTow's Sti-ait, en- deavor to make, through Prince Regent's Inlet, a pass- age into the sea which bounds the continent (of America) on its northern coast, and thence westward to the Pa- cific. The reason assigned for this route in the instruc- tions is, " The strong opinion which you have conveyed to us in favor of the attempt through Prince Regent's Inlet ; the confident hope which you express that the ice, which, at the period of the year when you visited the inlet, obsti'ucted your passage, was likely to be re- moved by circumstances of season and weather within the navigable part of the year ;" and, it is added, " the confidence which we are justified in placing in your judgment and experience determine us to authorize and direct you to pursue the course which you consider the most promising, namely, through Prince Regent's Inlet." On the 18th of June, having reached the latitude of 60|°, they saw the first iceberg, and from that time fell in with those bodies of ice almost daily. At a Danish settlement in Davis's Sti-ait, called Lievely, they found Lieutenant Graat, who had been employed on a survey of the Greenland coast, and received much civility from him and other gentlemen belonging to the settlement. As soon as the stores and provisions were ti'anshipped, the William Han-is was released and ordered to return home. On leaving the harbor the Hecla sti-uck on a sunken rock. On the 17th of July the ice began to close round the ships. " From this time," PaiTy says, 170 AKCTIC VOYAGES. " the obstructions from the quantity, magnitude, and closeness of the ice were such as to keep our people almost constantly employed in heaving, warping, or sawing through it, and yet with so little success, that, at the close of July, we had only peneti'ated seventy miles to the westward." Here, on the 1st of Au- gust, being closely beset, a gale of wind pressing the ice together, and overlaying mass upon mass, " the Hecla received several very awkward ' nips,' and was once fairly laid on her broadside by a sti'ain which must inevitably have crushed a vessel of ordinary strength." The 9th of September had arrived " before we suc- ceeded in releasing ourselves from the more than ordi- nary barrier of ice in the middle of Baffin's Bay." They had continued their efforts to push to the northward, but it was not till the 29th of August that they reached the latitude of 73° 15', longitude 63° 40', in which situation, from the experience of 1819, they had reason to expect there would scarcely have been any ice at this season. The obstructions, however, con- tinued till the 8th of September, then in latitude 74° 7' and longitude 69° 54', being about 110 miles to the N.N.W. of the situation in which they cleared the "pack" in the year 1819. Forty miles from hence they passed through the barrier of ice, after an unwea- ried exertion of eight tedious weeks by the officers and men to overcome it. The extraordinar}^ weather which accompanied the low temperature of August is noticed as something re- markable. It is stated by Parry that, of the thirty-one days in that month, there was actually but one in which they had not a deposit of snow, sleet, rain, or fog during some part of the twenty-four consecutive hours ; and the northerly wind, which is the usual harbinger of a clear, dry, wholesome atmosphere, was just as thick as any other. And he adds, " for ten weeks in July, Au- gust, and September, though we were constantly watch- ing for an opportunity of airing the ships' companies' bedding on deck, we could only venture to do so once.'* In their struggle through the ice of Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay, Parry noticed the set of the currents by which the whole body of the ice might be actuated. parry's third voyage. 171 ,"It was obvious," he says, " that a daily set to the south- ward obtained when the wind was northerly, differing from two or three to eight or ten miles per day, accord- ing to the sti-ength of the breeze ; but a northerly cur- rent was equally apparent when the wind blew from the southward." But he observes, as a remarkable cir- cumstance, that a westerly set was frequently apparent, even against a fresh breeze blowing from that quarter. On the 10th of September they entered that "mag- nificent inlet," Sir James Lancaster's Sound, and found it entirely, as usual, free from ice, except here and there a berg, " floating about in that solitary grandeur," of which these enormous masses are said to convey so sub- lime an idea. Proceeding " vexatiously slow" on the 13th, they had the mortification to perceive the sea ahead covered with young ice, on entering which recourse was had to " sallying," breaking it with boats ahead, and va- rious other expedients, all alike ineffectual, without a fresh and free breeze furnishing a constant impetus ; " so that, after seven or eight hours of unsuccessful la- bor in this way, we were obliged to remain as we were, fairly and immovably beset." Thus for three days they continued sti'uggling with the young ice to little or no purpose, now and then gaining half a mile of ground to windward in a little " hole" of open water, and after all rather losing ground than otherwise, while the young ice was every hour increasing in thickness. On the 17th they found themselves driven back to the eastward of Admiralty Inlet, the young ice still increas- ing in thickness. This was certainly a most severe ti'ial of the patience and perseverance of Captain Parry, of a different kind, but equally annoying as that of " Fox's Channel" and the " Frozen Strait." It once occurred to him that as, in crossing Baffin's Bay, he had expended unexpectedly nearly the whole of the season, and as, under particular circumstances, his instructions author- ized him to return to England, it was high time to make up his mind, which was to him a point speedily decided. " I could not," he says, " have a moment's hesitation as to the propriety of pushing on as far as the present sea- son would permit, and then giving a fan- trial, during the whole of next summer, to the route I was directed by 172 ARCTIC VOYAGES." my instructions to pursue ; and in this view Commander Hoppner entirely concurred. The fact is, that the sum- mer or season was aheady expended before they got into the inlet, and might probably, also, be expended m the following year before it should be found practicable to get out of their winter quarters, unless, indeed, as wUl shortly appear, these quarters were so favorably circum- stanced as to admit of an early departure from them. It would be useless to enter into a detail of the trials of temper and patience they were compelled to undergo after this decision, one of which, however, may be stat- ed. In a strong current setting to the eastward at the rate of two miles an hour, without a chance of stemming it, and beset as they were in young ice, during an unu- sually dark night of nine or ten hours' duration, with a heavy fall of snow, they found themselves utterly in a helpless state. " The consequence was, that when we made the land on the morning of the 23d, we had been drifted the incredible distance of eight or nine leagues during the night, finding ourselves off the WoUaston Isl- ands, at the enti'ance of Navy Board Inlet." Still they persevered, and the help of an easterly breeze which sprang up on the 26th, and gi-adually freshened, prom- ised in earnest to take them, as at last it did, into Prince Regent's Inlet on the 27th ; and by beating up, they came to the entrance of Port Bowen, " where," says Parry, "for two or three days past, I had detemiined to make our wintering place, if, as there was but little reason to expect, we should be so fortunate as to push the ships thus far." The old process of cutting a canal in the ice for the reception of the ships was resorted to, and, as Parry states, " on the evening of the 1st of Octo- ber we had accomplished enough for om* purpose, and the ships were warped into then- winter stations, which we had the satisfaction to think were exti'emely favora- ble for an early release in the spring." Nothing remarkable was obseiTed in the passage through Lancaster Sound. A boat was sent on shore in a bay near Cape WaiTender. Dr. Neill reports, " The beach was covered with fragments of flesh-colored feld- spar, closely studded with red garnets, from the size of a pea to that of a walnut ; the rock was of gneiss forma- VOYAGE. 173 tion, the greater part of it composed of large plates thick- ly set with garnets. The surface of the ground was al- most entirely covered either with snow, or, in absence of it, with luxuriant reindeer moss. The party succeed- ed in killing three reindeer out of a smaD herd. High- er up the strait on the side of a hill, at three or four hun- dred feet above the level of the sea. Lieutenant Ross found several pieces of coal, which burned with a clear, bright flame ; he saw two hares, and killed one of them ; also a fox, a pair of ravens, some wingless ducks, and sev- eral snow-buntings. Parry says they obsei-ved a num- ber of whales in every part of Lancaster Sound. They observed, also, a gi-eat many narwhals and a few wal- ruses in BaiTow's Sti-ait, and thinks they might have seen many more of both but for the continual presence of the young ice. This being the fourth winter which Parry was doom- ed to pass in the frozen regions of the North, he knows not, he says, how he can do better than pursue a meth- od similar to that heretofore practiced, by confining him- self rather to the pointing out of any difference observed now and formerly, than by entering on a fresh descrip- tion of the actual phenomena. " To those who read, as well as to those who describe, the accoimt of a winter passed in these regions can no longer be expected to aiFord the interest of novelty it once possessed, more especially in a station already delineated with tolerable geographical precision on our maps, and thus, as it were, brought near to our firesides at home. Independently, in- deed, of this circumstance, it is hard to conceive any one thing more like another than two winters passed in the high- er latitudes of the Polar- regions, except when variety hap- pens to be afforded by intercourse with some other branch of ' the whole family of man.' Winter after winter, nature here assumes an aspect so much ahke, that cursory observa- tion can scarcely detect a single feature of variety. The win- ter of more temperate climates, and even in some of no slight severity, is occasionally diversified by a thaw, which at once gives variety and comparative cheerfulness to the prospect. But here, when once the eaiih is covered, all is dreary mo- notonous whiteness — ^not merely for days or weeks, but for more than half a year together. Whichever way the eye is turned, it meets a picture calculated to impress upon the mind an idea of inanimate stillness, of that motionless torpor P2 174 ARCTIC VOYAGES. with which our feelings have nothing congenial — of any thing, in short, but life. In the very silence there is a deadness with which a human spectator appears out of keeping. The presence of man seems an intrusion on the dreary solitude of this wintery desert, w^hich even its native animals have for a while forsaken."— P. 40, 41. Among the winter arrangements, Captain Pariy speaks in the highest terms of Sylvester's " warming appara- tus," to which he ascribes the comforts and convenien- ces, and with them the general health of the seamen, which exceeded those of any former experience : "a contrivance," he says, " of which I scarcely know how to express my admiration in adequate terms." '' The alteration adopted on this voyage, of placing this stove in the very bottom of the hold, produced not only the effect naturally to be expected from it, of increasing the ra- pidity of the current of waiTu air, and thus carrying it to all the officers' cabins with less loss of heat in its passage, but w^as also accompanied by an advantage scarcely less import- ant, which had not been anticipated. This was the perfect and unifoiTQ warmth maintained during the winter in both the cable-tiers, which, when cleared of all the stores, gave us another habitable deck, on which more than one third of the men's hammocs w^ere berthed, thus affording to the ships' companies, during seven or eight months of the year, the indescribable comfort of nearly twice the space for their beds, and twice the volume of air to breathe in. It need scarcely be added how conducive to wholesome ventilation, and to the prevention of moisture below, such an arrange- ment proved ; suffice it to say that we have never before been so free from moisture, and that I can not but chiefly attribute to this apparatus the unprecedented good state of health we enjoyed during this winter." — P. 44, 45. It is gi-eatly to be lamented that this testimony of the good effects of a very simple contrivance had not been attended to before the inefficient, troublesome, and ex- pensive quackery apparatus had been permitted in cer- tain of her majesty's ships. The preparations and precautionary measures neces- sary for securing the ships occupied all hands for some time, and they were not finally settled tiU about the mid- dle of October. Pariy omits no opportunity of record- ing whatever may appear to be conducive to the benefit of trade or navigation. Thus he states : parry's third voyage. 175 " Late as we had this year been in reaching Sir James Lan- caster's Sound, there would still have been time for a ship engaged in the whale fishery to have reaped a tolerable har- vest, as we met with a number of whales in every part of it, and even as far as the entrance of Port Bowen. The num- ber registered altogether in our journals is between twenty and thirty, but I have no doubt that many more than these w^ere seen, and that a ship expressly on the look-out for them would have found fall occupation for her boats. Several which came near us were of large and 'payable' dimen- sions."— P. 36, 37. The occupation and diversion of the seamen's minds, as well as the regularity of their bodily exercise, were not likely to be unattended to by so prudent and expe- rienced a commander as Captain PaiTy ; but he was equally attentive to what had been done on former voy- ages ; and as the same officers and men were among the present ones, a little variety, therefore, was thought to be desirable. " Om* former amusements," he says, " being almost worn threadbare, it requu-ed some inge- nuity to devise any plan that should possess the charm of novelty to recommend it." This purpose w^as com- pletely ansv^ered, however, by a proposal of Command- er Hoppner to attempt a masquerade^ in which officers and men should ahke take a part ; but which, without imposing any restraint whatever, should leave eveiy one to their own choice, either to join in this diversion or not. Parry was dehghted with it. " It is impossible that any idea could have proved more happy or more exactly suited to our situation. Admirably dressed characters of various desci-iptions readily took their parts, and many of these were supported with a degree of spirit and genuine humor which would not have disgraced a more refined assembly ; w^hile the latter might not have disdained, and would not have been disgraced by, copying the good order, deconim, and inoffensive cheerfulness which our humble masquerades presented. It does especial credit to the dispositions and good sense of our men, that, though all the officers entered folly into the spirit of these amuse- ments, which took place once a month, alternately on board each ship, no instance occurred of any thing that could in- terfere with the regular discipline, or at all weaken the re- spect of the men toward their superiors. Ours were mas- querades without Hcentiousness— carnivals without excess." —P. 49, 50. 176 ARCTIC VOYAGES. But an occupation of less amusement, perhaps, but not less assiduously pursued, and of infinitely more eventual benefit, was furnished by the re-establishment of schools, under the voluntary superintendence of Mr. Hooper in the Hecla, and of Mr. Mogg in the Fury. " By the judicious zeal of Mr. Hooper, the Hecla's school was made subservdent, not merely to the improvement of the men in reading and writing (in which, however, their prog- ress was surprisingly great), but also to the cultivation of that religious feeling which so essentially improves the character of a seaman, by mmishin^ the highest motives for increased at- tentio?! to eveiy other duty. Nor was the benefit confined to the eighteen or twenty individuals whose want of scholarship brought them to the school-table, but extended itself to the rest of the ship's company, making the whole lower deck such a scene of quiet rational occupation as I never before w^itnessed on board a ship. And I do not speak lightly when I express my thorough persuasion that to the moral effects thus produced upon the rainds of the men were owing, in a very high degree, the constant, yet sober cheerfiilness, the uninteriiipted good order, and even, in some measure, the ex- traordiuaiy state of health which prevailed among us during this winter."— P. 50, 51, The several officers had full employment during their winter confinement in the various observations to which their attention was to be directed. Magnetism was one of the earliest subjects after the erection and arrange- ment of the observatory on shore. The interesting fact was discovered of an increase in the variation of the magnetic needle, since their former visit in 1819, amount- ing to about nine degrees, namely, from 114° to 123°. A regular series of hourly experiments on the magnetic intensity was instituted, by which was found a diurnal change of intensity, exhibiting a regular increase from the morning to the afternoon, and as regular a decrease from the afternoon to the morning. " It also appeared," says P arry, " that the sun, and, as we had reason to be- lieve, the relative position of the sun and moon with ref- erence to the magnetic sphere, had a considerable in- fluence both on the intensity and diurnal variation, al- though the exact laws of this influence may still remain to be discovered." It is to be hoped that the result of the observations that have been carrying on for three years by England and its coionies, and also in various 177 parts of Europe and in America, in observatories espe- cially erected for observations and experiments in all that regards terrestrial magnetism, will tlii'ow much light on this interesting, and, it may be said, mysterious subject. The refraction of the atmosphere is fully considered, and the method of obtaining it in low temperatures is given in a paper by Mr. Fisher. The observed refrac- tions of stars at low altitudes and temperatures, the so- lar and terrestrial refractions by obsen'ations of the sev- eral ofificers, are carefully registered in the Appendix. The various meteorological observations employed a con- siderable portion of their time ; but this winter, Parry says, afforded but few brilliant displays of the aurora. One of them, however, is noticed as something remark- able. " While Lieutenants Sherer, Ross, and myself were ad- miring the extreme beauty of this phenomenon from the ob- servatoiy, we all simultaneously uttered an exclamation of sui-prise at seeing a bright ray of the aurora shoot suddenly downward from the general mass of light, and bettoe en us and the land, which was there distant only three thousand yards. Had I witnessed this phenomenon by myself, I should have been disposed to receive with caution the evidence even of my own senses as to this last fact ; but the appearance con- veying precisely the same idea to three individuals at once, all intently engaged in looking toward the spot, I have no doubt that the ray of light actually passed within that dis- tance of us. "—P. 62. It is unnecessary to enumerate the number of lunar observations for the longitude, and those for the latitude by the sun and various stars, by all the officers ; the ac- count of the rates of the chronometers, all of which are given in the Appendix, with an account of the Borealian Quadrupeds and Birds by Dr. Richardson, of Botany by Professor Hooker, and of Zoophytes by Dr. Fleming. And it is but justice to all the officers to say that they most willingly and cordially followed the example of their excellent, intelUgent, and indefatigable commander in their regularity and attention requisite for making the various observations.* * An account will be given at the close of this chapter of the several subjects contained in the Appendix, and of the officers employed upon them. 12 178 ARCTIC VOYAGES. It win readily be imagined with what anxiety, in the early part of the year, the reappearance of the sun was looked for. S ome, by ascending a high hill, got a ghmpse of him on the 2d of Februaiy ; on the 15th he was vis- ible at the observatoiy, and at the ships on the 22d, " af- ter an absence of one hundred and twenty-one days." But it is a long time after the sun's reappearance that the effect of his rays, as to warmth, becomes percepti- ble ; week after week passes over with scarcely any rise in the thermometer, except for an hour or two during the day. In this year Pariysays the thermometer did not rise above zero tiU the 11th of April, having remained below that point of the scale for one hundred and thirty- one successive days ; but he mentions this as the only instance of the kind he had ever known. Parties were sent from Port Bowento travel by land on the sea-coast on each side of the port. The first, however, was directed to proceed inland to the eastward under Commander Hoppner. This pai-ty returned af- ter a very fatiguing journey, having with difficulty ti-av- eled a degree and three quarters easterly, in the lat. 73° 19' ; but no appearance of sea was obsei-ved in that di- rection ; the countiy consisted of ravines, many of them four or five hundred feet deep, and veiy precipitous. During the whole fortnight's excursion sca-rcely a patch of vegetation could be seen ; a few snow-buntings and some ivoiy gulls were all the animals they met with to enliven this most baiTen and desolate countiy. Hares, foxes, and bears wei'e sparingly met with ; and the last animal is not disposed to have any affection for mankind. Instances, however, did occur to show that maternal affection is not wanting in this animal, but was as apparent in it as in that of the wahus described by Beech ey : " A slie-bear, killed in tlie open water, on our first arx-ival at Port Bo wen, afforded a sti-iking instance of maternal affec- tion in her anxiety to save her two cubs. She might herself have easily escaped the boat, but w^ould not forsake her young, which she was actually ' to\^dng' off, by allowing them to rest on her back, w'hen the boat came near them. A sec- ond similar instance occuiTed in the spring, when two cubs having got down into a large crack in the ice, their mother placed herself before them, so as to secm-e them from the at- 179 tacks of our people, whicli she miglit easily have avoided herself."— P. 79. The two other parties, consisting of four men each, under the respective commands of Lieutenants Sherer and Ross, were directed to travel, the fonner to the southward, and the latter to the northward, along the coast of Prince Regent's Inlet, for the purpose of sur- veying it accurately. Parry was anxious, also, to as- certain the state of the ice to the northward, to enable him to form some judgment as to the probable time of their liberation. These parties found the ti-aveling along shore so good as to enable them to extend their joui'neys far beyond the points intended. Lieutenant Ross brought the w^elcome intelligence of the sea being perfectly open and free from ice at the distance of twen- ty-two miles to the northward of Port Bowen, "by w^hich," says Pany, " I concluded — what, indeed, had long before been a matter of probable conjecture — that Barrow's Sti-ait was not permanently frozen during the winter." From the tops of the hills about Cape York, beyond which promontory Lieutenant Ross ti'aveled, no appearance of ice could be distinguished. Lieutenant Sherer returned to the ships about the same time, having performed a rapid journey as far as 72^°, and making an accurate survey of the whole coast to that distance ; and Pai'iy regrets that he -was not fur- nished with more provisions and a larger party, to have enabled him to travel round Cape Kater, which is prob- ably not far distant from one of the northern Esquimaux stations, mentioned in his journal of the preceding voy- age. On the 12th of July the ice began to break up in the neighborhood, and about the same time the ice which crossed the mouth of the harbor detached itself at an old crack, and drifted off, leaving only about one mile and a quarter between the ships and the sea. The men were now employed, with the gi'eatest cheerful- ness and alacrity, from seven in the morning till seven in the evening, daily, "when, on the 19th, a very welcome stop was put to their operations by the entire separation of the floe across the harbor. By a renewal of their labor the whole night they succeeded in getting the 180 ARCTIC VOYAGES. ships clear, and also, in two hours' towing, out to sea, after an imprisonment of between nine and ten months. "On standing to sea, we sailed," says Parry, "with a light southerly wind, toward the western shore of Prince Regent's Inlet, which it was my first wish to gain, on account of the evident advantage to be derived from coasting the southern part of that portion of land called in the chart 'North Somerset,' as far as it might lead to the westward ; which, from our former knowl- edge we had reason to suppose it would do, as far, at least, as the longitude of 95°, in about the parallel of 72|°, that is, at Cape Garry." But on his first voyage he had been below 70° (Cape Kater), on the east coast, and the two shores were nearly parallel to each other : and there the crossing might not have been difficult ; be- sides the certainty of going down an eastern coast, in comparison of taking a western one, according to Cap- tain Parry's own showing, makes it the more remarka- ble he did not choose the former. It might also have been supposed that a desire to extend the knowledge of the eastern coast might have been a strong inducement, even if only to examine the opening of the Fury and Hecla Strait into the Regent's Inlet, which Blr. Reid's report leaves in rather an unsatisfactory state, and also to have looked into the Gulf of Akkoolee, which is de- scribed by the Esquimaux lady. Parry, however, had doubtless good reasons for his choice, one of which was the apparent tendency to the westward of the shore of North Somerset. That he had well weighed the case appears by his own showing: " I shall first mention (he says) a circumstance which has particularly forced itself upon my notice in the course of our various attempts to penetrate through the ice in these regions, which is, that the eastern coast of any portion of land, or, what is the same thing, the western sides of seas or inlets, having a tendency at all approaching to north and south, are, at a given season of the year, genei-ally more encumbered with ice than the shores with an opposite aspect. The four following instances (he coutinues) may be adduced in illus- tration of this fact, and can not but appear somewhat striking w^hen considered in viewing a map wliich exhibits the rela- tive position of the shores in question." — P. 176. The four instances he gives are generally known, and parry's third voyage. 181 admitted to be as lie says. First, in the Northern Sea, from lat. 60° to 80°, bounded on the east by Lapland and Spitzbergen, and on the wesi by Greenland, the whole of the latter coast is blocked up by ice through- out the summer, so as to make it at least a matter of no easy enterprise to approach it, while the navigation of the eastern portion of that sea is annually and without difficulty performed by whalers and others. The second instance is equally weE known in the nav- igation of Davis's Strait, which, from about Resolution Island in 61^°, to the parallel of 70°, is inaccessible as late as the month of August, while the sea is open on the eastern side of the strait (the western coast of Green- land) many weeks before that time. The third he mentions is his own case, when coasting the eastern shore of Melville Peninsula, on his first voy- age, so loaded with ice as to make the navigation difficult and dangerous. The fourth instance mentioned by Parry is the east- ern side of Fox's Channel, where, from that navigator's account in 1631, and that of Baffin in 1615, " as from our own observation," there is little or no ice during the sum- mer season ; but he might also have added that the east- ern coast of Southampton Island appears to be always choked with ice. The fourth and last instance of the same kind, "which," says Parry, " I shall mention, is that of Prince Regent's Inlet, and of which the events of this and a former voy- age furnish too striking a proof, the ice appearing always to cling to the western shore in a very remarkable man- ner, while the opposite coast is comparatively fi-ee from it." And a fifth, on account of the accumulation of ice, may be added to the list, by mentioning the southern and eastern coast of Melville Island, whose shores ap- pear to be the receptacle of all the ice that is driven east- ward from the western sea, of which it is supposed to be the outermost barrier island ; at least Sir John Frank- lin, from the view he had on the southern coast, thinks it to be so. Captain PaiTy is not a man to act hastily or indiscreet- ly, and it would appear that the preference given to th© 182 ARCTIC VOYAGES. western coast was influenced, partly at least, by an ar- dent desire of acquiring an accession to the geographi- cal knowledge of a sti-ait or inlet which he had reason to believe would conduct him into the Polar Sea, through which he conceived the sought-for passage to the Pacif- ic could best be made ; for he says : " It was the gen- eral feeling at this period (24th of July) among us, that the voyage had but now commenced. The labors of a bad summer, and the tedium of a long winter, were for- gotten in a moment, when we found ourselves upon ground not hitherto explored, and with eveiy apparent prospect before us of making as rapid a progress as the nature of this navigation will permit toward the final ac- complishment of our object." The trending of the west- ern shore to the westward might also have contributed to the choice of that side ; the only surprise is, that af- ter the cases he has given, all of them adverse to it, he should have resolved to adopt it. The ships continued to proceed southerly close in with the western shore, having alternately open water and floating ice, to which they had occasionally to make fast. On the 28th the ice was observed to be in rapid motion toward the shore. The Hecla was immediately beset» in spite of every exertion ; and after breaking two of the largest ice-anchors in endeavoring to heave in to the shore, was obliged to drift with the ice. On the 29th the ships were so close in with the shore, that, after shifting the Hecla into " a less insecure herth,^' Parry says " he walked to a broad valley facing the sea near us." The cliffs next the sea, four or five hundred feet in per- pendicular height, were continually breaking down ; and " the ships lay so close to the shore as to be almost with- in the range of some of these tumbling masses, there be- ing at high water scarcely beach enough for a person to walk along the shore." On the 30th of July the Hecla's berth was shifted to a greater distance from the shore, by which Pany says "the security of the ship was much altered for the worse ;" the Fury remained where she was, " there being no second berth even so good as the bad one where she was now lying." On the 31st it blew a hard gale, which brought the ice closer and closer, till it pressed i PARRY S THIRD VOYAGE. 183 with very considerable violence on both ships, " though the most upon the Fuiy, which lay in a very exposed situation." The Hecia had only two or three hawsers broken. Early the next morning (the 31st) Command- er Hoppner sent to inform Captain Parry that the Fury had been forced on the ground, where she still lay, but that she would probably be hove off without much diffi- culty at high water, provided the external ice did not pre- vent it. A broad channel of water appearing at a little distance, and a fresh breeze springing up, the ships were cast, and then- heads the right way, to reach this channel, when the ice came bodily in upon the ships, which were al- most instantly beset, and in such a manner " as to be lit- erally helpless and unmanageable." Captain Parry ob- serves that, in such cases, " the exertions made by heav- ing at hawsers, or otherwise, are of little more service than in the occupation they furnish to the men's minds under chcumstances of difficulty ; for when the ice is fairly acting against the ship, ten times the strength and ingenuity could in reality avail nothing." The body of ice setting to the southward, the two ships were carried with it to some short distance, when the Hecla, after thus driving about a mile, quite close to the shore, sti'uck the gi-ound fo]"cibly several times, and being brought up by it, remained immovable. The Fuiy, continuing to drive, •' was now irresistibly carried past us, and we escaped, only by a few feet, the damage in- variably occasioned by ships coming in contact under such circumstances." She drove about three hundred yards, the ice pressing her on as well as along the shore, when she received a severe shock from a large floe- piece, forcing her directly against a gi'ounded mass of ice upon the beach. The Hecla and Fury continued both aground, the latter, by Hoppner's report, so severe- ly " nipped" and sti-ained as to leak a good deal, and that she was heavily pressed both upon the ground and against the huge mass of ice. Both ships, however, got off at high water ; but on the night of the second of August the ice once more forced the Fmy on shore, and the Hecla narrowly escaped. ^' I rowed on board the Fuiy," says Parry, "and 184 ARCTIC VOYAGES. found four pumps constantly going to keep the ship free, and Commander Hoppner, his officers and men, almost exhausted with the ince-ssant labor of the last eight-and- forty hours." The two commanders set out in a boat to survey the shore to the southward, in search of a plaee where the Fury, unable to proceed any farther without repairs, might be hove down, ruinous as such a necessity must be. At about a mile farther down they found a place where three grounded masses of ice had three to four fathoms water within them, and which, with the as- sistance of art, might afford something like shelter. On returning, the ice had closed in, so as not only to prevent their moving, but that the smallest external pressure must inevitably force them ashore, neither ship having raoro than two feet of water to spare. They were, however, soon relieved, and both ships enabled to proceed to the place of the three bergs, where the formation of a basin was commenced, and completed by the 16th of August; all the Fury's stares, provisions, and other articles were landed, and she was hove down on the 18th. A gale of wind, however, destroyed the bergs, and made it neces- sary for both ships to be towed out into the sea, or, rath- er, the ice. The Fury was reloaded, but on the 21st this unfortunate ship was again driven on shore. As every farther attempt to put her into a state of repair was now hopeless. Parry, after visiting her for the last time, says, " every endeavor of ours to get her off, or, if got off, to float her to any known place of safety, would be at once utterly hopeless in itself, and productive of extreme risk to our remaining ship." A survey, therefore, was held upon her; and Commander Hoppner, with the other officers, were of opinion " that an absolute necessity existed for abandoning the Fury :" " my own opinion," says Parry, " being thus confirmed as to the utter hopelessness of saving her, and feeling more strongly than ever the responsibility which at- tached to me of preserving the Hecla unhurt, it was with extreme pain and regret that I made the signal for the Fury's officers and men to be sent for their clothes, most of which had been put on shore with the stores." The incessant labor, the constant state of anxiety, and the frequent and imminent danger into which the VOYAGE. 185 surviving ship was thrown, in the attempts to save her comrade, which were continued for five-and-twenty days, destroyed eveiy reasonable expectation hitherto cherished of the ultimate accomplishment of this object. " I was therefore," says Parry, " reduced to the only remaining conclusion that it was my duty, under all the circumstances of the case, to return to England, in com- pliance with the plain tenor of my insti'uctions. As soon as the boats were hoisted up, therefore, and the anchor stowed, the ship's head was put to the north- eastward, with a light air off the land, in order to gain an offing before the ice should again set in-shore." A breeze springing up on the 27th from the north- ward, immediate advantage was taken of it to stretch over to the eastern shore of Prince Regent's Inlet, which was done with scarcely any obstruction from ice, and the Hecla entered Neill's Harbor (a little to the southward of Port Bowen) in order to prepare her completely for crossing the Atlantic. Here one man, John Pages, seaman of the Fuiy, departed this hfe, having been for several months affected with a scrofu- lous disorder, the only case which proved fatal in either ship. All being ready, and the water clear of ice, the Hecla weighed, and stood out to sea on the last day of August. On the first of September she entered Barrow's Sti-ait, the sea there perfectly open, by which they were ena- bled to bear away to the eastward. In crossing Lan- caster Sound they observed a more than usual quantity of icebergs, being in proportion of at least four to one that they had ever before observed there. They en- tered Baffin's Bay, stiU in an open sea. On the 7th of September they had reached the latitude of 72° 30', having, in the course of eighty miles, only made a sin- gle tack, when they came to the margin of the ice, and got into an open sea on its eastern side. At this time there were thirty-nine bergs in sight, " and some of them certainly not less than 200 feet in height." On the 10th of October they made Mould Head, near the northwest end of the Orkney Islands. Captain PaiTy landed at Peterhead on the 12th, and amved at the Admiralty on the 16th ; the Hecla at Sheerness on the Q2 186 ARCTIC VOYAGES. 20th of October, and was paid off at Woolwich on the 21st of November. This last attempt for the discoveiy of a northwest passage, it must be admitted, is the least successful of the three that Captain Parry has now made, not merely as to any information regarding the passage, but as to any extension of geogi-aphical knowledge or of natural history. Of all the Arctic countries visited by him, the two shores of Prince Regent's Inlet are the most naked and barren, the most dreary and desolate, that have been seen, not excepting even Melville Island — not merely desolate of human beings, but almost deprived, also, of all animal and vegetable life ; a gloomy, sad, and melancholy land. " We have scarcely," says Pany, *' ever visited a coast on which so little of animal life occurs. For days together only one or two seals, a sin- gle sea-horse, and now and then a flock of ducks, were seen." An exception, however, occm-red in the num- berless kittiwakes flying about, and some hundreds of white whales sporting about the place where the Fury was abandoned. The transient view which was taken of Prince Re- gent's shores on the first voyage was favorable enough to impress on the mind of Parry, on the faOm-e of his second voyage, that to get fairly into the Polar Sea, " there is no known opening which seems to present itself so favorably for this purpose as Prince Regent's Inlet." And he repeats, in the voyage now under con- sideration, " to that point, therefore, I can, in the pres- ent state of our knowledge, have no hesitation in still recommending that any future attempt should be di- rected." His advice was followed, and a second ship was left behind. A third, it is to be hoped, will never again attempt this vUe inlet, even although it has since been ascertained, from another quarter, that its waters do communicate with the western portion of the Polar Sea ; such communication, however, gives no encour- agement for ships of any size to make the trial of a passage into the Polar Sea by this route ; but more of this hereafter. An indifferent person, who has but carelessly glanced over the three expeditions, or another who has studied parry's third voyage. 187 and taken an interest in the subject, would most proba- bly come to a different opinion from Captain Pariy, and be disposed to think that, in any farther search for a northwest passage, the Strait of the Fury and Hecla and the Prince Regent's Inlet should equally be avoided, for, leading into one another, they may be considered as one and the same thing, and alike unfavorable to safe navigation. The additional encouragement which Pariy says has been afforded by the favorable appearances of a navigable sea near the southwestern exti'emity of Prince Regent's Inlet, if it had any existence beyond appearances, might certainly lead to the conclusion that the northern coast of America could be approached by that route ; but neither Parry at this time, nor indeed any one, being at all aware of what the American coast consisted of, with its sea encumbered with ice and isl- ands, and navigable only by boats or canoes, could have been of a veiy different opinion. Franklin and Rich- ardson, Dease and Simpson, have now fully acquainted us with the natm-e of that coast. It is true it is a con- tinuous coast from the bottom of Regent's Inlet, and therefore falls in with the settled opinion of Captain Parry, who says "he is more than ever impressed with the belief that the only way in which a ship can, with tolerable certainty, succeed in peneti-ating any consider- able distance, is by watching the openings occasionally produced by winds and tides between a body of ice when detached and movable, and some land continuous in the same direction." This passage was written on the second voyage, and remains, he says, wholly unaltered in the present, which is the more remarkable, after the constant and imminent danger to the two ships, and the total loss of one of them, while struggling to make way along continuous land, between which and masses of ice^ always in mo- tion, they were to make then* progi'ess. It is difficult to imagine how a ship at anchor, or loose, placed near the shore on which large masses of ice are thi-own, ca- priciously it may be said, for it is never known to what point they may be directed, can possibly escape desti-uc- tion, especially among sti'aits and naiTow passages be- tween islands. Suppose a person of ordinary intellect 188 ARCTIC VOYAGES. should be told, as Captain Pariy will tell him, that during the time his ships were made fast on the dangerous coast which has been spoken of, " the ice was setting to the southward, and sometimes at a rapid rate, full seven days out of every ten," would not such a person naturally ask, why Avas advantage not taken of such an auxiliaiy when going in the right direction ? Captain PaiTy has replied to such a question. " On munerous occasions the ships might easily have been placed among the ice, and left to drift with it, in comparative, if not absolute secmity, where the holding them- on has been preferred, though attended with hourly and imminent peril. This was precisely the case on the present occasfon ; the ships might certainly have been pushed into the ice a day or two or even a week beforehand, and thus preserved from all risk of being forced on shore ; but where they would have been drifted, and where they would have been again disen- gaged from the ice, or at Hberty to take advantage of the oc- casional openings in-sliore (by which alone the navigation of these seas is to be perfonued with any degree of certainty), I believe it impossible for any one to form the most distant idea."— P. 148. It will, perhaps, be considered indiscreet in a lands- man to question the opinion of one of such great nauti- cal skill, and so well experienced in the navigation of seas hampered with ice, whose exertions have been so honorable to himself and satisfactory to his employers ; but he is of too liberal a nature to take amiss, on a mat- ter of fact, what is well meant, however it may differ from his own opinion. Fully persuaded that none can rise from the perusal of his " Northern Voyages" with- out being impressed with a decided conviction that his merits as an officer and scientific navigator are of the highest order ; that his talents are not confined to his professional duties, but that the resources of his mind are equal to the most arduous situations, and fertile in expedients under every circumstance, however difficult, dangerous, or unexpected — such a man may safely ven- ture, not merely to tolerate, but even to invite criticism, when candidly, honestly, and faithfully offered. Par- ry's heart still continues to cling to the accomplishment of a northwest passage, and most undoubtedly would put in practice such measures as, in his opinion and experi- parry's third voyage. 189 ence, lie considers most likely to attain that object. He says : " I feel confident that the undertaking, if it be deemed ad- visable at any future time to pm'sue it, will one day or other be accomplished ; for, setting aside the accidents to which, from their very nature, such attempts must be hable, as w-ell as other unfavorable circumstances which human foresight can never guard against nor human power controU, I can not but believe it to be an enterprise well within the reasonable limits of practicability. It may be tried often, and often fail, for several favorable and fortunate circumstances must be combined for its accomphshment ; but I believe, neverthe- less, that it will ultimately be accomphshed." — P. 184, 185. He goes on to say, " I am much mistaken indeed if the northwest passage ever becomes the business of a single summer ; nay, I beheve that nothing but a concur- rence of very favorable chcumstances is likely even to make a single winter in the ice sufficient for its accom- plishment. But this is no argument against the possi- bility of final success ; for we now know that a winter in the ice may be passed not only in safety, but in health and comfort." This is very ti'ue, at least in his own particular case, who had so many resources at his com- mand; and no objection can be raised on the additional expense in wear and tear, in provisions and stores, and in the double pay of officers and men, except by that particular class of persons known by the name of utihta- rians ; the hberal-minded would not consider the increased expense thrown away when the honor of the nation, the interests of science, the improvement of navigation, and the employment of our rising officers and best seamen, are the objects contemplated. While on this point, it is too remarkable a chcumstance to be omitted, that none of our early navigators hi the Polar regions ever passed a winter there, and rai'ely lost one of their small and fragile barks of 50, 40, 30, and down to 15 tons. Pany takes occasion to bestow a well- desei*ved testimony to the valuable, persevering, and ex- traordinary labors of these men. " I should be doing but imperfect justice to the memory of these extraordinary men, as weU as to my own sense of their merits, if I permitted the present opportmiity to pass without 190 ARCTIC VOYAGES. offering a still more explicit and decided testimony to tlie val- ue of their labors. The accounts of Hudson, Baffin, and Da- vis (and first of all, Frobisher) are the productions of men of no common stamp. They evidently relate things just as they saw them, dwelling on such nautical and hydrographical no- tices as, even at this day, are valuable to any seaman going over the same ground, and describing every appearance of nature, whether on the land, the sea, or the ice, with a de- gree of faithfuhiess which can alone, perhaps, be duly appre- ciated by those who succeed them in the same regions and under similar circumstances. The general outline of the lands they discovered was laid down by themselves vdth such extraordinary precision, even in longitude, as scarcely to re- quire correction in modem times ; of which fact the oldest maps now extant of Baffin's Bay and the Straits of Hudson and Davis, constructed from the original materials, will afford sufficient pi-oof. The same accuracy is observable in their accounts of the tides, somidings, and bearings, phenomena in w^hich the lapse of 200 years can have wrought but little change. It is, indeed, impossible for any one personally ac- quainted with the phenomena of the icy seas to peruse the plain and mipretending narratives of these navigators w^ith- out recognizing in almost eveiy event they relate some cir- cumstance familiar to his own recollection and experience, and meeting with numberless remarks which bear most unequiv- ocally about them the impress of truth. " While thus doing justice to the faithflilness and accuracy with which they recorded their discoveries, one can not less admire the intrepidity, perseverance, and_ skill with which, inadequately furnished as they were, those discoveries were effected, and every difficulty and dangei'. braved. That any man, in a single frail vessel of five-and-twenty tons, ill found in most respects, and wholly unprovided for v^ntering, hav- ing to contend with a thousand real difficulties, as well as with numberless imaginaiy ones, which the superstitions then existing among sailors would not fail to conjure up — that any man, under such circumstances, should, two hun- dred years ago, have persevered in accomphshing what our old navigators did accomplish, is, I confess, sufficient to cre- ate in my mind a feeling of the highest pride on the one hand, and almost approaching to humiliation on the other; of pride, in remembering that it was our countrymen who per- formed these exploits ; of humiliation, when I consider how little, with all our advantages, loe have succeeded in going beyond them. " Indeed, the longer our experience has been in the na\d- gation of the icy seas, and the more intimate our acquaint- PARRY S THIRD VOYAGE. 191 ance with all its difficulties and all its pi'ecariousness, the higher have our admiration and respect been raised for those who went before us in these entei-prises. Persevering in difficulty, imappalled by danger, and patient under distress, they scarcely ever use the language of complaint, much less that of despair ; and sometimes, when all human hope seems at its lowest ebb, they furnish the most beautiful examples of that firm rehance on a mercifid. and superintending Provi- dence which is the only rational source of true fortitude in man. Often, with their narratives impressed upon my mind, and surrounded by the very difficulties which they in their frail and inefficient barks undauntedly encomitered and over- came, have I been tempted to exclaim, with all the enthusi- asm of Purchas, 'How shall I admire your heroicke courage, ye marine worthies, beyond names of w^orthiness!' " — P. 181, 182, 183. This is the third and last attempt of Captain Parry to discover a northwest passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific, but it is by no means his last attempt at Polar discovery ; it has, in fact, been followed up with an en- terprise not more novel than perilous — an attempt to ap- proach the North Pole, in which he wiU again appear, in the present nari^ative, in that bold and fearless charac- ter, which, if it fail of complete success, will at least most unquestionably have deserved it. It may not be amiss, in closing the naiTative of this voyage, to insert a few desultory remarks chiefly from the Appendix. During the winter months in which the ships were shut up in Bowen's Harbor, the respective officers employed themselves in collecting and arranging the observations that were made in the course of the voyage,* down to the period of" their release, a very brief extract from which must here serve. It is almost unnecessary to say that all astronomical observations connected with navigation were strictly attended to by the commander of the expedition and his colleague Hopp- ner, by Lieutenants Foster, Sherer, Ross, and by Mr. Hooper, as observations for determining the longitude : By occultations of fixed stars. By fixed stars and the Moon — Foster. * There is no Appendix in the Second Voyage : the collections of nat- ural history, and certain of the observations, are included in the present one. 192 ARCTIC VOYAGES. By transit of the Moon — Foster. By Jupiter's satellites — Foster. Magnetic dip of needle — Parry and Foster. Variation — Pairy and various officers. The Board of Longitude having suggested that one of the objects of the present voyage should be the de- termination of the figure of the earth, by means of the vibration of a pendulum, the apparatus of Captain Hen- ry Eater's construction vv^as supplied to the expedition, and placed in charge of Lieutenant Henry Foster. As it was necessai-y that the number of vibrations of the same pendulum should be known at different places, Mr. Pond, the Astronomer Royal, allowed the trial to be made at Greenwich. The results of the experiments, as stated by Lieutenant Foster, give briefly — Number of vibrations at Greenwich . . 86,159,434 Ditto at Port Bowen . . 86,230,242 Length of seconds' pendulum in the latitude of Greeuwdch .... 39-13911 inches. Ditto at Port Bowen 39-203468 do. "Whence, Mr. Foster says, the fraction expressing the diminution of gravity fi-om the pole to the equator is 0054155, and The ellipticity of the earth, -— i — .. That of the French geometricians, — I . Sabine from the north, — L~. ' 289-1 Sabine, Melville Island, — L_ ' ' 312-tS From Lieutenant James Clarke Ross the Appendix contains a brief account of the quadmpeds, birds, fishes, and insects, and invertebrate animals. There is also an account by Sir WiEiam Hooker of the plants found in the course of this voyage. These may be briefly stated as under, embracing both east and west coast of this por- tion of America. Quadrupeds. — The Polar Bear — Arctic Fox — Lemming — ^Polar Hare — Reindeer — Rough Seal — Black Whale — Nar- whal. Birds. — Iceland Falcon — Snov^ Owl — Raven — Lapland Finch — Snow-Bunting — Ptai-migan — Rock Grouse — Willow Partridge — Golden Plover — Phalarope, 2 species — Gulls,. 6 193 species — Eider Ducks, and various others — Little Aiik, and 2 others. Fishes. — Ophidium, 2 species — Cottus, 2 species — Pleuro- nectes, not very numerous. Insects. — 12 species, 4 of them Spiders, 1 Bee, 1 Ant, 1 Gnat, 1 Butterfly; the other four are Simulium, Ctenophorse, Bombus, and Bombyx, The Invertebrate animals, which are numerous, and not of veiy familiarized names in Latin, may be passed over. The Botany of the last two voyages, by Sir William Hooker, embraces 21 families of the natural order, but, as he observes, " a small number of species, owing to the few opportunities that were afforded for the officers to go on shore, as well as to the exti-eme poverty of the soil in those places that were visited." Of the notes on the geology of the countries visited, in the second and the present voyage, by Professor Jameson, who also gives a few concluding remarks on the geology of the four Arctic Expeditions, a brief ab- stract is as foUows : 1. That the regions explored abound in primitive, ti'ansition, and secondary rocks ; partial alluvial deposits ; modern volcanic rocks not met with ; few ti'aces of ter- tiary sti'ata. 2. That primitive and transition islands at one time probably connected, and formed a mass with the conti- nent of America, in the plains and hollows of which were deposited the secondary limestones, sandstones, gypsum, and coal ; on these, again, the tertiaiy rocks. 3. 4, 5. Purely speculative. 6. The bowlders or rolled blocks afford evidence of the passage of water across the places where found. 7. No ti'aces of the agency of modem volcanoes any where except in Jan Mayen's Island. 8. No intimations of older volcanic action, eitcept in the presence of secondary trap rocks, such as basalt, greenstone, trap tufa, and amygdaloid. 9. That black bituminous coal (the oldest formation) found in Melville Island and in Old Greenland, forms an interesting featm*e in the geognostical constitution of Arc- tic countiies. 13 R 194 ARCTIC VOYAGES. 10. That the red sandstone of Possession Bay, &c., renders it probable that rock salt may occur in that quar- ter. 11. That the regions explored by Captain Pany have afforded various interesting and highly useful ores, such as octahedral, or magnetic iron ore ; rhomboidal, or red iron ore ; prismatic, or brovv^n iron ore ; and chromate of iron ; also the common ore of copper, or copper py- rites, and sulphuret of molybdaena ; ore of titanium, and that valuable mineral, graphite, or black-lead. 12. That gems are not wanting in the Arctic regions is proved by the abundance of the precious garnet, which, on more particular examination of the primitive rocks, will no doubt be found to present all the beautiful colors and elegant forms for which that stone is so much ad- mired. Rock crystal, beryl, and zircon have also been met with. 13. That these countries exhibit the same general ge- ognostical arrangements as occur in other countries ex- amined by the naturalist ; " a fact," says the professor, *' which strengthens that opinion, which maintains that the great features of nature in the mineral kingdom are every where similar, and consequently that the same general agencies must have prevailed generally during the formation of the solid mass of the earth." 14. And Professor Jameson concludes his remarks in the 14th paragraph with a general observation, so beau- tifully expressed in language, and so true in substance, that it would be well worth the attention of the modern physiologist, with his new creations springing out oi fiery mists, to leave his unsubstantial visions, and imitate the professor's creed, " That the apparent irregularities which at first sight present themselves to our attention in the grand arrange- ments in the mineral kingdom are the offspring of om- own feeble powers of observation, and disappear when the phe- nomena are examined in all their relations. It is then, in- deed, that the mind obtains those enduring and sublime views of the power of the Deity, which, in geology, reward the patient observer, raise one of the most beautiful and in- teresting departments of natural science to its true rank, and prove that its relations connect, as it were, in the scale of magnitude, the phenomena of the earth with those more ex- parry's third voyage. 195 tensive arrangements presented to our intelligence in the planetary system, and in the grand framework of the universe itself."— App., p. 151. Captain Pariy, in observing on the exti-eme facility with w^hich sounds are heard at considerable distances in severely cold w^eather, relates a circumstance that occur- red at Port Bowen in confirmation of the fact. " Lieu- tenant Foster having occasion to send a man from the observatory to the opposite shore of the harbor, a meas- ured distance of 6696 feet (about a mile and two tenths), in order to fix a meridian mark, had placed a second per- son half way between, to repeat his directions ; but he found, on trial, that this precaution was unnecessary, as he could without difficulty keep up a conversation with the man at the distant station. The thermometer at the time was 18° ; the barometer, 30-14 inches ; weather calm, clear, and serene." The Aurora is stated to have appeared forty-seven nights from October to March, fifteen times in January, five in March, and two in October. Nothing particular is said of its appearance, and no one ever heard any sound produced. The Aurora had no effect on the va- riation needles, which were suspended (not supported) in the most delicate manner. The atmosphere during the winter months is stated to have been favorable to the excitement of electricity ; but none could be made apparent, though Parry says the electrometer with gold leaf was applied to the chain, which was attached to the mast head by glass rods, the upper link, above the mast head, being 115 feet above the level of the sea ; but it was without the slightest perceptible effect. . A word on the difference of temperature, and of the different quantities of ice on the east and west shores of continents, islands, or straits : a well-known fact, but which does not appear to have been satisfactorily ex- plained — why the western coasts of continents and isl- ands, of straits and inlets, should be less subject to be hampered with ice than the eastern ones ? The fact is decidedly so, as many instances, in addition to those mentioned by Captain Parry, might be given. If the easterly winds were the most prevalent and powerful, 196 ARCTIC VOYAGES. the floes and masses of ice would no doubt be driven by them to the easterly coast ; but it would rather appear that within the Arctic Circle the northerly and westerly winds mostly prevail. The same thing obtains with re- gard to temperature, whether on the coasts of continents or islands, or even in the broad streets of towns, lying in a north and south direction. Thus, on the western coast of America, up as far as Cook's River, between the latitude of 55° and 60°, the little certhias and the humming-birds are said to be chirping and singing, when from New- foundland in 50°, down to Philadelphia in 40°, frost and snow cover the water and the ground. At home, the difference of temperature between the western coast or islands of Scotland and the eastern coast is so great, that the late Lady Bute found the Isle of Bute more conge- nial with her constitution than even England. The coast of Devonshire is of a much milder temperature than the coast of Norfolk. On the same principle, the east side of Regent-street, facing the west, will always be found more dry and free from moisture than the opposite side, facing the east; and so will the east side of Regent's Park be more dry, and the houses more free from moist- ure, than on the western side. From what cause does this proceed ? May it not be explained by the fact that, at or a little before sunrise, the temperature of the atmosphere is much lower than at or a little after sunset, and that, from the former pe- riod to the meridian, the influence of the sun is consid- erably less than from the meridian to the latter ; in oth- er words, that the power of the sun during the first half of the day, when his rays pass over the eastern land, is much less than when he is pouring his beams on the western land for the second half of the day ? If it be conceded that the setting sUn shedding its rays on a west- ern coast creates a more warm or mild temperature than is felt by the more oblique rays at the same time shed on the eastern land, perhaps it may assist to solve the problem ; but the difference is not so great as to explain the cause of the permanently-fixed ice, for instance, on the east coast of Greenland, or of Southampton Island, and many other coasts running north and south. "These facts, when taken together," Parry says, 197 " have long ago impressed me with an idea that there must exist in the Polar region some general motion of the sea toward the west, causing the ice to set in that direction when not impeUed by contrary winds, or local and occasional currents, until it butts against those shores which are actually found to be most encumbered by it;" and he gives instances of ships being set to the westward in opposition to a strong wind blowing from that quarter ; and, having stated the facts, he concludes by suggesting, for the consideration of others, whether such a tenden- cy of the sea as that noticed may not have some con- nection with the motion of the earth on its axis. Such an idea, it is apprehended, is not tenable, as it is gener- ally understood that the motion of the earth carries with it both the sea and the atmosphere. CHAPTER IX. PARRY'S POLAR VOYAGE. 1827. Narrative of an Attempt to reach the North Pole in the Year 1827. By Captain W. E. Parry. When it is considered that Captain Parry, since the year 1818, has made four voyages into the Arctic Seas, and has passed four winters in the ice, and that we now find him again coming forward in the year 1827 (having but just returned from his last voyage), and proposing to Lord Melville a plan of an attempt to reach the North Pole by means of ti-aveling with sledge-boats over the ice,* or through any spaces of water that might occur, this daring attempt brings back to our recollection the extreme sufferings of Frankhn and Richardson on their first journey to the shores of the Polar Sea, which did not deter them from immediately setting out a second time— when it is farther considered that Frankhn is now on a voyage in search of a northwest passage, and * He adds in a note, " This plan, as originally proposed by Captain Frankhn, was giA-en to me by Mr. Barrow soon after my return from the expedition of 1824-5," R2 198 ARCTIC VOYAGES. add to these tlie indefatigable labors of Sir James Clarko Ross, who has passed seven or eight winters of his life in the ice, having recently returned from a three years' expedition into the Antarctic Ocean — when these sever- al cases are prominently brought before us, the only con- clusion to be arrived at is this, that the desire for distinc- tion, and the confident hope of meriting it by some new discovery, overpower eveiy apprehension of danger or difficulty, being satisfied that they possess resources within themselves, and a sufficient stock of moral cour- age to sti'uggle against and to conquer both difficulty and danger. There is also something inviting to a seaman's mind in exploring new counti'ies, which is not the less relished by the access to them being beset with obsta- cles which to overcome must sometimes require ex- treme suffering, and even the sacrifice of life. The enterprise about to be described had plenty of novelty, difficulty, and danger to recommend it ; but Pariy was not a man to rush headlong into a novel and perilous scheme without making inquiry into its nature. On consulting Phipps's voyage of 1773, he finds Cap- tain Lutwidge describing the ice for ten or twelve leagues as " one continued plain of smooth, unbroken ice, bound- ed only by the horizon." Mr. Scoresby's account was sti-onger still. " I once saw," he says, " a field that was so free from either fissure or hommoc, that I imagine, had it been free from snow, a coach might have been driven many leagues over it in a du'ect line, without ob- struction or danger." Great encouragement these re- ports certainly afforded for the progress of a sledge- borne boat. Captain Pariy, however, adds a farther stimulus — that his hopes of success were principally founded on the proposition that had been made by his friend and brother-officer. Captain Franklin, who had himself volunteered to conduct it. Two boats were specially constructed for this pur- pose, twenty feet long and seven broad, flat-floored, and built as stout as wood and iron could make them, and so fitted as to contain nautical and other instruments, bags of biscuit, pemraican, spare clothing, and a variety of smaller stores, chiefly provisions. " A bamboo mast nineteen feet long, a taiTed duck sail, answering also the parry's polar voyage. 199 purpose of an awning, a spreat, one boat-hook, fourteen paddles, and a steer-oar, completed each boat's comple- ment." Two officers and twelve men (ten of them sea- men and two marines) were selected for each boat's crew. Each boat, with all her furnitm-e, tools, instru- ments, clothing, and provisions of every kind, weighed 3753 pounds, being 268 pounds in weight for each man, exclusive of four sledges, weighing 26 pounds each. "My own impartial conviction," says Pany, "at the time of setting out on this enterprise, coincided (with a single exception) with the opinion expressed by the Commissioners of Longitude in their memorial to the king, that " the progress of discoveiy had not arrived northward, according to any well-authenticated accounts, so far as 81° of north latitude." The exception he al- ludes to is in favor of Mr. Scoresby, who states his hav- ing, in the year 1806, reached the latitude of 81° 12' 42" by actual observation, and 81° 30' by dead reckon- ing. " I therefore consider," says Pany, " the latter parallel as, in all probability, the highest which had ever been attained prior to the attempt recorded in the fol- lowing pages." When all was ready. Captain Parry was appointed to the command of H.M. sloop Hecla, with instmctions to proceed in her to Spitzbergen, to place her in some safe harbor or cove, and, leaving her in charge of Lieu- tenant Foster, to proceed with the boats directly to the northward, using his best endeavors to reach the North Pole ; to be careful to retm-n to Spitzbergen before the winter sets in, and early enough in the autumn to insure the Hecla not being frozen up and obliged to winter there. He was to direct Lieutenant Foster to survey the north- ern and eastern coasts of Spitzbergen in his absence. The officers attached to the Hecla were Lieutenants Foster and Crozier, the former a most distinguished sci- entific navigator, who, as aheady said, lost his life on the Isthmus of Panama ; the latter now captain of the Ter- ror, on the existing voyage of Sir John Franklin, having been the second in command to Captain James Ross in the South Pole Expedition. Lieutenant James Ross, on the present voyage, commanded the second boat. On the 4th of April, 1827, the Hecla weighed anchor 200 ARCTIC VOYAGES. and made sail from the Nore, and on the 19th arrived at Hammerfest, where they were to receive on board eight reindeer, with a supply of moss ( Cenomyce rangiferina) for their provender. Here Pariy gleaned some instruc- tions for the management of the deer. " Nothing can be more beautiful than the training of the Lapland reindeer. With a simple collar of skin romid his neck, a single trace of the same material attached to the pulk or sledge, and passing between his legs, and one rein fastened hke a halter round his neck, this intelligent and docile animal is perfectly mider command of an experienced driver, and performs astonishing journeys over the softest snovvr. When the rein is thrown over on the off-side of the animal, he im- mediately sets off at full trot, and stops short the instant it is thrown back to the near side. Shaking the rein over his back is the only whip that is required." — P. 6. The quantity of clean moss, per day, for each deer, is stated to be four pounds, but they go five or six days without provender, and without suffering materially. Snow is to them the best kind of water, and ice a com- fortable bed. It may well be imagined how valuable such animals were likely to be to the party ; and Parry observes, that "the more we became accustomed, and, I may say, attached to them, the more painful became the idea of the necessity which was likely to exist, of ultimately having recourse to them as provisions for our- selves." On the 14th of May the Hecla rounded Hakluyt's Headland, and met with such a tremendous gale of wind and gusts from the high land as almost to lay the ship on her beam ends, and oblige them to reduce the canvas to the main-topsail and storms ails, and let her drive to leeward. Parry suggests it might have been such a storm as this that gave the name of tliis headland, in an old Dutch chart, the DuyveVs Hoek. From this time till the embarcation in boats, which did not take place till after " a close and tedious ' besetment' of twenty -four da,ys," that is, from the 14th of May till the 8th of June, may be looked on as so much lost time. Indeed, after being released, it required a long, anxious, and tedious search for a properly secure harbor in which to leave the Hecla, where she might conveniently be found on the 201 return of the boats from the northward. Such a spot was at length discovered. " On the evening of the 18th of June, while standing in for the high land to the eastward of Vorlegen Hoek, which, with due attention to the land, may be approach- ed with safety, we perceived from the crow's-nest what appeared a low point, possibly affording some shelter for the ship, and which seemed to answer to an indentation of the coast laid down in an old Dutch chart, and there called Treurenburg Bay ;" and a fine sheltered bay they found it ; they warped in the Hecla with the greatest alacrity, and dropped anchor in Hecla Cove in thirteen fathoms. The neighborhood of this bay, like most of the north- ern shores' of Spitzbergen, appeared to have been much visited by the Dutch at a very early period, of which cir- cumstance records were furnished at almost every spot where the party landed, by the numerous graves they met with. Thirty of these werfe found on a point of land on the north side of the bay. The bodies had been generally deposited in oblong wooden coffins, not bmied, but merely covered with large stones ; a board near the head records the name of the deceased, the ship, her commander, and her date ; one was so far back as 1690. Parry is right in supposing the name of the. bay to be from treuren, to lament, on account of the mortality that has occuiTed there. Having now made his final an*angements, and given proper directions to Lieutenants Foster and Crozier, Captain Parry left the ship with his two boats, which he named the Enterprise and the Endeavor, Mr. Beverley being attached to his own, and Lieutenant Ross, accom- panied by Mr. Bird, in the other. As the season had so far advanced, he took only seventy-one days' provisions ; and as it appeared highly improbable, from what had been seen of the very rugged nature of the ice they would first have to encounter, that " either the reindeer, the snow-shoes, or the wheels would prove of any ser- vice for some tune to come, I gave up the idea of taking them. We, however, constructed out of the snow- shoes four excellent sledges for dragging a part of our baggage over the ice, which proved of invaluable service 202 ARCTIC VOYAGES. to us, while the rest of the things just mentioned would only have been an encumbrance." What became of those interesting little creatures, the eight reindeer, which were spoken of with a kind of af- fectionate regard, while it was hinted that the painful necessity might arise of having recourse to them as pro- vision, is not stated. It was soon evident, indeed, from the appearance of the ice, that they could not be of the slightest use, but a great encumbrance in the boats : of their ultimate fate no mention is made in the nan-ative. Lieutenant Crozier accompanied the boats as far as Walden Island, where a deposit of provisions was left, whence they proceeded to Little Table Island to exam- ine and resecure the provisions that had been left there for their return. The prospect to the northward was favorable enough, only a small quantity of loose ice be- ing in sight, the weather calm and clear, with the sea as smooth as a miiTor ; thus "we set off without delay, at half past ten, taking our final leave of the Spitzbergeu shores, as we hoped, for at least two months. The wal- ruses here were very numerous, lying in herds upon the ice, and plunging into the water to follow us as we pass- ed. The sound they utter is something between bellow- ing and very loud snorting, which, together with their grim, bearded countenances, and long tusks, make them appear, as indeed they are, rather formidable enemies to contend with. " Steering due north, we made good progress, our lat- itude, by the sun's meridian altitude at midnight, being 80° 5V 13". At noon the next day, after a run of two hours in open water, with a westerly wind, we were stopped by close ice, and obliged to haul the boats upon a small floe-piece, the latitude by observation being 81° 12' 51'^ As this voyage is of so bold and daring a character, and in all its circumstances so novel and perfectly unique, no description of it, except in the words of the commander of the Enterprise himself, can convey to the reader an adequate idea of tlie arrangements and the management of it. The usual mode pm-sued by this gallant party on their adventurous Voyage is thus described : I " Our plan of traveling being nearly the same throughout PARRY S POLAR VOYAGE. 203 this excursion, after we first entered upon the ice, I may at once give some account of our usual mode of proceeding. It was my intention to travel wholly at night, and to rest by- day, there being, of course, constant daylight in these regions during the summer season. The advantages of this plan, which was occasionally deranged by circumstances, consisted, first, in our avoiding the intense and oppressive glare firom the snow during the time of the sun's greatest altitude, so aa to prevent, in some degree, the painfixl inflammation in the eyes called ' snow-blindness,' which is common in all snowy counti-ies. We also thus enjoyed greater warmth during the hours of rest, and had a better chance of drying our clothes ; besides which, no small advantage w^as derived from the snow being harder at night for traveling. The only disadvantage of this plan was, that the fogs were somewhat more frequent and more thick by night than by day, though even in this re- spect there was less difference than might have been sup- posed, the temperature during the twenty-four hoiirs imder- going but little variation. This traveling by night and sleep- ing by day so completely inverted the natural order of things, that it was difficult to persuade ourselves of the reality. Even the officers and myself, who were all flimished with pocket chronometers, could not always bear in mind at what part of the twenty -four hours we had arrived ; and there were sev- eral of the men who declared, and I believe truly, that they never knew night from day during the whole excursion.* " When we rose in the evening, we commenced our day by prayers, after w^hicli w^e took off" our fur sleeping-dresses, and put on those for traveling; the former being made of camlet, lined with racoon skin, and the latter of strong blue box-cloth. We made a point of always putting on the same stockings and boots for traveling in, whether they had dried during the day or not ; and I believe it w^as only in five or six instances, at the most, that they were not either still wet or hard frozen. This, indeed, was of no consequence beyond the discomfort of first putting them on in this state, as they were sure to be thoroughly wet in a quarter of an hour after commencing our journey, while, on the other hand, it was of vital importance to keep diy things for sleeping in. Being * "Had we succeeded in reaching the higher latitudes, where the change of the sun's altitude during the twenty-foxir hours is still less per- ceptible, it would have been essentially necessary to possess the certain means of knowing this, since an error of twelve hours of time would have carried us, when we intended to return, on a meridian opposite to, or 180° from, the right one. To obviate the possibility of this, we had some clu-onometers, consti-ucted by Messrs. Parldnson and Frodsham, of which the hour-hand made only one revolution in the day, the twen- ty-four hours being marked round the dial-plate." 204 ARCTIC VOYAGES. ' rigged' for traveling, we breakfasted upon warm cocoa and biscuit, and after stowing the things in the boats and on the sledges, so as to secure them, as much as possible, from wet, we set off on our day's journey, and usually traveled from five to five and a. "half hours, then stopped an hour to dine, and again traveled four, five, or even six hours, according to circmnstances. After this we halted for the night, as we called it, though it was usually early in the morning, select- ing the largest surface of ice w^e happened to be near for hauling the boats on, in order to avoid the danner of its break- ing up by coming in contact with other masses, and also to prevent drift as much as possible. The boats were placed close alongside each other, with their stems to the wind, the snow or wet cleared out of them, and the sails, supported by the bamboo masts and three paddles, placed over them as awnings, an entrance being left at the bow. Every man then immediately put on dry stockings and for boots, after which we set abQut the necessary repairs of boats, sledges, or clothes; and, after serving the provisions for the succeeding day, we went to supper. Most of the officers and men then smoked their pipes, which served to dry the boats and awn- ings very much, and usually raised the temperature of our lodgings 10° or 15°. This part of the twenty-four hours was often a time, and the only one, of real enjoyment to us ; the men told their stories, and ' fought all their battles o'er again,' and the labors of the day, unsuccessful as they too often were, were forgotten. A regular watch was set during our resting- time, to look out for bears, or for the ice breaking up round us, as well as to attend to the drying of the clothes, each man alternately taking this duty for one hour. We then con- cluded our day wdth prayers, and having put on our fur dress- es, lay down to sleep with a degree of comfort which per- haps few persons would imagine possible under such circum- stances ; our chief inconvenience being, that we were some- w^hat pinched for room, and therefore obliged to stow rather closer than was quite agreeable. The temperature, while we slept, was usually from 36° to 45°, according to the state of the external atmosphere ; but on one or two occasions, in calm and warm w^eather, it rose as high as 60° to 66°, obli- ging us to throw off a part of our fur dress. After we had slept seven hours, the man appointed to boil the cocoa roused us, when it was ready, by the sound of a bugle, when we commenced our day in the mamier before described. " Our allowance of provisions for each man per day was as follows : Biscuit . . . .10 ounces. Pemmican .... 9 " 205 Sweetened Cocoa Powder . 1 ounce to make one pint. Rum • • . . 1 gill- Tobacco • • . . 3 ounces per week. Our fuel consisted entirely of spirits of wine, of which two pints formed our daily allowence, the cocoa being cooked in an iron boiler, over a shallow iron lamp, with seven wicks. We usually found one pint of the spirits of wine sufficient for preparing our breakfast, that is, for heating 28 pints of w^ater, though it always commenced from the temperature of 32°. If the weather was calm and fair, this quantity of fuel brought it to the boiling point in about an hour and a quarter, but more generally the vdcks began to go out before it had reached 200°. This, however, made a very comfortable meal to persons situated as we were. Such, with very little vari- ation, was our regular routine during the whole of this ex- cursion." — P. 55-59. The paiiy must have been grievously disappointed on finding the state of the ice wholly the reverse of what it had been represented before setting out. Instead of be- ing a fine, smooth level plain, " over which a coach might have been driven many leagues ;" instead of compact floes, it consisted entirely of small, loose, and rugged masses, obliging them "to make three jom'neys, and sometimes four, with the boats and baggage, and to lanch several times across naiTOW pools of water." And yet the descriptions given by Captain Lutwidge and Mr. Scoresby might be quite correct at the time, though now totally different, the condition of the ice varying froni year to year. One day, we ai-e told, during heavy rainj they advanced but half a mile in four hours. At anoth- er time, in thick weather, the ice was so much in mo- tion as to make it dangerous to cross with loaded boats, the masses being so small. Another day they landed on a small floe, but " it proved so nigged that we were obliged to make thi-ee and sometimes four journeys with the boats and provisions, and this by a very cu'cuitous route, so that the road by which we made a mile of northing was a full mile and a half in length, and over this we had to travel at least five, and sometimes seven times." In short, from the 25th, the day they started, to the 30th, it was found, by an observation at midnight, tliat they had reached no higher than 81° 23', " so that S 206 ARCTIC VOYAGES. we had made only eight miles of northing since our last observation at noon on the 25th." Captain Parry observes, that as the temperature by night and day was liable to little variation, some incon- venience was experienced with regard to noticing the time. To obviate any mistake which at or near the Pole might lead them, by taking the wrong twelve hours, to a meridian 180° from the intended one, they had some chronometers of which the hour-hand made only one revolution in the day, the twenty -four hours being marked round the dial-plate. (See page 203 and Note on this subject.) The 1st of July brought them to no better ice ; a few small floes occuiTed, with pools of water between them, the ice less broken up, and sometimes tolerably level ; but six to eighteen inches of soft snow lying on the sm*- face made the traveling very fatiguing, and obliged the party to undergo at least two, and sometunes three, jour- neys with their loads. On the boats landing on a floe- piece, Pany and Ross generally walked on ahead to select the easiest road for the boats to follow ; the sledges came after them, by which the snow was ti'od- den down, and made easier for the boats. What follows is too interesting to be omitted. " As soon as we arrived at the other end of the floe, or came to any difficult place, we mounted one of the highest hommocs of ice near at hand (many of which Vv'-ere from fifteen to twenty-five feet above the sea), in order to obtain a better view around us ; and nothing could well exceed the dreariness vs^hich such a view presented. The eye wearied itself in vain to find an object but ice and sky to rest upon ; and even the latter was often hidden from our view by the dense and dismal fogs which so generally prevailed. For want of variety, the most trifling circumstance engaged a more than ordinary share of our attention ; a passing gull, a mass of ice of unusual form, became objects which our situation and circumstances magnified into ridiculous importance ; and w^e have since often smiled to remember the eager interest with which we regarded many insignificant occurrences. It may well be imagined, then, how cheering it was to tura from this scene of inanimate desolation to our two httle boats in the distance, to see the moving figures of our men winding with their sledges among the hommocs, and to hear once 207 icy wilderness. In some cases Lieutenant Ross and myself took separate routes to try the ground, which kept us almost contiaually floundering among deep snow and water. The sledges having been brought up as far as we had explored, we all went back for the boats ; each boat's crew, when the road was tolerable, draggiag their own, and the officers la- boring equally hard with the men. It was thus we proceeded for nine miles out of every ten that we traveled over ice, for it was very rarely indeed that we met with a surface suffi- ciently level and hard to drag all our loads at one journey, and in a great many instances during the first fortnight we had to make three journeys vdth the boats and baggage ; that is, to traverse the same road five times over." — P. 67, 68. When they had the good fortune to reach a small floe, the snow on its surface was so deep, and the pools of water so frequent, that after a laborious day's work the distance traversed was perhaps two miles, and rarely exceeded five. The snow, moreover, was so soft as to take them up to the knee at almost every other step, and frequently still deeper, so that they were sometimes five minutes together in moving a single empty boat with all then' united strength. The rain produced a greater effect on the snow than the sun. PaiTy says that Ross and himself, in their pioneering duty, were so frequently beset, that sometimes, after trying in vain to exti-icate their legs, they were obliged to sit down to rest themselves ; and the men, in dragging the sledges, were often under the necessity of crawling on all fours to make any progress at all. In one place they were more than two hour's in proceeding one hundred and fifty yards. Yet the men worked with cheerfulness and good wiU, hoping to reach the spot (though they had long passed it) where Captain Lutwidge found " one continued plain of smooth, unbroken ice, bounded only by the horizon." One day of great fatigue, after stopping to empty their boots and wring their stockings, is thus spoken of : " We halted for the night at half an hour before midnight, the people being almost exhausted with a laborious day's work, and our distance made good to the northward not ex- ceeding two nules and a quarter. We allowed ourselves this night a hot supper, consisting of a piat of soup per man, made of an ounce of pemmican each, and eight or ten birds which 208 ARCTIC VOYAGES. we had killed in the course of the last week ; and this was a luxury which persons thus situated could perhaps alone duly appreciate. We had seen in the course of the day a few rotges, a dovekie, a loom, a moUexauck, and two or three very small seals." — P. 70. On the 12th of July they had reached the latitude of 82° 14' 28" ; a brilliant day and clear sky overhead, "an absolute luxury to us." The pools and sti'eams on the floes increased, and caused the men to make a very cir- cuitous route. " If any thing could have compensated for the delay these occasioned us, it would have been the beautiful blue color peculiar to these super-glacial lakes, which is certainly one of the most pleasing tints in na- ture." The next day they were in latitude 82° 17' 10" ; no bottom with 400 fathoms of line ; temperature of water brought up, 31° ; of surface water, 32^° ; of the ice, 33° ; of the air, 36°. " On this day we saw," says Pariy, " during this last journey, a mollemuck, and a second Ross gull ; and a couple of small files (to us an event of ridiculous importance) were found upon the ice," but whether living or dead is not recorded. No improvement on the 14tli, after five homes' un- ceasing labor ; the progress was a mile and a half due north, though from three to four miles had been ti-av- ersed, and ten at least walked, having made three jour- neys a great part of the way, lanched and hauled up the boats four times, and dragged them over twenty -five separate pieces of ice ; no improvement in the travehng. *' After more than eleven hours of actual labor on the 18th, requiring for the most part our whole strength to be exerted, we had traveled over a space not exceeding four miles, of which only two were made good." But this snail-hke progress was not the worst that befell them ; it was very small, but still it was progress. Now, however, the 20th of July, Parry says, " We halted at 7 A.M., having by our reckoning accom- plished six miles and a half in a N.N.W. direction, the dis- tance traversed being ten miles and a half. It may therefore be imagined how great was our mortification in finding that our latitude by observation at noon was only 82° 36' 52", being less Xhwijive miles to the northward of our place at noon on the 17 th, since which time we had certainly traveled tvjelve in that direction."— F. 94. parry's polar voyage. 209 V nder these discouraging circumstances, it was deem- ed prudent to avoid making the fact known to the men ; at the same time, a very serious calamity was narrowly escaped : the floe on which they were broke under the weight of the boats and sledges, and the latter were nearly lost through the ice ; some of the men, too, went through, but were providentially saved. On the 22d, however, the ice had considerably improved ; the floes became large and tolerably level, and some good lanes of water occurring, it was calculated they had made between ten and eleven miles, and ti-aversed a distance of about seventeen, after more than twelve hours' actual ti-aveling, by which the people were ex- ti'emely fatigued ; " but while the work," says Pany, *' seemed to be repaid by any thing like progress, the men labored with great cheerfulness to the utmost of their strength." It may readily be imagined that the improvement of the ice, and with it the increased prog- ress, gave much satisfaction, though the encouraging prospect was but of short duration. " In proportion, then, to the hopes we had begun to enter- tain, was our disappointinent in finding at noon that w^e were in latitude 82° 43' 5", or not quite four miles to the north- ward of yesterday's observation, instead of the ten or eleven which we had. traveled ! However, we determined to con- tinue to the last our utmost exertions, though we could never once encourage the men by assuring them of our making good progress ; and setting out at seven in the evening, soon foimd that our hope of having permanently reached better ice w^as not to be realized, for the floe on vi^hich we slept was so full of hommocs that it took us just six hours to cross it, the distance in a straight line not exceeding two miles and a half "—P. 98, 99. Such a result was disheartening enough to the ofli- cers, who knew to what little effect the struggles were made, of which, however, the men appeared to have no suspicion, though Parry says " they often laughingly remarked that ' we were a long time getting to this 83°.' " This was merely the point assumed, as they certainly had no suspicion that on their arrival at that point they would have been entitled to one thousand pounds.* But, had they known it, they could not have * By order in council. 14 S2 210 ARCTIC VOYAGES. labored more earnestly tlian they did. In their sfow advance to the northward, the ice became so small that a single piece only could be found to place the boats upon. On the 26th Parry says, " The weather improving toward noon on the 26th, we obtained the meridian altitude of the sim, by which we found ourselves in latitude 82° 40' 23" ; so that, since our last ob- ser\^ation (at midnight on the 22d), -we had lost by drift no less than tliirteen miles and a half; for we w^ere now more than three miles to the soutJi^card of that observation, though we had certainly traveled between ten and eleven due north in this interval ! Again, we were but one mile to the north of our place at noon on the 21st, though -we had estimated our distance made good at twenty-three miles. Thus it ap- peared that for the last five days w^e had been struggling against a southerly drift exceeding four miles a day." — P. 102. It now became obvious that the sea in this latitude had assumed a chfiracter utterly unfit for the kind of navigation, or, rather, of floe -traveling, which had hither- to been pursued — in short, that it had become hopeless to pursue the journey any farther. "It had, for some time past, been too e^^deut that the natm-e of the ice with vvhich we had to contend was such, and its drift to the southward, especially with a northerly wiiad, so great, as to put beyond our reach any thing but a very raoderate share of success in ti-aveliug to the northward. Still, however, we had been anxious to reach the highest latitude which our means would allow, and with this view, although our whole object had long become unattainable, had pushed on to the northw^ard for thirty-five days, or mitil half our resom-ces were expended, and' the middle of om* season arrived. For the last few days the eighty -third paral- lel was the limit to which w^e had ventured to extend our hopes ; but even this expectation had become considerably weakened since the setting in of the last northerly wind, which continued to drive us to the southward during the necessary hours of rest nearly as much as we could gain by eleven or twelve hours of daily labor. Had oui- success been at all proportionate to our exertions, it was my Ml in- tention to have proceeded a few days beyond the middle of the period for which we were pro^^ded, trusting to the re- sources we expected to find at Table Island. But this was so far from being the case, that I could not but consider it as incun-ing useless fatigue to the officers and men, and unneces- sary wear and tear for the boats, to persevere any longer in PARRY S POLAR VOYAGE. 211 the attempt. I determined, therefore, on giving the people one entire day's rest, which they very much needed, and time to wash and mend their clothes, while the officers were occupied ia making all the observ^atious which might be in- teresting in this latitude ; and then to set out on our return on the following day. Having communicated my intentions to the people, who w^ere all much disappointed in finding how- little their labors had effected, we set about our respective occupations, and were much favored by a remarkably fine day."— P. 102, 104. In fact, the commander of the expedition, the officers and men, had all of them been laboriously and uselessly employed for thirty -five days of continuous and most fatiguing drudgery, to be compared in its effect to noth- ing less than the labor of roUing the stone of Sisyphus, the floe on w^hich they were ti'aversing, as they suppos- ed, ten or twelve miles one day, having rolled them back again ten or twelve miles, and often more, the next. The farthest point of latitude reached was on the 23d, and probably was to 82° 45' ; that of their return, 82° 40' 23'', and long. 19° 25' east. The day was one of the warmest and most pleasant they yet had experi- enced upon the ice ; the thermometer only from 31° to 36° in the shade, and 37° in the sun ; no bottom with 500 fathoms of hne. " At the extreme point of our journey our distance from the Hecla w^as only one hundred and seventy -two miles in a S. 8° W. direction. To accomphsh this distance we had traversed, by our reckoning, two hundred and ninety-two miles, of w^hich about one hundred were performed by water previously to our enteiing the ice. As we traveled by far the gi'eater part of our distance on the ice three, and not mifre- quently five, times over, we may safely multiply the length of the road by two and a half; so that our whole distance, on a very moderate calculation, amounted to five hundred and eighty geographical, or six himdred and sixty-eight statute miles, being nearly sufficient to have reached the Pole in a direct line. Up to this period we had been particularly for- tmiate m the preservation of om' health ; neither sickness nor casualties having occurred among us, with the exception of the trifling accidents already mentioned, a few bowel com- plaints, which were soon removed by care, and some rather troublesome cases of chilblains, arising fi:om our constant ex- posure to wet and cold." — P. 104, 105. On this day of rest fi-om their labors, Parry says, 212 ARCTIC VOYAGES. " Our ensigns and pendants were displayed during the day ; and severely as we regretted not having been able to hoist the British flag in the highest latitude to which we had aspired, we shall perhaps be excused in having felt some little pride in being the bearers of it to a parallel considera- bly beyond that mentioned in any other well-authenticated record." On the 27th they set out on their return to the south- ward, and, says Parry, "I can safely say that, dreary and cheerless as were the scenes we were about to leave, we never turned homeward with so little satisfac- tion as on this occasion." No man nor body of men are chargeable with blame for not accomplishing impossibil- ities : the party in question have done more than had ever been done at any time, or more probably than will ever be done again on the same plan ; it is much to say that they succeeded, in advancing toward the Pole of the earth, to a point which no human being before them had ever reached, and after a cheerful and patient en- durance of laborious drudgery, which, it is to be hoped, no human being will ever hereafter be induced to repeat. It will not be necessaiy to follow our voyagers on their return ; the permanency of the southern current, for so it would seem, afforded them the satisfaction of feeling that whatever length of journey they made to the northward would be so much gain, and no back-sliding ; every mile would tell ; they had, moreover, the advan- tage which is noticed by Parry, of getting rid of the glare from the snow, on account of the lowness of the sun at night, as also the comfortable change when look- ing out for the road ; and had the sun behind them, in- stead of facing it, as on the outward journey. Nothing very remarkable occurred on their return. A quantity of snow was met with, tinged to the depth of several inches with some red coloring matter : this red snow occurred in two or three spots, some of which they bot- tled, and found, on examination in England by Sir Will- iam Hooker, as former specimens were, to be the Pal- mella nivalis, one of the Algse, and which, long before, Bauer had pronounced to be Uredo nivalis. " A fat she-bear crossed over a lane of^ water to visit us, and approaching the boats withua twenty yards, was killed by Lieut. Ross. The scene which followed was laughable, i parry's polar voyage. 213 even to us wlio participated in it. Before the animal had done biting the snow, one of the men was alongside of her with an open knife, and being asked what he was about to do, replied, that he was going to cut out the heart and liver, to put into the pot which happened to be then boiling for our supper. In short, before the bear had been dead an hour, all hands of us were employed, to our great satisfaction, in discussing the merits not only of the said heart and liver, but a pound per man of the flesh ; besides which, some or other of the men were constantly frying steaks duiing the w^hole day, over a large fire made of the blubber." — P. 114. The consequence of thus gormandizing on fat bear's flesh was obvious. Devoured as it was with such avid- ity by the men, some of tliem complained for several days of pains such as usually arise from indigestion, " though they all," says Parry, " amusingly enough, attributed this effect to the quality, and not the quantity of meat they had eaten." On the 8th of August they hauled up the boats only once, and had made, though by a winding channel, four or five miles of southing. " This was so unusual a circumstance, that we could not help entertaining some hope of our being at no great distance from the open sea, which seemed the more probable, from our having seen seven or eight narwhals, and not less than two hundred rotges, a flock of these little birds occurring in every hole of water." On the 10th a strong southerly wind, that had blown from that quarter for the last thh-ty hours, had blown them back to the north- ward only four miles, which it is said " afforded a last and striking proof of the general tendency of the ice to drift southward about the meridians on which we had been traveling." Arrived at 81° 30', the sea was found to be crowded with shrimps and other sea-insects, prin- cipally the Clio Borealis and Argonauta Arctica, on which, numerous birds were feeding. This was the 11th of August, on the morning of which the first sound of the swell was heard under the hollow margins of the ice, and in a quarter of an hour we reached the open sea, which was dashing with heavy surges against the outer masses. " We hauled our boats," says Parry, " upon one of these, to eat our last meal upon the ice." They were now fifty miles distant from Table Island, which they reached about noon, and found that the beara 214 ARCTIC VOYAGES. had devoured all the bread, which occasioned a remark among the men that " Bruin was only square with us." Captain Pany's observation on finally quitting the ice, after taking up his abode upon it for forty-eight days, was, " I can not describe the comfort we experienced in once more feeling a dry and solid footing." Of the for- ty-eight days, thirty-three were passed on the outward, and fifteen on the return voyage ; such is the difference between going with the stream and against it. Table Island, however, afforded no place for the men to rest. So rugged and inhospitable is this northern rock, that not a single spot was found where the boats could be hauled up. To the islet lying off Table Island, which, Parry says, "is interesting, as being the north- ernmost known land upon the globe, I have applied the name of Lieutenant Ross in the chart; adding, "for I believe no individual can have exerted himself more sti'enuously to rob it of this distinction." Any thing that confers a distinction on the name of James Ross is wor- thy of recording, and such is the following passage from Sir William Hooker on the "Botany:" "Those spe- cies that were gathered in Ross's Islet are peculiarly in- teresting, from the circumstance of that island constitu- ting the most northern known land in the world." The plants named are, Bryum — Hypnum (two species) — Tricostomum— Polyti'ichum — Jungermannia — Gyro- phora (Rocktripe, two species) — Cetraria — Cenomyce (Reindeer grass, two species) — Stercoiolon — Sphaero- phoron — Alectoria — Cornicularia — Ulva — Philota. It was not till the 21st of August that they arrived on board the Hecla, after an absence of sixty-one days, " being received," says Pany, " with that warm and cordial welcome which can alone be felt and not describ- ed." Thus ended at Spitzbergen this novel and peril- ous expedition, of which, though the object was not ac- complished, every officer and man employed in it may be proud. Thus far Parry concludes his narrative : " The distance traversed during this excursion was five hundred and sixty -nine geographical miles ; but allowing for the number of times "we had to return for our baggage during the gi'eater part of the journeys over the ice, we estimated our actual traveling at nine hundred and seventy-eight geo- parry's polar voyage. 215 graphical, or eleven hundred and twenty-seven statute miles. Considering our constant exposure to wet, cold, and fatigue, our stockings having generally been drenched in snow-water for twelve hours out of every four-and-twenty, I had great reason to be thankfiil for the excellent health in which, uport the whole, we reached the ship- There is no doubt that w^ec had all become, in a certain degree, gradually weaker for some time past; but only three men of our party now re- quired medical care, two of them with badly swelled legs' and general debility, and the other from a bruise ; but even these three returned to their duty in a short time. : " I can not conclude the account of our proceedings w^ithout endeavoring to do justice to the cheerful alacrity and imwea- ried zeal displayed by my companions, both officers and men, in the course of this excursion; and if steady perseveranca and active exertion on their parts coxdd have accomplished! our object, success would undoubtedly have crowned our W bors- I must also mention, to the credit of the officers of Woolwich Dockyard, who took so much pains in the con- struction of our boats, that notwithstanding the constant ani severe trial to which their strength had been put — and a mora severe trial could not weU be devised — not a timber was sprung, a plank spHt, or the smallest injury sustained by them ; they were, indeed, as tight and as fit for service when we reached the ship, as w^hen they w^ere first received on boai'd, and in every respect answered the intended purpose admira- bly."*— P. 128, 129. Captain Pany gives all due credit for the diligent and active manner in which Lieutenants Foster and Crozier fulfilled their instructions during his absence, and for the complete state in which he found the Hecia on his re- turn — the various obsei-vations interesting to science sedulously performed, specimens of natural history care- fully collected and preserved, and all the duties of the ship carried on to his perfect satisfaction. Many inter- esting observations were made on the inclination, dip, and intensity of the magnetic needle. "Among other magnetical observations," says Pai'iy, " an interesting series of hourly experiments had been made on the di- urnal changes of variation and intensity, and continued for several days without inteiTuption, by the two lieu- tenants." From these it appears that a diumal oscilla- tion of the magnetic needle takes place, usually amount- * A well-deserved compliment to the artificers of that yard, and to their able master-ship^Yrighi, Mn Ohver Lang. 216 ARCTIC voyag£:s. ing to about a degree and a half, and in some instances to 2|°, the maximum variation being about 4^^ 22' P.M. The change of intensity giving an increased action was about 10'' 20' A.M., and minimum intensity about mid- night. The animals met with on the shores of Treurenburg Bay and of Way gat Strait were of the same kind, but less plentiful than those on the west coast of Spitzbergen ; they consisted chiefly of sea-horses, narwhals, and white whales, but no black ones ; the more common animals were principally reindeer, bears, foxes, glaucous and ivory gulls, tern, eider ducks, and grouse. Seventy reindeer were killed, chiefly small, and until the middle of August not in good condition ; they wer e met with in herds, from six or eight to twenty. Thre e bears were killed, one of which was of more than ore inaiy dimen- sions, measuring eight feet four inches fi jm the snout to the root of the tail. The boat expedition was less fortunate with regard to animals ; few living creatures were seen, and these mostly gulls, and one insect found on a piece of ice, and it was a dead Aphis. It has a chapter to itself in the Appendix, headed IpfSi:cT. Parry says, " I am indebted to the friendship of Mr. J. Curtis for the following de- scription of the only insect that was obtained during the voyage." The description gives no intelligible informa- tion, only that it resembles another species called A. picea. " The circumstance of the Aphis borealis hav- ing been found on floating floes of ice on the Polar Sea, at one hundred miles distance from the nearest known land, and as far north as 82|°, renders it in a more than ordinary degree interesting. As the one it resembles feeds on the silver fir, so it is supposed that the floating trees of fir that are to be found so abundantly on the shores and to the northward of Spitzbergen might pos- sibly be the means by which this insect has been trans- ported to the northern regions." Perhaps so ; but it may be asked. By what possible means were the firs thus transported ? Sir Edward Parry, at the conclusion of his naiTative, after observing that the object is of more difficult attain- ment than was before supposed, even by those persons 217 who were the best qualified to judge of it, is still of opinion that, after much consideration, and some expe- rience of the various difficulties which belong to it, he can not recommend any material improvement in the plan lately adopted. With all deference to the opinion of so distinguished a sea-officer, in possession of so much experience as Sir Edward Parry, there are others who express dishke of such a plan ; and it is not improbable that many of his readers will be disposed to come to the conclusion that, so long as the Greenland Seas are ham- pered with ice — so long as floes, and hommocs, and heavy masses continue to be formed — so long as a de- termined southerly cuiTent prevails, so long will any at- tempt to carry out the plan in question in like manner fail. No laborious drudgeiy will ever be able to conquer the opposing progi*ess of the current and the ice. Be- sides, it can hardly be doubted that this gallant officer wlU admit, on farther consideration, that this unusual kind of disgusting and unseaman-like labor is not pre- cisely such as would be relished by the men, and it may be said, is not exactly fitted for a British man-of-war's man; moreover, that it required his own all-powerful example to make it evdn tolerable. The nan-ative having thus far advanced, a conversa- tion with Sir Edward PaiTy prepared the writer in some degree for the following letter : "Admiralty, 25th Nov., 1845. " Mt dear Sir Johij, — Understanding that you are prepar- ing an account of the proceedings of all the expeditions by sea and land which have been engaged in Arctic discovery ia our own times, I venture to trouble you with my present views as to the practicability of reaching the North Pole over the ice, to which you may possibly make allusion in the course of the interesting narratives which you have undertaken. " It is evident that the causes of failure in our former at- tempt in the year 1827 were principally two ; first and chief- ly, the broken, rugged, and soft state of the surface of the ice over which we traveled ; and, secondly, the drifting of the whole body of ice in a southerly direction. On mature re- consideration of all the chcumstances attending this enter- prise, I am induced to alter the opinion I gave as to its prao ticability in my Journal, p, 144, because I beheve it to be an object of no very difficult attainment, if set about in a differ- ent maimer. My plan is, to go out with a single ship to Spitz- 218 ARCTIC VOYAGES. bergen, just as -we did in the Hecla, but not so early in the season, the object for that year being merely to find secure winter quarters as far north as possible. For this pui'pose, it would only be necessary to reach Hakluyt's Headland by the end of June, which would afford ample leisure for examining the more northern lands, especially about the Seven Islands, where, in all probability, a secure nook might be found for the ship, and a starting-point for the proposed expedition some forty or fifty miles in advance of the point where the Hecla was before laid up. The winter might be usefully em- ployed in various preparations for the journey, as well as in magnetic, astronomical, and meteorological observations of high interest in that latitude. I propose that the expedition should leave the ship in the course of the month of April, when the ice would present one hard and unbroken surface, over which, as I confidently believe, it would not be difficult to make good thhty miles per day without any exposure to wet, and probably without snow-blindness. At this season, too, the ice would probably be stationary, and thus the two great difficulties which we formerly had to encounter would be entirely obviated. It might form a part of the plan to push out supplies in advance to the distance of one hundred nailes, to be taken up on the way, so as to commence the journey comparatively light ; and as the intention would be to com- plete the enterprise in the course of the month of May, before any disruption of the ice or any material softening of the sur- face had taken place, similar supplies might be sent out to the same distance, to meet the party on their return. ** It might, farther, be worth while to take reindeer from Hammerfest in passing, with the chance of keeping them alive during the winter on such farinaceous food as the provision of the ship could furnish. " I will only add, that this plan might be accomplished without the ship incurring any material risk, since the naviga- tion both out and home need only be performed at a season when th« sea is very little encumbered with ice ; and, more- over, an opportunity w^ould be afforded during two seasons of stretching far to the northward in the ship, if the state of the ice should prove favorable. I remain, yours, &c., " W. Parry." " Sir John Barrow, Bart." The plan here described is no doubt an improvement over the one that failed ; but without presuming too much, not being altogether unacquainted with a ship's navigating among what is called sailing-ice, it may be allowable to suggest another and a different plan, and parry's polar voyage. 219 perhaps, on the whole, less objectionable. It would consist of two small ships similar to those which, after three years' service in the Antarctic Seas, are now en- gaged in the ice of the North Polar Seas ; they should be sent in the early spring along the western coast of Spitzbergen, where usually no impediment exists, as far up as 80° ; take every opportunity of proceeding du-ectly to the north, where, about 82°, Pany has told us, the large floes had disappeared, and the sea there was found to be loaded only with loose, disconnected, small masses of ice, through which ships would find no difficulty in sailing, though totally unfit for boats drag- ging ; and as this loose ice was drifting to the south- ward, he farther says, that before the middle of August a ship might have sailed up to the latitude of 82° almost without touching a piece of ice. It is not, then, um*eas- onable to expect, that beyond that parallel, even as far as the Pole itself, the sea would be free of ice dming the six summer months of perpetual sun through each of the twenty -four hours, which, with the aid of the current, would in all probability destroy and dissipate the Polar ice. If, then, on the return of Su* John Franklin's ships, the screw-propeller supplied to each should have been found to answer, a fair opportunity would be afforded of deciding the question. The ti'ial would soon be made, and, from the experience of Parry, would be made without danger of loss to ships or men, for it is probable they would not have any ice-bound shores to contend with. The distance fi-om Hakluyt's Headland to the Pole is 600 geographical miles. Granting the ships to make only twenty miles in twenty-four hom'S (on the supposition of much sailing-ice to go through), even in that case it would requhe but a month to enable the explorer to put his foot on the pivot or point of the axis on which the globe of the earth tm*ns ; remain there a month, if necessary, to obtain the sought-for informa- tion, and then, with a southerly current, a fortnight, probably less, would bring him back to Spitzbergen. To such as may venture to raise their feeble objec- tions against this, and other daring enterprises if not attended with the prospect of probable profit, let thera 220 ARCTIC VOYAGES. receive the answer given by that brave old navigator, Sir Martin Frobisher, vv^hen attempts were made by his friends to dissuade him from engaging in the discovery of a northwest passage : "It is the only thing in the world that is left yet undone whereby a notable mind might be made famous and fortunate." We may still say, " The North Pole is the only thing in the world about which we know nothing; and that want of all knowledge ought to operate as a spur to adopt the means of wiping away that stain of ignorance from this enlightened age." But there are others besides utilitarians that make objections to inquiries of this nature, on the score of religious prejudices, and will say that God never intend- ed us to scrutinize places against which He had set his barrier. Thus the Rev. Lewis Way, the wealthy pro- prietor of Stansted, and so stanch an advocate for the conversion of the Jews that he made a pilgiimage to Jerusalem with that object in view — this reverend gen- tleman one day said to a friend, " I know Sir Joseph Banks veiy well, and he was a good friend of mine, though he used to joke with me sometimes about my endeavor to convert the Jews ; but I told him that my scheme was, at any rate, a much wiser one than his * he was trying to send ships to the North Pole, w^iich it was clear God never intended, while the conversion of the Jews was an event which we all know was to be brought about some time or other." This may be looked upon, as doubtless Sir Joseph Banks looked upon it, as sheer nonsense. Every in- telligent mind must be satisfied that, the more closely we investigate the works of creation, the more, as ra- tional beings, we must be convinced that nothing therein has been made in vain, nor without a preconceived and settled design, the finished work of a beneficent and Almighty Power ; and if Mr. Lewis Way had recol- lected a passage in the most ancient record of his favor- ite Jews, he would recollect his having found therein that God gave to man " dominion over all the earth," and made no exception of the North Pole. The Royal Society, however, and the Commissioners of Longitude, were less scrupulous on the subject. To parry's polar voyage. 221 encourage a visit to the North Pole, they recommended to his majesty in council to pass an order granting the payment of a reward of five thousand pounds to the first ship that shall approach within one degree of the North Pole. This order is not to be considered as merely an inducement for making the attempt, but chiefly to manifest their opinion of the value of the scheme. It is pretty well understood that British naval oflficers, who, Uke Parry, Franklin, and others, embark on arduous and hazardous enterprises of this natm-e, are influenced not so much by motives of pecuniary rewards as by the hope of contributing, by their exer- tions, to the enlargement of knowledge and science ; their additional object, and that a laudable one, being the acquirement of present reputation and future fame. •* Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise (That last infirmity of noble minds) To scorn delights and hve laborious days." Dr. Johnson said that the man who had seen the great wall of China might be considered as shedding a luster on his gi-and-children. But what is the wall of China? which has not only been seen by Lord Macart- ney and his party, but scaled, and its broad parapet trod- den on, by them. With how much more brilliant a luster would this great moralist have decorated the descendants of that man who had stood on the pivot whereon this globe of om's forever turns, and hoisted the British flag on the most remarkable spot on the earth's surface? The wall of China may be seen any day ; and any one, without the least difficulty, might obtain a view of it by a tiip in one of our yachts to the Gulf of Leatung, into which it descends and terminates. To describe what a visitor to the Pole might obtain in the way of science, it can only be said, in our present state of ignorance, that the whole field would be open to him ; every thing would be novel, and that alone would rouse his attentive faculties. Est hominum natura novi- tatis avida. The difficulties that would occur may be appreciated at home, but they will be greater or less ac- cording to circumstances, of which we yet know noth- ing ; that is, whether the Pole be covered with an open sea, an icy sea, or by land ; and which of the three would T 2 222 ARCTIC VOYAGES. create the greatest difficulties in the way of acquuing information 1 In all respects an open sea would appear to be the most disadvantageous. In the first place, it would, in aU probabihty, be so deep that the ship could not anchor, or deep enough not to admit of her keeping steadily her place for making accurate obsei-vations ; in the next, by her moving about, her commander would very speedily find out that, as every meridian must lie in the direction of south, he had lost that on which he had approached the Pole, and, consequently, would be at a loss to shape his course homeward. The settling of this point will naturally suggest itself as first among the many novel phenomena which will an'est his atten- tion, and the following observations will probably occur to him. In the first place, it will be obvious that the time of day — or, rather, of the twenty-four hours — would no longer be marked by any apparent change in the altitude of the sun above the horizon, because, to an observer at the Pole, no such change would take place, except to the smaU amount of the daily change of declination. Thus, not only to the eye, but also for the practical pur- pose of obtaining the time by asti'onomical observation, the sun would appear throughout the twenty-four hours neither to rise nor fall, but to describe a circle round the heavens parallel to the horizon. It follows that this mode of obtaining the time would utterly fail ; and, in- deed, however startling the fact may seem, it may nev- ertheless be asserted with ti'uth, that- there would no longer be any such thing, strictly speaking, as apparent time at all. This will appear clear by considering that apparent time refers only to the particular meridian on which an observer happens to be placed, and is marked and determined only by the distance of the sun or other heavenly body from that meridian. An observer at the Pole being on no one meridian, but at the point where all meridians meet, apparent time has to him no longer either existence or meaning. Before our navigators entered upon this expedition, their attention was naturally directed to the best, and, indeed, only certain method of insuring their return from the Pole on the right meridian. Two methods, and, parry's polar voyage. 223 we believe, only two, present themselves for this pur- pose ; the one being by the compass, the other by means of chronometers. From the observations aheady made in the Arctic regions, it may be considered as certain that, at the Pole, the magnetic needle would freely trav- erse, and the compass remain an efficient practical in- strument ; for as it is to the magnetic pole, and not to the pole of the earth, that the needle is directed, and as the dip of the needle only amounts to 82° 22' at the most northerly point yet reached, it is probable that the hor- izontal or directive force of the needle would continue strong and efficient at the Pole, and, consequently, that the magnetic bearing of any point on the globe might be accurately obtained by it. Indeed, none of the singular phenomena relating to the magnetic needle observed by Parry on his fonner voyage through Barrow's Sti-ait, such as the north end of the needle pointing due south, and then southeast, and the entire uselessness of the compasses, owing to the iron in the ship proving stron- ger than the directive power of the needle, were to be anticipated on reaching the pole of the earth. For the same reason, it was not to be expected that the achieve- ment since performed by his gallant companion, James Ross, of actually planting the British flag on the magnet- ic Pole, could now be accomphshed, as it was already known that the point upon the earth's surface which is so designated lay in a much lower latitude. The other method of insuring the retui'n of our trav- elers upon the right meridian, namely, by means of chronometers, was one which required some considera- tion. It is obvious that, to an observer standing upon the Pole, the sun would, at the precise moment of apparent noon at any given place, appear to the observer exactly in the direction of that place, and that consequently this, as ascertained by chi'onometers, would prove an uner- ring guide as to the right direction. But in the ordina- ry mode of marking the dial-plates of watches, from one hour to twelve only, there was reason to apprehend that the wrong twelve o'clock might be taken, under circum- stances of constant sunshine, and without any change in the altitude of that luminaiy to distinguish day from night. To avoid the possibility of this mistake, the pre- 224 ARCTIC VOYAGES. caution w s taken of constructing chronometers (each ofificer ca ying one in his pocket) having the dial-plates marked y\ th twenty -four hours, and the hour-hand mak- ing only one revolution in that period. Thus, whenever the chronometers indicated apparent noon at Greenwich, the sun would be exactly over the meridian of that place, and so of any other place of known longitude ; for in- stance, the harbor where our travelers had left their ship, and to which they desired to return. In visiting a part of the globe on which the foot of man has never before trodden, it is impossible to say what benefits may accrue to science ; but in the enter- prise to which we are now alluding, there is one object of the very highest scientific interest which might be at- tained by traveling to the Pole, namely, the measure- ment of a degree of the meridian commencing fi-om the Pole itself. Many readers of this narrative are aware that the form of the globe has long since been ascertain- ed to be that of an oblate spheroid, having its equatorial diameter considerably longer than the polar ; in more popular language, that the earth is flattened at the poles ; but it still remains a matter of doubt in what degree this flattening exists ; and as no method of ascertaining this is so conclusive as the actual measurement of a me- ridian at the Pole and at the Equator, this object alone would well repay any effort that might be made to effect it ; even if a sufficient length of line could be measured in one of the meridians that are clustered on the Pole, the difficulty of preserving it would require the most rigid attention. The swinging of a pendulum is perhaps a less accu- rate method of obtaining the ellipticity of the earth, but it is the operation of a single person, whereas the actual measurement of the meridian line requires several ; and as an increase of gravitation takes place from the Equa- tor to the Pole, the latter makes it most desirable that the requisite observations should be made there, or as near to it as possible ; but a ship on an open or icy sea would not answer.* The tides at the Pole would be an interesting subject * The reader is referrred to the several portions of this volume for the pendulum observations that have been made and herein given. 225 to examine ; but it does not appear that any contrivance on an open sea, or a sea of ice, could be made use of to ascertain the rise and fall. Magnetism, atmospherical electricity, and the Aurora Polaris, and aE other meteorological observations, would afford scope enough on board ship. Should land, however small the portion, be found at or near the Pole, all the various observations would be conducted to a successful issue. It may be presumed that any such land will not be mountainous, as no ice- bergs are ever sent down from that quarter, these mass- es having been ascertained as products of glaciers on the sides and vaUeys of high mountains, as in Spitzbergen and Greenland. On a piece of land the pendulum may be swung, and the rise, fall, and direction of the tides observed. It would also be interesting to examine into the nature of the soil, and its vegetable productions ; the disposition of the sti-ata, and the mineral products, if any ; and if the land be of a tolerable extent, a meridional dis- tance may be measured. Other matters of interest and novelty would occur to a scientific and skillful observer. These are mere speculations, thrown out at random, but may serve, among other suggestions, as objects of atten- tion. Captain Sir Edward Pany having now concluded his fifth voyage into the Arctic regions, in four of which he commanded, and was second in the other, and there be- ing no farther attempt in contemplation at the conclusion of the last voyage to continue the search, he deemed it expedient to close his honorable and useful naval career, at least in sea-going ships. It may, therefore, not be out of place here to put on record a memorandum of the valuable services rendered to his country in various sit- uations, and to the navy in particular, with whose inter- ests he is stiU connected. It has been stated, in the first Arctic voyage, in what manner he was inti-oduced into that line of service, by being selected to command one of the discovery ships. 1818. The Alexander, as lieutenant commanding, being sec- ond to Commander Ross. 1819. The Hecla. — Appointed as Heutenant to command her, and as commander of the expedition : two years. 226 ARCTIC VOYAGES. 1820. The Fury. — Appointed as commander, and to the com- mand of the expedition; advanced to the rank of captain in November, 1821. 1823. Acting hydrographer to the Admiralty, 1823, in the room of Captain Hurd, deceased. 1824. Hecla. — Appointed as captain (though only a sloop) and as commander of the expedition. Acting hydrographer, second appointment, the va- cancy not having been filled up. 1826. Appointed to the command of the Hecla, and of the expedition toward the North Pole. 1827. Third appointment as hydrographer, and continued to act mitil May, 1829 : and in the same year received the honor of knighthood. Resigned the situation of hydrographer, and Captain Beaufort appointed, who still holds it. 1829. Went out to New South Wales as Commissioner to the Australian AgricToltural Company, by permission of the Admu'alty, and returned in November, 1834. 1835. Assistant Poor-law Commissioner in Norfolk ; but his health failing, laid by for one year. 1837. Appointed to organize the Packet Service, then trans- ferred to the Admiralty. 1837. Appointed Controller of Steam Machinery, in which important situation he still remains ; a situation that requires all that talent and assiduous attention which he is knovni to possess, and which it is to be hoped he may long continue to hold, to his owti satisfaction, and for the benefit of the public service. The character and conduct of Sir Edward Pany as a captain in command of a ship of w^ar has been fully ex- hibited in the present narrative, abridged as it is : prompt in difficulty, cool in danger, fertile in expedients, and rich in resources, be was never unprepared in the hour of need ; to the people under his charge he was kind, considerate, and attentive, and while rigidly exacting the performance of their duties, was ever studious to admin- ister to their comforts and their welfare, instructing them that these benefits could only be acquired and preserved by a strict obedience to command, steady good conduct, and due regard to the duties of religion. If an officer who has accompanied Captain Parry in all his Arctic and Polar voyages were passed over in si- lence, it would properly be considered as a dereliction of justice and of duty in the wi-iter of this naiTative. The parry's polar voyage. 227 following memorandum of Captain Sir James Ross's ser- vices win put the reader in possession of an abstract of what he has performed : In Api-il, 1812, he entered the navy. 1 « 1 ^ / Volunteer first class, midshipman, and mate with Com- ^ „^ ^ ^ mander Ross. 1818. Admiralty midshipman in the Isabella in Commander Ross's voyage of discovery to the Arctic Seas. 1819, > Admiralty midshipman in the Hecla in Captain Par- 1820. 5 ry's first voyage of discovery to the Arctic Seas. 1821, ) Admiralty midshipman in the Fury in Captain PaiTy's 1822, > second voyage of discovery to the Arctic Seas ; was 1823. ) made lieutenant, 26th December, 1822. ■tooA ^ Lieutenant in the Fmy, Captain Hoppner, third voy- z^Q^^V age of Captain Parry. To draw charts and make ^^^^- ( drawings. 1827. First lieutenant in the Hecla, Captain Parry; accom- panied him in command of the second boat in his attempt to reach the North Pole. Promoted on his return, 8th November, 1827. 1829 ) In private steam-vessel Victory, to >0n the 1st of June, 1831, planted the Union-jack on 1833.) the North Magnetic Pole. On his return, presented by the College of Arms with an addition to the arms of Ross, representing the flag flying on the Mag- netic Pole, with additional crest, " on a rock, a flag-stafl" erect, thereon hoisted the Union-jack, in- scribed with the date, 1st June, 1831." 1834. Promoted to the rank of captain, 28th October, 1834. 1835. Employed making magnetic observations preparatory to commencing the magnetic survey of England. 1836. Captain in the ship commissioned by the Admiralty, sent in search of the missing whalers, in the depth of winter.* 1837. > Employed, at the desire of the Lords Commissioners 1838. 5 of the Admiralty, in detennining the variation of the compass on all parts of the coast of Great Brit- * On a representation from Hull that eleven whale ships and six hun- dred, men were left in the ice and ia danger of perishing, and requesting the Admiralty to send out relief, Captain James Ross volunteered to go out in the depth of winter, and the three heutenants, Crozier, Inman, and Ommanney, with the three mates, Jesse, Buchan, and John Smith, and Mr. Hallett, clerk m charge, volunteered to join htm. He hoisted his pen- nant on the 21st of December, and after a stormy voyage arrived in Da- vis's Strait, when he foimd nine of the missing ships were by that time ia England, that the tenth was released and on her passage, and the elev- entiti was probably lost, as some of her casks had been picked up at sea. 228 ARCTIC VOYAGES. ain, and tlie general magnetic sui'vey for determin- ing duration of the time of equal variation, dip, and intensity, in conjunction with Professor Lloyd, Col- onel Sabine, and Professor Phillips, at the request of the British Association. And lastly, from 1839 to 1843, Captain H. M. S. Ere- bus, in command of the Antai'ctic Expedition. 13th March, 1844, received the honor of knighthood. 20th June, 1844, Hon. D. C. L., Oxford. Received gold medals of Geographical Societies of England and of France. It will be seen that Mr. James (now Sir James) Ross has risen by regular gradation from the lowest to the highest rank in his profession, and to the honors he now enjoys, by his indefatigable zeal, self-taught abilities, and diligence. It is due to him, therefore, in taking leave of his Arctic labors, at the same time with his friend and commanding officer Sir Edward Pany, to express a con- viction, in common with that of his brother officers and associates, that few men possess, in a more eminent de- gree, the qualities required in most arduous attempts. To a strong and vigorous constitution, and bodily pow- ers of no ordinary kind, James Ross unites an ardent love of enterprise, a determined perseverance in the attain- ment of his object, and a mind undaunted by difficulty or danger. To these qualities must be added that ad- vancement in navigation, astronomy, natural history, and other branches of science which few naval officers can boast of, but which were such as fitted him peculiarly for selection to the command of the recent Antarctic Expe- dition, for the results of which, from his pen, public ex- pectation is- more than usually alive. CAPTAIN JOHN FRANKLIN. 229 CHAPTER X. CAPTAIN JOHN FRANKLIN. 1819-20-21-22. Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of. the Polar Sea. By John Franklin, Capt. R. N., F. R. S., Commander of the Expedition. This expedition, under the command of Commander (now Captain Sir John) Franklin, has not only added greatly to the geography, geology, and natural history of that portion of the northern coast of North America within the Arctic regions, but more especially to that which borders on the southern shores of the Polar Sea; and has also conti'ibuted largely to, and firmly establish- ed, that estimate of the physical, mental, and moral character of British seamen — equally good when serv- ing on shore as afloat — which we Englishmen had long formed, and of which we are justly proud. It has also supplied traits of character, and of the physical consti- tution of the various native tribes. " The narrative of Captain Franklin" (the writer is here borrowing from himself) " adds another to the many splendid records of the enterprise, zeal, and energy of British seamen — of that cool and intrepid conduct which never forsakes them on occasions the most trying — that unshaken constancy and perseverance in situations the most arduous, the most distressing, and sometimes the most hopeless that can befall human beings ; and it furnishes a beautiful example of the triumph of mental and moral energy over mere brute strength, in the simple fact that out of fifteen individuals inured fi;om their birth to cold, fatigue, and hunger, no less than ten (native landsmen) were so subdued by the aggravation of those evils to which they had bee^i habituated as to give themselves up to indilFerence, insubordination, and despair, and, finally, to sink down and die, while of five British sea- rnen unaccustomed to the severity of the climate, and the hardships attending it, one only fell, and that one by the murderous hand of an assassin. A light, buoyant heart, a \> 230 ARCTIC VOYAGES. confidence in their own powers, supported by a firm reliance, on a merciful Providence, never once forsook them, nor suf- fered the approach of despondency, but brought them safely through such misery and distress as rarely, if ever, have been surmounted." The five persons mentioned were Captain John (now Sir John) Franklin, at this time commanding an expedi- tion, not for attempting the discovery of a northwest passage, but to supply the means of facilitating one, and to extend the geography of a part of the Polar regions very little knowu^ Doctor Richardson, a naval surgeon, now Medical Inspector of the Royal Naval Hospital at Haslar : " To Doctor Richardson, in particular," Sir John says, " the exclusive merit is due of whatever col- lections and observations have been made in the depart- ment of natural history ; and I am indebted to him in no small degree for his friendly advice and assistance in the preparation of the present narrative. The Appendix (upward of two hundred and eighty pages) is mostly his own." Doctor Eichardson volunteered to accompany Captain Frankhn on his second expedition to the shores of the Polar Sea; also Mr. George Back and Mr. Roh- ert Hood, Admiralty midshipmen, to make obsei-vations, drawings of the land, of the natives, and objects of natu- ral history, the former of whom is now Captain Sir George Back, and the latter was the victim (above allud- ed to) of an assassin. The fifth was John Hepburn, a true, faithful, and affectionate English seaman, and their only attendant, who, on the conclusion of the expedition, was deservedly rewarded with a permanent situation in one of the dockyards. Of this seaman, the testimony of Sir John Franklin is too valuable to be omitted. " And here," he says, " I must be permitted to pay the tribute due to the fidelity, exertion, and uniform good conduct, in the most trying situations, of John Hepburn, an Eng- lish seaman, and our only attendant, to whom, in the latter part of our journey, wfe owe, under Divine Providence, the preservation of the lives of some of the party."* The instructions which Franklin received from Earl Bathurst, by whom he was appointed, on the recom- mendation of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiral- * Introduction. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSOn's JOURNEY. 231 ty, informed him that the main object of the expedition was to explore the northern coast of America, from the mouth of the Copper Mine River to the eastward ; to lay down the line, or trending, of that coast, as far as to the eastern extremity of that- continent ; in short, to take all means for obtaining accm'ate information respecting that unknown line of coast. And it is to the credit of the then Board of Admiralty for suggesting this expedi- tion, which might be of the utmost importance in aiding the ships under Commander Parry, which were to pro- ceed about the same time for the Polar Sea, and might have to touch upon the coast in question. On the 22d of May, 1819, the little party, having re- ceived their credentials from the several authorities at home, embarked on board the Hudson Bay Company's ship Prince of Wales. Conti-ary winds and foul weath- er during the first week obliged the ship to anchor in Yarmouth Roads, where the officers and passengers ven- tured on shore for a few hom-s ; but the wind sudden- ly changing, the commander caused guns to be fired, as an intimation of putting to sea ; the passengers forth- with embarked, but Mr. Back was missing; no time, however, was to be lost, and shortly after the ship sail- ed without him, and arrived at Sti"omness on the 3d of June, where business with the Hudson's Bay agent, and the difficulty of obtaining four boatmen to assist in the navigation of the lakes and rivers of North America, de- tained them till the evening of the 9th, " when we had the gratification," says Franklin, "of welcoming our ab- sent companion, Mr. Back. His return to our society was hailed with sincere pleasm-e by every one, and re- moved a weight of anxiety from my mind. It appears he had come down to the beach at Caistor just as the ship was passing by, and had applied to some boatmen to convey him on board, who, discovering the emergen- cy of his case, demanded an exorbitant reward, which he was not at the instant prepared to satisfy, and, in con^ sequence, they positively refused to assist him. Though he had traveled nine successive days, almost without rest, he could not be prevailed upon to withdraw from the agreeable scene of a ball-room, in which he joined us, until a late hour." " This untoward circumstance," as 232 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Franklin called it at the time, afforded a sample of his eagerness and energy, and gave to Back himself a gen- tle specimen of what he was doomed thereafter to un- dergo with infinitely more severity. The incidents of the voyage require not to be related ; pleasant enough until they approached that dangerous and by all abhori'ed island, Resolution, in the mouth of Hudson's Strait, near the rocky shores of which, usually beset with heavy ice, fogs, and irregular currents, the vessel nan'owly escaped shipwreck. Passing this, how- ever, they aiTived in safety at York Factory, in Hud- son's Bay, on the 30th of August. Here they were cor- dially received by the governor and servants of the Hud- son's Bay Company, and were furnished by them with a boat of the largest size, well stored with provisions and ammunition, as much as she could carry. They were also furnished with letters to aU their agents in the sev- eral factories in the country, directing them to give ev- ery possible assistance toward furthering the object of the expedition. Here also they had the good fortune to meet with several of the partners of the Northwest Com- pany, from whom they also received the most friendly and full assurance of the cordial endeavors of the winter- ing partners of their establishment to promote the inter- est of the expedition. This was the more gratifying, as there then existed a violent commercial rivahy between the two companies. With the knowledge of this, and with that prudence and propriety of conduct that has at all times been the characteristic of Franklin, he deemed it expedient to " issue a memorandum to the officers of the expedition, strictly prohibiting any interference what- ever in the existing quarrels, or any that might arise, be- tween the two companies ; and on presenting it to the principals of both the parties, they expressed their sat- isfaction at the step I had taken." On the 9th of September, the boat being completed, arrangements were made for their departure, and at noon they embarked under a salute of eight guns and three cheers, which they gratefully returned, and made all sail. The route was settled to be by Cumberland House, and through the chain of Posts to the Great Slave Lake. It is not deemed necessary to notice the multitude of FRANKLIN AND EICHAKDSOn's JOURNEY. 233 lakes, rivers, portages, and the numerous difficulties and impediments which beset the traveler throughout his ar- duous journey in the northern regions of America, these having been so frequently described by various travelers since the time of Hearne and Mackenzie. Suffice it to say that, from the time of their leaving York Factory on the 9th of September, to their arrival at Cumberland House on the 22d of October, they had traveled over a distance of very nearly seven hundred miles, with and against the sti-eams of some ten different rivers and nine lakes, to say nothing of rocks, rapids, and portages. The charts and views, from the observations and pencils of Messrs. Hood and Back, afford a more clear description than any written account could convey. The sei-vices of these two officers in these and other respects were of incalculable benefit, and highly spoken of by the com- mander of the expedition. Nothing could exceed the kindness of the governor of Port Cumberland : he forthwith set about enlarging the premises, to make this then- intended winter quarters as convenient and agreeable as possible. But Franklin, af- ter many conversations with Governor Williams, and oth- er gentlemen in charge of northern posts, was convinced of the necessity of proceeding, during the winter, into the Athobasca department, to the northward of the Great Slave Lake, from whence, only, guides, hunters, and in- terpreters were to be procured. He therefore requested Governor Williams that he might be furnished, by the middle of Januaiy, with the means of conveyance for three persons, having previously arranged that Messrs. Back and Hepburn should accompany him, while Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood should remain till the spring at Cumberland House. This aiTangement was quite consistent with the true character of Franklin ; whenever an arduous, severe, or inconvenient service was to be performed, he was always ready to relieve the party he commanded from the bur- den, and to undertake it himself. With this view, on the 18th of January, 1820, Frank- lin, with Back as his companion, and the faithful Hep- burn, took leave of Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood, who were to follow with their baggage in the spring. But, U2 234 ARCTIC VOYAGES. before taking a brief view of the expedition of the first thi-ee to Carlton House, and thence to Fort Chipewyan, it may be expedient to glance over the proceedings of the two latter at CumberlandHouse, to which a chapter is separately appropriated in the narrative. The district of Cumberland is stated by Dr. Richardson to contain upward of 20,000 square miles, is peopled by about 120 Indian hunters, most of them married, with an average of five to each family, or the whole Indian population may be estimated at 2500. Their mode of life subjects them to great privations ; the hooping-cough and mea- sles at this time were spreading through the whole ti'ibe ; many died, and most of the survivors were so enfeebled as to be unable to pursue the necessaiy avocations of hunting and fishing ; the scenes of misery were heart- rending, and the few who had escaped disease were not able to afford relief to the sufferers. " One evening, in the month of January (says Dr. Richard- son), a poor Indian entered the Northwest Company's House, carrying his only child in his arms, and follovped by his stai-v- ing wife. They had been hunting apart from the other bands, had been unsuccessful, and while in want were seized with the epidemical disease. An Indian is accustomed to starve, and it is not easy to elicit from him an account of his suffer- ings. This poor man's story was veiy brief; as soon as the fever abated, he set out with his vnfe for Cmuberland House, having been previously reduced to feed on the bits of skin and offal w^hich remamed about their encampment. Even this miserable fare was exhausted, and they walked several days without eatiag, yet exerting themselves far beyond their strength, that they might save the life of the infant. It died almost within sight of the house. Mr. Connelly, then in charge of the post, received them with the utmost humanity, and instantly placed food before them ; but no language can describe the manner in which the miserable father dashed the morsel ft-om his hps, and deplored the loss of his child. Misery may harden a disposition naturally bad, but it never fails to soften the heart of a good man." — P. 60, 61. A great part of the chapter is employed in a minute account of the Crees, or, as named by the French Ca- nadians, Knisteneaux. Much curious information regard- ing their manners, customs, and character is developed, and apparently on correct authority, but the detail would 235 be out of place in the present naiTative. It may suffice, therefore, to give the doctor's conclusion, where he says, " We may state the Crees to be a vain, fickle, improvi- dent, and indolent race, and not very strict in their ad- herence to truth, being great boasters ; but, on the oth- er hand, they strictly regard the rights of property, are susceptible of the kinder affections, capable of friendship, very hospitable, tolerably kind to their women, and with- al inclined to peace." He then gives an instance of their kind feeling toward the softer sex. " An Indian visited the fort in the winter. The poor man's wife had lost her feet by the frost : this compelled him not only to hunt, but to do all the menial offices himself, and in the winter, to drag his wife, with then' stock of furniture, from one encampment to another. In the performance of this duty, as he could not keep pace with the rest of the tribe, he more than once nearly perished of hunger." In such a mode of life, in such a countiy, and in such society, it would be too much to expect a state of refine- ment, or of moral purity, even in females of the better part of the community, especially when the male por- tion of it is so debased. " The girls at the forts, particularly the daughters of Cana- dians, are given in marriage veiy young ; they are very fre- quently wives at twelve years of age, and mothers at fourteen. Nay, more than one instance came under our observation of the master of a post having permitted a voyager to take to wife a poor child that had scarcely attained the age of ten years. The masters of posts and wintering partners of com- panies deemed this criminal indulgence to the vices of their serv^ants necessary to stimulate them to exertion for the in- terest of their respective concerns. Another practice may also be noticed, as showing the state of raoral feeling on these subjects among the white residents of the fur countries. It was not very uncommon among the Canadian voyagers for one w^oman tO be common to, and maintained at the joint expense of, two men, nor for a voyager to sell his wife, either for a season or altogether, for a sum of money propor- tioned to her beauty and good qualities, but always infeiior to the price of a team of dogs." — P. 86. The products of this part of the country are noticed by Dr. Richardson. Of forest trees he mentions two species of poplar, two species of spruce-fir, three other 236 ARCTIC VOYAGES. pines, one larch, the canoe-birch, alder, and various wil- lows ; the sugar-maple, elm, ash, and arhor vites (Thuya occidentalis). Of fruits are two species of plum; one, very astringent, is known by the name of choke-cherry. CuiTants, gooseberries, raspberries, and sti'awberries, common ; cranberries, whortleberries, and others, plen- tifully met with on swampy and heathy grounds. Of the quadrupeds hunted for food are mostly the moose and the reindeer, the buffalo or bison, the red deer, jumping deer, long-tailed deer, and a species of antelope. Of the fur-bearing animals are foxes of various kinds, distinguished as black, silver, cross, red, and blue ; the wolverine, the lynx, the marten, the fisher, the otter, and the beaver. The Indians, it appears, have nearly destroyed the fur-bearing animals ; and so scarce is the beaver become, that in the whole journey to the shores of the Polar Sea and back, one single habitation, and one dam only of' that industi-ious and ingenious creatm-e, were met with. Among the many interesting anecdotes that have been told of this animal, Dr. Richardson re- lates the following : " One day a gentleman, long resident in this country, espied five young beavers sporting in the w^ater, leaping upon the trunk of a tree, pushing one another off, and playing a thou- sand interesting tricks. He approached softly under cover of the bushes, and prepared to fii-e on the unsuspectiBg crea- tures, but a nearer approach discovered to him such a simih- tude between their gestures and the infantile caresses of his own children, that he threw aside his gun. . This gentleman's feehngs are to be envied, but few traders in fars would have acted so feehngly."— P. 92. It has been stated that on the 18tli of January, 1820, Sir John Frankhn, Mr. Back, and John Hepburn left Cumberland House for Carlton House, to proceed from thence to Fort Cliipewyan, there to make preparation for proceeding to the northern coast. A circumstantial ac- count is given of the mode of traveling, of the rivers, lakes, and portages, of the posts of the two companies, of the snows that fell, and the numerous hardships that the traveler in winter must necessarily undergo, daily and nightly, till he an'ives at his destination, and the close of the spring mitigates the severity of the temper- FRANKLIN AND RICHAEDSOn's JOURNEY. 237 ature. What the state of that temperature had been from the 18th of January to the 26th of March, when the party reached Chipewyan, there is no record, for a reason explained by Franklin, who says that " this even- ing (18th of January) we found the mercury of our ther- mometer had sunk into the bulb, and was frozen. It rose again into the tube on being held to the fire, but quickly redescended into the bulb on being removed into tiie air ; we could not, therefore, ascertain by it the tern-! perature of the atmosphere, either then or dui'ing our jom'ney. Mr. Hood, however, who made a journey from Cumberland House to the Basquian Hill, not far from the former, states in his journal, that on the 25th of March the thermometer fell in the open air to 15° below zero, although it rose the following day to 60° above it. The sudden changes that take place in the northern parts of North America are very remarkable. On the 15th of April Mr. Hood records that " the first shower of rain fell we had seen for six months, and on the 17th the thermometer rose to 77° in the shade." He also observes that, " on the 10th or 12th of April, the return of the swans, geese, and ducks gave certain indi- cations of the advance of spi'ing." The warm weather, by the sudden melting of the snow and ice, deluged the face of the country, and gave rise to a remark of Mr. Hood, the ti'uth of which has been proved by many well-attested facts. He says, " the noise made by the frogs which this inundation pro- duced is almost incredible. There is strong reason to beheve that they outlive the severity of winter. They have often been found frozen, and revived by warmth ; nor is it possible that the multitude which incessantly filled our ears with their discordant notes could have been matured in two or three days." Strong doubts had long before this been entertained of the correctness of the fact here stated, but experiments made by competent per- sons proved that not only frogs, but leeches, snails, grubs, fishes, and other animals, could be frozen by artificial cold, and revived. It was farther ascertained that frogs would revive if the heart even was frozen, but that if ^the brain was congealed, life became so irrecoverably ex- tinct that not only could no degree of warmth produoe 238 ARCTIC VOYAGES. symptoms of recovery, but the animal was rendered in- capable of being affected by the galvanic action. " 1 have frequently," says Hearne, "seen frogs dug up with the moss, fi-ozen as hard as ice, in which state the legs are as easily broken off as a pipestera ; but," he adds, "if they be permitted to freeze agedn, they are past aU re- covery." Captain Franklin also notices the resuscitation of fish- es after being frozen : " It may be worthy of notice here, that the fish fi-oze as they were taken out of the nets, and in a short time became a sohd mass of ice, and by a blow or two of the hatchet were easily split open, when the intestines might be removed in one lump. If in this completely fi'ozen state they were thawed before the fire, they recovered their animation. This was particularly the case with the carp, and we had occasion to observe it repeatedly, as Dr. Richardson occupied himself in examining the structure of the different species of fish, and was always, in the winter, under the necessity of thawing them before he could cut them. We have seen a carp recover so far as to leap about with much vigor after it had been frozen for thirty -six hom-s." — P. 248. Nay, it may be stated that the same effect is produced on the insect tribe. It is reported by Mr. Ellis, that at the Hudson's Bay factoiy, a black, frozen mass of a peat- hke substance being brought before the fire and thawed, there came from it a cloud of living musquetoes. Cap- tain Buchan obsei-ved myriads of insects frozen on the surface of a lake in Newfoundland, and imbodied in the solid ice ; the next day, by the powerful rays of the sun, they were loosened from durance, became reanimated, and took their flight into the air. Mr. Hood, in his journey, also makes an observation of a different kind regarding this most annoying animal. " We had sometimes before procured a little rest by clos- ing the tent and burning wood or flashing gunpowder with- in, the smoke driving the musquetoes into the crannies of the ground. But this remedy was now ineffectual, though we employed it so perseveringly as to hazard suffocation ; they swarmed under our blankets, goiing us with their enven- omed trunks, and steeping our clothes in blood. We rose at daylight in a fever, and our misery was unmitigated during our whole stay. FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSOn's JOURNEY. 239 " The food of the musquetoe is blood, which it can extract by penetratiag the hide of a buffalo ; and if it is not disturb- ed, it gorges itself so as to swell its body into a transparent globe. The wound does not sweU. like that of the African musqnetoe, but it is infinitely more painfiil ; and w^hen mul- tiplied a hundred fold, and continued for so many successive days, it becomes an evil of such magnitude, that cold, fam- ine, and every other concomitant of an inhospitable climate must yield the pre-eminence to it. It chases the buffalo to the plains, ii-ritating him to madness; and the reindeer to the sea-shore, from which they do not return till the scourge has ceased."— P. 188, 189. To return to Captain Franklin and his companion Back. A description is given of the sledges, the coracles, the snow-shoes, and the clothing of a winter-traveler in this cold and dreary climate, a repetition of which would af- ford but httle entertainment to the general reader. Dr. Richardson, in his account of the Crees, says that tat- tooing is as common among them as in the Oriental Isl- ands, notwithstanding it is a most painful operation : " a half-breed, whose arm I amputated, declared that tattoo- ing was not only the most painful operation of the two, but infinitely more difficult to bear, by its tediousness, having, in his case, lasted three days." Captain Frank- lin has also some notices of the Crees, but is more par- ticular respecting the Stone Indians, residing near the Company's post of Carlton House ; " they are more pre- possessing," he says, " in their looks, but addicted to thieving, and grossly and habitually treacherous. Their countenances are affable and pleasing, their eyes large and expressive, nose aquiline, teeth white and regular, the forehead bold, the cheek-bones rather high. Their figure is usually good, above the middle size, with slender but well-proportioned limbs. Their color is a light cop- per, and they have a profusion of very black hair." Back has supphed a very striking poitrait. They steal what- ever they can, particularly horses, maintaining that they are common property sent by the Almighty for the gen- eral use of man, and therefore may be taken wherever met with. This avowed disposition calls for the strict- est vigilance at the several posts. " In the afternoon of the 26th of March we had the pleasure of aiTiving," says Captain Franklin, " at Fort 240 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chipewyan, and thus terminated a winter's journey of eight hundred and fifty -seven miles, in the progress of which there was a great intermixture of agreeable and disagreeable circumstances." The latter, he thinks, if balanced, would preponderate, and that walking in snow- shoes was among the most prominent. To the inexperi- enced, indeed, the suffering occasioned by walking in snow-shoes appears to be dreadful, " and can be but faintly imagined by a person who thinks upon the incon- venience of marching with a weight of between two and three pounds constantly attached to galled feet and swell- ed anldes." But Mr. Hood wUl best describe it. "■ The miseries endured during the first journey of this na- ture are so great, that nothing could induce the sufferer to undertake a second while under the influence of present pain. He feels his frame crushed by unaccountable press- ure, he drags a galling and stuhbom w^eight at his feet, and his track is marked with blood. The dazzling scene around him affords no rest to his eye, no object to divert his attention fi'om his own agonizing sensations. When he rises from sleep, half his body seems dead, till quickened into feeling by the irritation of his sores. But, fortunately for him, no evil makes an impression so evanescent as pain. It can not be wholly banished, nor recalled with the force of reality, by any act of the mind, either to affect our determinations, or to sympathize with another. The traveler soon forgets his sufferings, and at eveiy future journey their recurrence is attended with diminished acuteness." — P. 173, 174. Preparations were forthwith to be made at Chipewy- an for prosecuting the main object of the expedition, and in the consultation with the principals of the two great contending companies, Franklin, by his persuasive and conciliating manners, brought about a cordial desire on the part of both to render mutual assistance to the for- warding of that object. Here, too, in the early part of July, he had the sincere gratification of welcoming his long-separated friends, Dr. Richardson and Mr. Hood, who aiTived in perfect health ; and he records the zeal and talents displayed by these two gentlemen, and speaks in the highest terms of approbation of the manner in which their several duties had been discharged since their separation. The Chipewyans are the neighboring tribe of the 241 Stone Indians, with less promising features, but more honest, rude in their manners, and extremely supersti- tious. Their features also are against them ; they have broad faces, projecting cheek-bones, and wide nostiils, but generally good teeth and fine eyes ; they are resei-v- ed and selfish; they beg with unceasing importunity eveiy thing they see. " I never saw men," says Frank- lin, " who either received or bestowed a gift with such bad grace ; they almost snatch the thing from you in one instance, and throw it at you in the other." Our ti'avel- ers fell in with a party of these people in the most for- lorn condition, having destroyed every thing they pos- sessed in token of gi'ief for the severe loss they had sus- tained by the prevailing sickness of measles, hooping- cough, and dysentery. " It appears," says Franklin, *' that no article is spared by those unhappy men when a near relative dies ; their clothes and tents are cut to pieces, their guns broken, and every other weapon ren- dered useless, if some person do not remove those ar- ticles from theh' sight." As some relief, however, to the darker shades of their character, instances of theft are stated to be extremely rare among them ; they also possess sti-ong aflfection for then- children. A curious example of this was mentioned to the party, "and so well authenticated," says Franklin, " that I shall venture to give it in the words of Dr. Richardson's Journal." " A young Chipewyan had separated from the rest of his band for the purpose of trenching beaver, w^hen his wife, who was his sole companion, and in her first pregnancy, was seized with the pains of labor. She died on the third day after she had given birth to a boy. The husband was in- consolable, and vowed in his anguish never to take another woman to wife, but his grief was soon in some degree ab- sorbed in anxiety for the fate of his infant son. To preserve its life, he descended to the office of nurse, so degrading in the eyes of a Chipewyan, as partaking of the duties of a w^oman. He swaddled it in soft moss, fed it with broth made from the flesh of the deer, and to still its cries appHed it to his breast, praying earnestly to the great Master of Life to assist his endeavors. The force of the powerful passion by which he was actuated produced the same eflect in his case as it has done in some others w^hich are recorded : a flow of milk actually took place from his breast. He suc- ceeded in rearing his child, taught him to be a hunter, and 16 X 242 ARCTIC VOYAGES. •when he attained the age of manhood, chose him a wife from the tribe. The old man kept his vow in never taking a sec- ond wife himself, but he delighted in tending his son's chil- dren, and when his daughter-in-law used to interfere, saying that it was not the occupation of a man, he was wont to re- ply, that he had promised to the great Master of Life, if his child was spared, never to be proud, hke the other Indians. He used to mention, too, as a certain proof of the approbation of Providence, that although he was always obliged to carry his child on his back while hunting, yet it never roused a moose by its cries, being always particularly still at those times. Our infonnant (Mr. Wentzel) added, that he had oft- en seen this Indian in his old age, and that his left breast, even then, retained the unusual size it had acquired in his occupa- tion of nm'se." — P. 157, 158. Singular as this case may appear, Dr. Richardson is quite correct in stating that there are others on record in which the same effects precisely were produced, and among which is that recorded by the Baron von Hum- boldt in his South American travels, and which some of the physiologists of that day pronounced to be impossi- ble, whUe they were advancing and defending other sto- ries not less miraculous. It is not safe, in this age of wonderful discoveries, to pronounce dogmatically what is and what is not possible. Physiologists, and physi- cians, and surgeons may say, as some have said, that man has not been gifted, as woman is, with lacteous nu- triment ; but common sense may lead to the presumption that both, being constituted of the same materials, and supplied with similar glands, may, by some extraordinary circumstance — " the force of powerful passion," as Dr. Richardson observes — produce hke effects. The opin- ions of two of the most eminent physiologists may here be given. Magendie says, " Though the secretion of milk seems proper to women after parturition, it has been sometimes seen in virgins, and even in man." — (Magendie's Physiology.) And Richerand says, " There have been known men in whom a long-continued titilla- tion of the breasts had determined so considerable an af- flux of the humors, that there oozed from them a whit- ish, milky, saccharine fluid, not unlike the milk of a woman." — (Richerand's Physiology.) To say that a thing is impossible is a very easy, but not a convin- FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON's JOURNEY. 243 cing way of settling a disputed question. When Ste- phenson consti'ucted the first raikoad between Liverpool and Manchester, near twenty years ago, and asserted that its speed would exceed sixteen miles an hour, it was laughed at by a great lawyer (a senior wrangler), employed against the bUl, who asserted dogmatically that such a speed was impossible ; but Stephenson, somewhat nettled, called out, " Instead of sixteen, I can make it sixty, if necessary." Every impediment was thrown in the way of establishing a distant electrical tel- egraph ; but the confidence which a few had in Profess- or Wheatstone carried the point, and a communication can now be held with Portsmouth from London (with theu' two distant termini^ even) in a very few minutes — a single signal in half a second : in fact, electi'icity re- gards neither time nor space. How many impossibili- ties would ordinary people meet with in the agencies of electi'icity, galvanism, and magnetism, one or all of which may almost be looked on as the life and soul of the material of our world, daily manifesting the ti*uth that "we are yet only on the threshold of discovery" — Sir Humphrey Davy's words, uttered but a short time before his death. To return, after this digression, to our voyagers. As soon as the number of people to be employed was com- pleted, consisting of sixteen Canadian voyagers, their English attendant, John Hepburn, two interpreters, to be received at the Great Slave Lake, and one Chipewy- an woman, and their provisions shipped, they all era- barked on the 18th of July, in high glee, and the crews of the three canoes commenced a lively paddling song on leaving the shore, which was continued till out of sight of the house. On the 24th they reached Moose-deer Island, a post of the Northwest Company, and engaged Pien-e St. Gennain as interpreter for the Copper In- dians. On the 28th they arrived at Fort Providence, situated on the northeastern side of Great Slave Lake. They found here Mr. Wentzel and the second interpret- er, Jean Baptiste Adam. The duties allotted to the former were, the management of the Indians, the super- intendence of the Canadian voyagers, the obtaining and distributing provisions and other stores, aU of which he 244 ARCTIC VOYAGES. W£is well qualified to perform, having been twenty years in the countiy. Here, too, they were waited on by the chief of the Indians, named Akaitcho. He made a speech, pm-porting that he rejoiced to see such great chiefs on his land ; that his tribe was poor, but they loved white men, who had been their benefactors ; said he would attend them to the end of their jom-ney, and would do all he could to provide them with the means of subsistence. Franklin, of course, made a suitable ac- knowledgment in return. On the 2d of August they left Fort Providence, on their way to the Copper Mine River, the party consist- ing of six Englishmen, six Canadian voyagers, and three interpreters, to which were added Akaitcho and his In- dians. The details of the journey as far as Fort Enter- prise, on the banks of Winter Lake, the difficulties that occuiTed in the navigation of the numerous rivers and lakes, and the crossing of portages, could give little or no information of interest to the general reader, and shaU therefore be omitted. Suffice it to say, that after nu- merous difficulties, experienced from scarcity of provi- sions for the party that attended them, impediments of navigation, and the severe labor of the frequent portages, they were glad to arrive, on the 20th of August, after a slow and tedious progress, at the spot where it was de- cided to winter, and which was distant about 550 miles from Chipev^yan. Captain FrankHn states their jom-ney briefly thus : '' The counted length of the portages we had crossed since leaving Fort Providence is twenty-one statute miles and a half; and as our men had to traverse each portage four times with a load of 180 pounds, and return three times light, they walked in the whole upward of one hundred and fifty miles. The total length of our voyage from Chipewyan is five hun- dred and fifty-three miles. In the afternoon (he says) we read divine service, and offered our thanksgiving to the Al- mighty for his goodness in having brought us thus far on our journey; a duty w^hich we never neglected, when stationary, on the Sabbath." Before the termination of the last journey, however, the Canadian voyagers became discontented, and threat- ened not to proceed forward unless more food was given to them ; and Franklin, after addressing them in the FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON's JOURNEY. 245 strongest manner on the danger of insubordination, and his determination to inflict the heaviest punishment on any who should refuse to proceed, admits that their hardships were of a kind that few would support with- out murmuring, and none could witness without a sin- cere pity for their sufferings. Relief, however, was at hand by the arrival of some hunters with the carcasses of reindeer. On arriving at their destination, the Canadians set cordially about the erection of a house for their winter quarters, to which was given the name of Fort Enter- prise, a name that, in reference to future events, might with great and deplorable propriety be changed to that of the " House of Misery, Lamentation, and Woe." The anxiety felt by Franklin of getting on to the north- ward, notwithstanding the opinion of all that the late- ness of the season and the probable want of provisions would make such an attempt inexpedient, and Akaitcho having positively refused to let his Indians proceed, Franldin remonsti-ated with this chief; and, continuing to press the matter, he answered with some warmth : " Well, I have said every thing I can urge to dissuade you from going on this service, on which it seems you wish to sacrifice your own lives, as well as the Indians who might attend you : however, if, after aU I have said, you are de- termined to go, some of my young men shall join the party, because it shall not be said that we peraiitted you to die alone after having brought you hither ; but, from the moment they embark in the canoes, I and my relatives shall lament them as dead."— P. 225. This speech of the chief did not fail to make an im- pression on Franklin, who, after communicating to his officers what had passed, it was agreed by all that a paity should be sent forward only for the pm-pose of ascertaining the distance and size of the Copper Mine River ; and the two youngsters, B ack and Hood, were dispatched on that seiTice in a Ught canoe, having with them the interpreter, St. Germain, eight Canadians, and one Indian. Franklin, however, at all times unwilling to impose a task on others of which he did not take a share himself, says that Dr. Richardson and he deter- mined on making a pedestrian excursion to the Copper Mine River, leaving Mr. Wentzel to superintend tho X2 246 ARCTIC VOYAGES. buildings. Accordingly, they set out on the 9th of Sep- tember, and having suffered much from snow and cold, reached the Copper Mine River on the 13th, and were glad to get back to Fort Enterprise, having traversed on foot about eighty miles. On the same day Back and Hood returned from their inspection. " I was much pleased (says Frauklin) with the able man- ner in which these officers executed the service they had been dispatched upon, and was gratified to leani from them that their companions had conducted themselves extremely well, and borne the fatigues of the journey most cheerfiilly. They scarcely had ever more than sufficient fuel to boil the kettle, and were generally obliged to lie down in their wet clothes, and, consequently, suflfered much from cold." — P. 237. Soon, however, after the parties had returned to the fort, it was stated by the wintering party at Fort En- terprise that they had been apprised that the provisions they had, and were Ukely to obtain, would not suffice for their journey to the sea and along the coast, and that the ammunition and clothing had not come up from the southward : Mr. Back, therefore, with that zeal and activity by which he had particularly distinguished him- self, volunteered to set out, on the 18th of October, with Mr. Wentzel, two Canadians, two Indians and then- wives, and return to Fort Providence, and, if nec- essary, to Chipewyan, to obtain and hasten the required suppUes. This journey was performed on foot, in the midst of winter, and was successful. Wentzel returned from Providence in the month of December, accompa- nied by two Esquimaux inteipreters, whom they found at Fort Providence, where they had ari'ived from the neighborhood of Chesterfield Inlet ; their long, unpro- nounceable names were now converted into those of Augustus and Junius ; the former understood a httle of the English language. Back, always alert when duty required his exertion, proceeded to Chipewyan. Some traits of the Indian character are given in the report of his long and perilous journey, and of the con- duct of the Indians, which deserve to be here noticed. A single instance may be sufhcient to stamp their char- acter. " One of the women caught a fine pike by making a hole io the ice, which she gave to us ; the In- FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSOn's JOURNEY. 247 dkns positively refused to partake of it, from the idea (as we afterward learned) that we should not have sufficient for ourselves : ' we are accustomed to starva- tion,' said they, ' but you are not.' " The Indians and their wives complained of illness and want of rest, which induced Back to serve out to them a flagon of mixed spirits. " It was a satisfaction to me," he says, " to be- hold these poor creatures enjoying themselves, for they had behaved in the most exemplaiy and active manner toward the party, and with a generosity and sympathy seldom found even in the more civilized parts of the world ; and the attention and affection which they man- ifested toward their wives evinced a benevolence of disposition and goodness of nature which could not fail to secure the approbation of the most indiiferent ob- server." Another instance, whUe it conveys some idea of the privation to which the pai'ty were exposed with regard to food, shows the desire of the Indians, in the midst of their own sufferings, to administer to the relief of the strangers. " One of our men caught a fish, which, with the assistance of some weed scraped from the rocks (tripe de roche), that affords a glutinous substance, made us a tolerable supper; it was not of the most choice kind, yet good enough for hungry men. While we were eating it I perceived one of the women busily employed scraping an old skin, with the contents of which her husband presented us. They consist- ed of pounded meat, fat, and a greater proportion of Indian's and deer's hair than either ; and though such a mixture may not appear very alluring to an English stomach, it was thought a great luxury after three days' privation in these cheerless regions of America. Indeed, had it not been for the precaution and generosity of the Indians, we must have gone without sustenance until we reached the forts," — P. 2.73, 274. Back, in this dreadful journey, was not only exposed to staivation and the extremity of cold, but also to the danger of perishing in some of the lakes which they had to cross on foot. On a narrow branch of the Slave Lake he fell through the ice, but escaped without in- JTiry ; on another occasion the ice bent so that it re- quired the utmost speed to avoid falling through where it gave way, as it seems to have done at eveiy step he 248 ARCTIC VOYAGES. took. In snort, it was little less than miraculous, con- sidering the season and the severity of the winter, that he ever returned safe, which, however, he had the good fortune to do on the 17th of March, when he an-ived at Fort Enterprise, where, he says, " I had the pleasure of meeting my friends aU in good health, after an ab- sence of nearly five months, during which time I had ti'aveled 1104 miles on snow-shoes, and had no other covering at night, in the woods, than a blanket and deer skin, with the thermometer frequently at — 40°, and once at — 57°, and sometimes passing two or three days without tasting food." Well may Franklin say, " I had every reason to be much pleased with his con- duct on this arduous undertaking." With regard to the temperature of the winter, it was not improved by the more northern situation of Fort /s A^ 3 $ /j^Enterprise. Augustus spoke so highly of the wai-mtli " ^ of a snow-house, that he was employed in the building ' . of one, which he did after a very speedy and clever operation, and of which Captain Franklin has given a description and plan ; but as Parry has supplied both, obtained from the very same people, they need not here be repeated. Franklin says, " The purity of the mate- rial of which the house was framed, the elegance of its construction, and the transparency of its walls, which ti'ansmitted a very pleasant light, gave it an appearance far superior to a marble building, and one might survey it with feelings somewhat akin to those produced by the contemplation of a Grecian temple reared by Phidias ; both are triumphs of art, inimitable in their kinds." Like naany of the Grecian temples, they too are covered by domes, built on the principle of an arch, which is perfectly understood by them. We have had many learned disquisitions on the origin of the arch, which some say was copied from nature ; the poor isolated Esquimaux, evidently an original people, unlike to any other in physical appearance, had nature only to con- sult, in which, with their own ingenuity, as we have learned from Parry, they are by no means deficient. In December, Franklin has given a statement of the severity of the cold, which is not more intense than Back experienced : FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON's JOURNEY. 249 " The weather during this month was the coldest we ex- perienced during our residence in America. The thermom- eter sunk on one occasion to 57° below zero, and never rose beyond 6° above it ; the mean for the month was — 29°-7. During these intense colds, however, the atmosphere was generally calm, and the wood-cutters and others went about their ordinary occupations without using any extraordinary precautions, yet wdtiiout feeling any bad effects. They had. their reindeer shirts on, leathern mittens lined with blankets, and furred caps ; but none of them used any defense for the face, nor did they need to do so. Indeed we have already mentioned that the heat is abstracted most rapidly from the body during strong breezes; and most of those who have perished from cold in this country have fallen a sacrifice to their being overtaken on a lake, or other unsheltered place, by a storm of wind. The intense colds were, however, detrimental to us in another w^ay. The trees froze to their very centers, and became as hard as stones, and more difficult to cut. Some of the axes were broken daily, and by the end of the month we had only one left that was fit for felling trees. By intrusting it only to one of the party who had been bred a carpenter, and who could use it with dexterity, it was fortunately preserved imtil the arrival of our men with others from Fort Providence. " A thermometer, hung in our bedroom at the distance of sixteen feet from the fire, but exposed to its direct radiation, stood, even in the daytime, occasionally at 15° below zero, and was observed more than once, previous to the kindling of the fire in the morning, to be as low as 40° below zero. On two of these occasions, the chronometers (Nos. 2149 and 2151), which during the night lay under Mr. Hood's and Dr. Richardson's pillows, stopped while they were dressing them- selves."— P. 254, 255. In one of the families that frequented the house was a good-looking girl, concerning whom Captain Franklin gives the following anecdote : " I may remark, that the daughter, whom we designated Green-stockings, from her dress, is considered by her tribe to be a great beauty. Mr. Hood drew an accurate portrait of her, although her mother was averse from her sitting for it. She was afraid, she said, that her daughter's likeness would induce the Great Chief -who resided in England to send for the original. The young lady, however, was undeterred by any such fear. She has already been an object of contest between her countrymen, and, although under sixteen years of age, has belonged successively to twc husbands, and would 250 ARCTIC VOYAGES. probably have been the wife of many more, if her mother had not required her services as a nurse."- — P. 254. The ingenious methods pursued by Captain Parry in his winter's abode in the Arctic regions, for the amuse- ment and occupation of his people, were not known to Captain Franklin ; but he equally found it necessary, during the dreary months they were shut up in Fort Enterprise, to furnish some kind of employment, espe- cially for the officers of the expedition, whoj however, were at no loss ; they were engaged in writing out their journals, calculating the results of their observations, and in consti-ucting the charts of the routes, while Messrs. Hood and Back were employed in finishing their draw- ings. The reading of newspapers, magazines, and let- ters from England was a source of occupation. But Captain Franklin has given a sketch, which contains the usual routine of their winter's life at Fort Enterprise. *' In the evenings we joined the men in the haU, and took a part in their games, which generally continued to a late hour ; in short, w^e never found the time to hang heavy upon our hands ; and the peculiar occupations of each of the offi- cers afforded them more employment than might at first be supposed. I recalculated the observations made on our route ; Mr. Hood protracted the charts, and made those draw- ings of birds, plants, and fishes, w^hich can not appear in this w^ork, but w^hich have been the admiration of every one who has seen them. Each of the party sedulously and separately recorded their observations on the am'ora, and Dr. Eichard- Bon contrived to obtain fi-om under the snow specimens of most of the hchens in the neighborhood, and to make himself acquainted wdth the mineralogy of the surrotmding country. " The Sabbath was always a day of rest with us ; the wood- men were required to provide for the exigencies of that day on Saturday, and the party were dressed in their best attire. Divine service was regularly performed, and the Canadians attended, and behaved with great decorum, although they were all Roman Catholics, and but httle acquainted with the language in which the prayers were read. I regretted much that we had not a French Prayer-Book, but the Lord's Prayer and Creed were always read to them in their own language. " Our diet consisted almost entirely of reindeer meat, varied twice a week by fish, and occasionally by a little flour, but we had no vegetables of any description. On the Smiday mornings we djraak a cup of chocolate ; but our greatest lux- ury was tea (without sugar), of which we regularly partook FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON's JOURNEY. 251 twice a day. Witli reindeer's fat and strips of cotton shirts, we formed candles ; and Hepburn acquired considerable skill in the manufacture of soap, from the wood-ashes, fat, and salt. The formation of soap was considered as rather a mys- terious operation by our Canadians, and in their hands was always supposed to fail if a woman approached the kettle in which the ley was boiling. Such are our simple domestic details."— P. 258, 259. The aurora borealis made its appearance frequently, with more or less brilliancy, but was not particularly re- markable ; in the month of December it was visible twen- ty-eight of the long nights. Mr. Back gives, in the nar- rative of his journey, the following extraordinary ac- count, which he received from one of the partners of the Northwest Company, but he does not vouch for the ti'uth of it. " He was traveling in a canoe in the Eng- lish River, and had landed near the Kettle Fall, when the coruscations of the aurora were so vivid and low, that the Canadians fell on their faces, and began praying and ciying, fearing they should be killed; he himself threw away his gun and knife, that they might not at- tract the flashes, for they were within two feet of the earth, flitting along with incredible swiftness, and mov- ing parallel to its surface. They continued for upward of five minutes, as near as he could judge, and made a loud rustling noise, Hke the waving of a flag in a strong breeze. After they had ceased the sky became clear, with little wind." Captain Franklin, Dr. Richardson, and Mr. Hood were most attentive observers of the aurora. Captain Franklin says that, having observed the aurora upward of two hundred times, he is not able to attest the fact of the noise ascribed to it. Mr. Back, when on his jour- ney, the night being fine, says, " the aurora was so vivid, that we imagined more than once that we heard a rus- tling noise, like that of autumnal leaves stirred by the wind ; but after two hom's of attentive listening we were not entirely convinced of the fact." They all agi-ee as to its influence over the magnetic needle. By a num- ber of experiments, it was found that, in certain positions of the beams and arches, the needle was considerably drawn aside, and more particularly when the flashes were between the clouds and the earth ; for it was also ascer- 252 ARCTIC VOYAGES. tained that the height of the aurora, instead of being, as supposed by Mr. Dalton and others, beyond the region of the atmosphere, is usually not more than six or seven miles from the earth. " We have sometimes seen," Mr. Hood says, " an attenuated aurora flashing across a hundred degi-ees of the sky in a single second ; a quick- ness of motion inconsistent with the height of sixty or seventy miles, the least which has hitherto been ascribed to it." On the 1st of January, 1821, the usual festivities of the new year were held. The only treat the people could receive was a little flour and fat, both luxuries ; but the feast languished for want of spirits. The whole month was cold and foggy, yet the Indians declared it was the warmest they had known ; the thermometer, however, toward the latter part, descended to 49°, and the mean temperature of the month was 15° '6. On the 15th large supplies were received from Fort Providence, and the people had their ration of spirits sei^ved out to them. Toward the end of March two Indians arrived from The Hook, a chief next to Akaitcho in authority among the Copper Indians : his band were stationed between the Marten and Great Bear Lakes ; they brought offers from him to supply dried meat on the banks of the Cop- per Mine River, in return for goods and ammunition. The offer was declined, but they were desired to tell him that notes on the Northwest Company's post would be given for either provisions or leather when they met. Even at this period, Franklin says, " the hunters sent us no supplies ; our net produced very few iish, and the pounded meat intended to keep for summer use was nearly expended. Our meals at this period were al- ways scanty, and we were occasionally restricted to one in the day." But the Indian families which congregated about the house, consisting piincipaUy of women and children, suf- fered the most. " I had often requested them to move to Akaitcho's lodge, where they were more certain of receiving supplies ; but as most of them were sick or infinn, they did not like to quit the house, where they daily received medicines from Dr. Richardson, to encounter the fatigue of following the move- ments of a hunting'Camp. They cleared away the smow on FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON S JOURNEY. 253 the site of the autumn encampmente to look for bones, deer's feet, bits of hide, and other offal. When we beheld them gnawing the pieces of hide, and pounding the bones for the purpose of extracting sonae nourishment from them by boil- ing, we regretted our inabihty to reHeve them, but little thought that we should ourselves be afterward driven to the necessity of eagerly collecting these same bones a second time from the dunghill."— P. 298. The weather in May became warm, and the approach of spring was agreeably confirmed by the gradual ap- pearance of various kinds of birds and of reindeer. The average temperature for the month was about 32°, the greatest heat 68°, and the lowest 18° ; at the end of the month the sun did not set. Preparations were now made for the long journey down the Copper Mine Riv- er to the coast of the Polar Sea, and along it to th-e eastward. The first party started on the 4th of June, under the charge of Dr. Richardson, consisting of twen- ty-three persons, exclusive of children. Among them were fifteen Canadian voyagers. A promise was made by Akaitcho, in presence of Mr. Wentzel and the In- dians, that a deposit of provisions should be made at this place, Fort Enterprise, previous to next September, as a resource should the party return by this way ; and Wentzel undertook to see this done. On the 14th of June, all being completed, Captain Frankhn set off with three canoes, dragged by four men each, and two dogs. The stores, the instruments, and the small stock of dried meat, amounting only to eighty pounds, were distributed equaEy among Hepburn, three Canadians, and the two Esquimaux, Junius and Augus- tus. All the party set out on foot. On crossing a small lake, Franklin fell in through the ice, and soon after Back did the same, and Junius also, with a heavy bur- den on his back, but none of them were hurt. It was not till the 21st that Franklin's party joined Dr. Rich- ardson at Point Lake. To ease the men who had car- ried the canoes, the third canoe was left here, as by do- ing this three men were gained to assist those who had become lame. It were tedious, and not very interesting, to repeat the details of the journey over lakes, down rapids and cataracts, over portages, and across a hilly country, 254 ARCTIC VOYAGES. dreadfully fatiguing to the men, or to relate the alternate successes and disappointments of the hunters. It is enough to say that on the 30th of June they embarked on the Copper Mine River, which, at a point called Rock-nest, is stated to be about two hundred yards wide, ten feet deep, and to flow veiy rapidly over a rocky bot- tom \ its banks picturesque, the hiUs shelving to the wa- ter side, well covered with wood, and the surface of the rocks richly clothed with lichens. Musk-oxen were here veiy plentiful near the river, and in all this part of the countiy ; and, like the buffalo, herd together in bands, so that one day the hunters killed eight cows. It is said that when two or three men get so near a herd as to fire at them from different points, instead of sepa- rating or running away, these animals huddle closer to- gether, and several are generally killed ; but if the wound be not mortal, they become enraged, and dart in the most furious manner at the hunters, who must be very dexterous to evade them. On the 7th of July they arrived at The Hoolc's en- campment, the Indian chief before mentioned, who was particularly civil, and said, " The amount of meat I have is veiy small, but I will cheerfully give you what I have ; we are too much indebted to the white people to allow them to want food on om- lands while we have any to give them :" and he promised to remain on the side of the Bear Lake, which is near to the Copper Mine River, till the month of November, and to furnish the party with supplies on their return. He too, as well as all the In- dians, earnestly entreated the travelers to be constantly on their guard against the treachery of the Esquimaux. They were now approaching the Copper Mountains, their encampment being in lat. 67° V 10'', long. 116° 27' 28" W. ; variation of the compass, 44° 11' 43", and dip of the needle, 87° 31' 18". From hence they visit- ed the Copper Mountains in search of specimens of the ore, agreeably, as Franklin says, with his instructions ; the party consisting of twenty-one persons, voyagers and Indians, including the officers. " We traveled for nine hours over a considerable space of ground, but found only a few small pieces of native copper. The mountains varied in heidit from 1200 to 1500 feet; their FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSOn's JOURNEY. 255 uniformity is interrupted by naiTow valleys traversed by small streams. The best specimens of metal w^e procured were among the stones in these valleys, and it was in such situations that our guides desired us to search most car-elully. It would appear, that when the Indians see any sparry sub- stance projecting above the surface, they dig there, but they have no other rule to direct them, and have never found the metal in its original repository. Our guides reported that they had found copper in large pieces in every part of this range for two days' walk to the northwest, and that the Es- quimaux come hither to search for it. The annual visits w^hich the Copper Indians w^ere accustomed to make to these mountains, when most of their weapons and utensils were made of copper, have been discontinued since they have been enabled to obtain a supply of ice-chisels and other in- struments of iron, by the establishment of trading-posts near their hunting-grounds."* — P. 340. They now descended to that part of the river named by Hearne the Bloody Fall. This rapid is described as a sort of shelving cascade, about three hundred yards in length, having a descent of from ten to fifteen feet, and bounded on each side by high walls of red sandstone, upon which rests a series of lofty gi-een hills. Here they caught forty excellent salmon and white fish, in a single net, below the rapid. No ti"ees had been seen in this day's journey ; but the ground is well clothed with grass, and nourishes most of the shrubs and berry-bear- ing plants that were met with north of Fort Enterprise. After much discussion, and great apprehension on the part of the Indians and voyagers, regarding the hostility of the Esquimaux, in order to allay their fears, Junius and Augustus were sent on to have a communication with them ; a very small party were fallen in with at the rapid described by Hearne, their usual resort ; they found them to be mUd, peaceable creatures, and but too glad to be on terms of friendship with the Indians. They consisted only of four men and as many women, who at night disappeared, having seen, it is supposed, some of Akaitcho's Indians, who had unauthorizedly followed, contrary to their chief's promise, and shown themselves on the hills. It was at this place where Hearne de- scribes the dreadful massacre of the Esquimaux by the * Among Dr. Richardson's Geognostical Observations, a circumstan- tial accou»t of the Copper Mountains will be found. — Appendix, No. 1. 256 ARCTIC VOYAGES. Chipewyan Indians, and therefore named it the " Bloody Fall." On Franklin and the party approaching it and encamping, nine Esquimaux appeared on the opposite bank of the river, carrying their canoes on their backs ; but they fled on seeing the tents. Not only were these people alarmed, but the Indians also were so terrified that they insisted on returning the next day ; nor could Franklin prevail on two hunters to remain with him. The reduced party, however, proceeded, and on the 18th of July reached the sea-coast at the mouth of the Cop- per Mine River, it being only nine miles from the Bloody Fall. The Canadian voyagers were amused with their first view of the sea, and the seals swimming about, but soon gave way to despondency ; they were terrified at the idea of a voyage through an icy sea in bark canoes. Hepburn's remarks, however, and the way in which he held up to them the delights of his accustomed element, made them ashamed of their fears. The party who pro- ceeded amounted to twenty persons. The traveling dis- tance from Fort Enterprise to the mouth of the river is said to be about three hundred and thirty -four miles. The canoes and baggage were dragged over snow and ice for one hundred and seventeen miles of this distance. They encamped at ten on the western bank, at its junc- tion with the sea. The river is here about a mile wide, but very shallow. High and numerous islands to sea- ward fill the horizon in several points of the compass ; the water was decidedly salt, and Franklin thinks that Hearne could have tasted it only at the mouth of the river, as he pronounced it merely brackish. The embarcation in two birch-bark canoes for a navi- gation along the southern coast of the Polar Sea to the eastward, and the commencement of the voyage, took place on the 21st of July, their dried meat and other pro- visions amounting only to fifteen days' consumption. They paddled all day along the coast, within a crowded range of islands, with very little ice ; the coast covered with vegetation ; the islands rocky and ban-en ; abund- ance of drift-wood ; and as none comes down the Cop- per Mine River, nor down any other, except Macken- zie's River, it was inferred that an easterly cun-ent pre- vailed. The least depth of water, after two days' sail- FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSOn's JOURNEY. 257 ing, was six fathoms, and any ship might pass safely be- tween the islands and the main. After a run of thirty- seven mUes, they encamped ; the coast well covered with vegetation of moderate height, and easy of approach. To two groups of islands the names of Berens and Sir Graham Moore were given. Some muscle-shells were seen here, the only shells met with on the whole coast. On the 22d the shore became exceedingly rocky and ster- ile, ending in a steep projecting promontory margined with ice. Another group of islands was named Lawford. On the 23d and 24th, nothing material ; a deer was killed ; the current was running to the eastward at the rate of two miles an hour. 25th. Thunder and rain during the night; the nets supplied only three salmon-trout. For the last two days the tide rose and fell about nine inches. 26th. A dreary coast ; encamped in an inlet, into which much ice had drifted, and one of the canoes got enclosed in it. " That none of this ice survives the summer was evident from the rapidity of its decay, and because no ice of last year's formation was hanging on the rocks." Detention Harbor is stated to be a secure anchorage, sheltered from every wind, but it does not appear to be noticed on the chart. 28th. Discovered, to their great mortification, that two bags of pemmican had become moldy ; that the beef was scarcely eatable ; but it was not so much the quality as the diminution that was the cause of uneasi- ness. A small vein of galena was discovered traversing gneiss rocks, but they had no means of smelting it for balls. The next day they crossed the mouth of a bay fill- ed with ice, and on the 30th, Another bay, which they named Arctic Sound, with a river at the bottom of it, to which Franklin gave the name of Hood, " as a small tribute to the memory of our lamented friend and companion." Their provi- sion being now reduced to eight days' consumption, it be- came necessary to seek a supply. The hunters were therefore sent on shore. August 1st. The hunters returned with two small deer and a brown bear. They were now, and, in point of fact, had been some time, coasting and landing on the 17 ¥2 258 ARCTIC VOYAGES. shore of a very wide and deep gulf, with numerous inlets issuing in various directions, with creeks and rivers branching out fi'om and others running into them. In the present situation of the party, living from hand to mouth, and without any certainty of a supply, nothing more than an outline could be taken of these inlets, from twenty to sixty miles deep ; but pains appear to have been bestowed by Franklin, Back, and Hood to make them as correct as time would allow. One of these nu- merous branches was named Melville, and is stated to be thirty miles from east to west, and twenty from north to south; and Bathurst's Inlet is not less than seventy miles long. These, however, as occasional receptacles of ice, are not to be considered as refuge harbors for Having surrounded this gulf, called Coronation Gulf on the chart, Franklin, Richardson, and Back walked along the southern coast of the Polar Sea ten miles, and finding its trending to be still to the east, they named the spot Point Turn-again, being weU satisfied that it was more than probable this point would prove the ter- mination of the voyage. " It was evident," says Frank- lin, "that the time spent in exploring the Arctic and Melville Sounds, and Bathurst's Inlet (all branching out of and a portion of the great gulf), had precluded the hope of reaching Repulse Bay, which at the outset of the voyage we had fondly cherished ; and it was equally ob- vious that, as our distance from any of the ti-ading estab- lishments would increase as we proceeded, the hazard- ous traverse across the barren grounds which we should have to make, if compelled to abandon the canoes upon any part of the coast, would become greater." But the gi-eatest hazard of all, and it was wofully experienced, was the miserable pittance of provisions remaining. Many circumstances concurred to convince the party that farther- exploration would be vain, one of the canoes being already rendered useless, and the second nearly as bad; the quantity of pemmican was reduced to three days' consumption, and apprehensions for their safety had seriously possessed the minds of the voyagers and interpreters. A violent storm and its effect on the sea did not increase their desh-e of remaining longer. 259 " Though it will appear from the chart," says Frank- lin, " that the position of Point Turn-again is only six degrees and a half to the east of the mouth of the Cop- per Mine River, we sailed, in tracing the deeply-indent- ed coast, five hundred and fifty-five geographical miles, which is little less than the direct distance between the Copper Mine River and Repulse Bay, supposing the lat- ter to be in the longitude assigned to it by Middleton." Captain Franklin mentions that Arctic Sound appear- ed the most convenient, and, perhaps, the best place for ships to anchor that he had seen along the coast, at this season especially, when they might increase theu* stock of provision if supplied with good marksmen. Deer are numerous in its vicinity ; musk-oxen also may be found up Hood's River, and the fine, sandy bottom of the bays promises favorably for fishing with the sein. The hills on the western side are even in their outline, and slope gradually to the water's edge. Franklin farther says that the portion of the sea over which he had passed is navigable for vessels of any size. The ice he met, particularly after leaving Detention Harbor, would not have arrested a strong boat. The chain of islands affords shelter from all heavy seas, and there are good harbors at convenient distances. It is to be hoped, however, that Captain Franklin, on his pres- ent voyage, may not be driven to seek shelter, with the Erebus and Terror, in any part of the southern coast of the Polar Sea. The arrangement made for returning by the way he had come Captain Franklin now perceived would not be advisable. The country between Cape Barrow and Copper Mine River would not supply their wants ; the canoes were unfit to encounter the sea ; the bad season was rapidly advancing, when heavy gales were to be ex- pected. *' I determined, therefore," he says, " to make at once for Arctic Sound, where game had been found more plentiful than in any other place ; and entering Hood's River, to advance up it as far as navigable, and then to construct small canoes out of the materials of the larger and damaged ones, which could be carried, in crossing the barren grounds, to Fort Enterprise." They had before them a chilling prospect on finding, on th© 260 ARCTIC VOYAGES. 20th of this month, the pools of water frozen over, the ground covered with snow, and the thermometer down to the freezing-point at midday. The hunters went out, but saw no animals. " We made a scanty meal off a handful of pemmican, after which only a half a bag» remained." Bad as the canoes had become, and boisterous as the weather was, these voyagers conti-ived to paddle across the arms of lakes and inlets within the great gulf; but there was no game to be had ; the berries, however, were ripe and plentiful ; and, with the addition of some country tea {Ledum palustre), furnished a supper. Hav- ing crossed the eastern entrance of Bathurst's Inlet to an island, the deer were found to be plentiful, and two were killed. The wind changed to a quarter which en- abled the party to steer for Hood's River, from the mouth of which they ascended as high as the first rapid, and encamped. This was on the 26th of August ; " and here," says Franklin, " terminated our voyage on the Arctic Sea, during which we had gone over six hundred and fifty geographical miles." " Our Canadian voya- gers," he adds, " could not restrain their joy at having turned their backs on the sea, and they spent the even- ing in talking over then* past adventures, with much hu- mor and no little exaggeration. It is due to their char- acter to mention that they displayed much courage in encountering the dangers of the sea, magnified to them by their novelty." At a few miles up Hood's River, it runs for about a mile through a narrow chasm, the walls of which are upward of two hundred feet in height, and quite per- pendicular. Through this chasm the river precipitates itself in two magnificent falls, close to each other. Frank- lin named these cascades " Wilberforce Falls," as a trib- ute of his respect for that distinguished Christian phi- lanthropist. The large canoes not being suited to this river, two smaller ones were constructed out of their materials, each sufficient to contain three persons, to be used for the purpose of crossing any river that might ob- struct their progress. The construction of the new canoes detained them tin the 1st of September when it was decided to make FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSOn's JOURNEY. 261 a direct line to Point Lake, distant only 149 miles in a sti-aight line from where they were. Having proceeded twelve miles, a snow-storm obliged them to encamp, and on the 3d the last piece of pemmican and a httle an-ow- root were distributed for supper. The violence of the storm continued till the 7th ; and for several days, hav- ing nothing to eat, and no means of making a fire, they remained whole days in bed. The wind continued so strong and the weather so severe, that there was no chance of getting on. A temperature of 20°, without fire, the party weak from fasting, their garments stiff- ened by frost, and the gi'ound covered with ice and snow, rendered their condition very unfit for traveling in such a country. On trying to proceed, Franklin was seized with a fainting-fit, in consequence of exhaustion and sud- den exposure to the wind, but on eating a morsel of port- able soup he recovered. " I was unwiUing," says this brave fellow, " at first to take this morsel of soup, which was diminishing the small and only remaining meal for the party, but several of the men urged me to it with much kindness." The canoe-carriers were frequently blown down, and one of these machines was broken to pieces, which, however, was turned to the best account, by making a fire of it to cook the remnant of portable soup and aiTOW-root : a scanty meal after three days' fasting, but it served to allay the pangs of hunger. The next two days the surface of the barren grounds was covered with large stones, bearing a lichen which the Canadians call tripe de roche, or rock-tripe, a sub- stance to which the present ti'avelers may be said to owe their safety and existence ; without it they must have died of starvation. By botanists this plant is called Gy- rophora, from its circular form, and the surface of the leaf being marked with curved lines, and of which Dr. Richardson has described and engi-aved four species, with this observation : " We used all four as articles of food ; but, not having the means of extracting the bitter principle from them, they proved nauseous to all, and noxious to several of the party, producing severe bowel complaints." This, with half a partridge to each, fur- nished their supper. On the 8th the passage of a river was effected by 262 ARCTIC VOYAGES. means of a range of large rocks at the foot of a rapid. The people who carried heavy burdens mostly slipped into the stream, and were drenched from head to foot ; and all being wet to the middle, and the thermometer at 17°, their clothes became stiff with the frost, disabling them from walking without much pain. On the 10th they came upon a herd of musk-oxen, of which the hunters killed one of the largest, a cow, which infused spirit into the starving party. " This," says Franklin, "was the sixth day since we had enjoyed a good meal ; the tripe de roche, even where we got enough, only serving to allay the pangs of hunger for a short time." On the 12th the severity of the weather abated, so as to allow them to go forward, but the whole party com- plained of faintness, and of more weakness than they had ever before done. Their supper consisted of a sin- gle partridge, accompanied with some rock-tripe, which afforded little relief, and the latter had become quite nauseous to all, and in several produced bowel complaints, to Mr. Hood in particular. It was now obvious that the whole party were getting weaker every day. It was discovered also that some of them had thrown away the fishing-nets and burned the floats, depriving them, by this thoughtless act, of the means of obtaining a supply of fish, which might be expected while coasting the mar- gins of the several lakes they would have to pass. On the morning of the 14th, while the officers were assembled round a small fire, Perrault, one of the voya- gers, presented each of them with a small piece of meat, which he had saved from his allowance. " It was re- ceived," says Franklin, " with gi'eat thankfulness, and such an act of self-denial and kindness, being totally un- expected in a Canadian voyager, filled our eyes with tears." On the same day, Franklin, St. Germain, and Belanger embarked in the remaining canoe to cross a river, and when in the midst of it, the cmTent and a strong breeze drove the canoe to the veiy brink of a tre- mendous rapid, of which a most frightful account is given : Belanger, unluckily, applied his paddle to avert the danger of being forced down the rapid ; he lost his balance, the canoe overset in the midst of the rapid, but FRANKLIN AND RICHARDSON's JOURNEY. 263 the party kept hold of it till it came in contact with a rock, on which the water was not higher than their waists. Belanger renaained on the rock ; the other two, on the third attempt, got to the shore. After many fruitless attempts, a small line was thrown to Bel- anger, and he was dragged through the rapid in a per- fectly senseless state, from which, by the attention of Dr. Richardson,, he was, after a long time, recovered. By this accident Franklin lost his portfolio, containing his jom-nal and observations from Fort Enterprise ; but the loss, he says, was well supplied by his companions, Richardson, Back, and Hood. On the 16th and 17th, by passing over a rugged countiy, their toil and suffering were greatly increased ; on the latter day they had no breakfast, and but a scanty supper, yet Franklin says they allayed the pangs of hunger by pieces of singed hide and a little tripe de roche. " These would have satisfied us in ordinary times, but we were now almost exhausted by slender fare and travel, and our appetites had become ravenous. We looked, however, with humble confidence to the Great Author and Giver of all good, for a continuance of the support which had hitherto been always supplied to us at our greatest need." On the 18th, Franklin says, "the want of tripe de roche caused us to go supperless to bed." The next day they came to a spot where there was some of that weed, which they collected, and breakfasted on. Mr. Hood was now so feeble that Dr. Richardson walked with him at a gentle pace in the rear of the party. " In the evening," says Franklin, " we had a small quantity of the tripe^ and the rest of our supper was made up of scraps of roasted leather ;" and he adds, " previous to setting out, the whole party ate the remains of their old shoes, and whatever scraps of leather they had, to strengthen their stomachs for the fatigue of the day's jom^ney." The 19th supplied them only with Iceland moss, boiled for their supper, which, not being soaked, proved too bitter to be taken in more than a few spoonfuls ; no rock-tripe was to be found. On this day one of the renewed canoes was broken by the fall of the person 264 ARCTIC VOYAGES. who had it in charge. For several days after this their progi-ess was slow, over a hilly country, and the men became impatient, and so indifferent, that the two who had the charge of the only remaining canoe left it be- hind, urging an excuse that it had a fall, was completely broken, and useless. They refused to retmna and bring it up, broken as it was ; they refused to make any ex- ertion, and acted as if they had given up all hope of preservation. On the 21st the men took it into their heads that the party had lost their way, and a gloom was spread over every countenance. Dr. Richardson had suffered so much from cold, fatigue, and hunger as to be obliged to deposit his specimens of plants and minerals, collected on the sea-coast, being unable to carry them any faither. Things continued in this deplorable state tiU the 24th, when the killing of five small deer out of a large herd reanimated the drooping spirits of the men, and they asked for a day's rest, which was considered reasonable enough, that the quiet enjoyment of two substantial meals, after eight day's famine, might enable them to proceed more vigorously. On the 26th they reached a branch of the Copper Mine River ; and now, for the first time, the people were convinced of their foUy in breaking the two canoes. Back, the most active and vigorous of the party, was sent forward with some of the hunters to apprise the people at Fort Enterprise of the approach of the rest. Credit and Junius followed them also to hunt. Credit returned, but Junius was missing, and was never after heard of. Several days were here lost in making a raft of willows, which was finished by the 29th, but all at- tempts to convey the raft across the stream failed, and the scheme was considered hopeless : the raft, moreo- ver, was of green wood, and the want of poles or pad- dles rendered the moving of it on the water impractica- ble. Yet it was of the utmost importance to cross the river, as any attempt to go round the lakes would be sure destruction to the whole party, in their famished and worn down st^te ; two of them, having been utterly unable to proceed, were left behind. " In this hopeless condition with certain starvatioii staring 265 them in the face, Dr. Richardson, actuated by the noble de- sire of making a last effort for the safety of the party, and of reheving his suffering companions from a state of misery, •which could only terminate, and that speedily, in death, vol- unteered to make the attempt to swim across the stream, car- rying with him a Hne by which the raft might be hauled over. *' He lanched into the stream with the line round his mid- dle, but when he had got to a short distanc^from the oppo- site bank, his anns became benumbed with cold, and he lost the power of moving them ; still he persevered, and turning on his back, had nearly gained the opposite shore, w^hen his legs also became powerless, and, to our infinite alarm, we be- held him sink. We instantly hauled upon the line, and he came again on the surface, and was gradually drawn ashore in an almost lifeless state. Being rolled up in blankets, he ■was placed before a good fire of willows, and, fortunately, was just able to speak sufficiently to give some slight direc- tions respecting the manner of treating him. He r-ecovered strength gradually, and, through the blessing of God, was ena- bled in the course of a few hours to converse, and by the evening was sufficiently recovered to remove into the tent We then regretted to learn that the skin of his w^hole left side was deprived of feeling, in consequence of exposure to too great heat. He did not perfectly recover the sensation of that side until the following summer. I can not describe w^hat every one felt at beholding the skeleton w^hich the doc- tor's debilitated frame exhibited. When he stripped, the Canadians simultaneously exclaimed, 'Ak ! que nous sommes maigres /' I shall best explain his state and that of the party by the follo-