The public notice taken of the above facts led to two expeditions being ordered, the first of which, under Commander (afterwards Sir) John Ross, was remarkable for the number of officers who accompanied it, and who, later, acquired distinction in the Arctic explorations of this century.
Parry, J. C. Ross (the commander"s nephew), Sabine (long President of the Royal Society, and a most distinguished _savan_), then a captain of the Royal Artillery, Hoppner, and others, were among the number. The ships employed were the _Isabella_ and _Alexander_, and the commander"s instructions were to attempt the north-west pa.s.sage by the western route.
On the 1st of June, 1818, they had reached the eastern side of Davis"s Strait, but detained by ice, and it was not till the 3rd of the following month that they arrived at the Women"s Islands. The delay did not prevent them from having some pleasant intercourse with the Danes and Esquimaux of the Greenland settlements. Extempore b.a.l.l.s were organised, where their interpreter, Jack Sackhouse (or Saccheous), was of great value. Jack combined in his person the somewhat discordant qualifications of seaman, interpreter, draughtsman, and master of ceremonies, with those of a fisher of seals and a successful hunter of white bears.
A favourable breeze sprang up, and Ross was anxious to leave, as the ice began to separate. Jack had gone ash.o.r.e, and when a boat was sent for him he was found in one of the huts with his collar-bone broken, from having greatly overloaded and discharged his gun. His idea was, as he expressed it, "Plenty powder, plenty kill!" Proceeding northward, and pa.s.sing many whalers, he examined and named Melville Bay. On August 10th, the ships being at anchor near sh.o.r.e, eight sledges of Esquimaux were observed, and Saccheous was despatched with a flag and some presents in order to parley with them, they being on one side of a field of ice, in which was a ca.n.a.l or chasm. After much shouting and gesticulating, Saccheous held out his presents, and called to them in their own language to approach. The reply was "No, no; go away!" and one man said, "Go away; I can kill you!"
holding up a knife. The interpreter, however, threw them an English knife, which they accepted, and _pulled their noses_, which Ross represents to mean a sign of friendship. They soon became more familiar, and pointing to the ships, asked, "What great creatures these are. Do they come from the sun or the moon? Do they give us light by day or by night?" To which Saccheous replied, "They are houses made of wood." The natives would not believe this, answering, "No, they are alive; we have seen them move their wings." Ross ent.i.tles these natives the "Arctic Highlanders." There is a good deal of rather doubtful matter in the narrative of Ross, and it is certainly more than likely that these people had often seen whale-ships.
[Ill.u.s.tration: FISKERNaeS, SOUTH GREENLAND.]
Not far from Cape Dudley Digges Ross observed some of the cliffs covered with the _crimson_ snow often mentioned in other Arctic narratives, and indeed noted by Saussure in the Alps. "This snow," he says, "was penetrated even down to the rock, in many places to a depth of ten or twelve feet, by colouring matter." Some of this having been bottled, was a.n.a.lysed on their return by Mr. Brande, the celebrated chemist, who, detecting uric acid, p.r.o.nounced it to be no other than the excrement of birds. Other authorities considered it to be of vegetable origin, judging it to be probably the drainage from some particular kind of moss, the roots of which are of that colour.
The results of this voyage were not extensive. Ross only reached Sir James Lancaster"s Sound, where an imaginary discovery of his has since given rise to much ridicule. He fancied that he saw at the bottom of a bay an extensive range of mountains, the which he somewhat unfortunately named after Mr. Croker, the then Secretary of the Admiralty. The site of the Croker Mountains was a year afterwards sailed over by Parry! It is certain that either clouds, mirage, or some other phenomenon of nature, had misled him. A very similar fact was noted by Captain Nares in his expedition.
The second of the two expeditions was that performed under the command of Captain David Buchan, who had a.s.sociated with him a number of officers, including John Franklin, Frederick Beechey, and George Back, who afterwards distinguished themselves in various branches of the Arctic service. Buchan himself was a first-rate navigator, particularly well acquainted with the dangers of the northern seas, more especially on the Newfoundland station. He had also made a remarkable journey across the ice and snow of that island in order to communicate with the natives, and was the first European who had so done. Subsequent to the expedition about to be recorded, he lost his life on the _Upton Castle_, a vessel making the voyage from India, and the exact fate of which was never known.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE "DOROTHEA" AND THE "TRENT" IN THE ICE.]
The two vessels employed on this service were the _Dorothea_ and the _Trent_. The instructions directed Buchan to proceed to the northward, between Spitzbergen and Greenland, without delay on the way, and use his best endeavours to reach the North Pole or its neighbourhood. On May 24th the expedition had reached Cherie Island, on the coasts of which the walruses were so numerous that at about that period as many as 900 or 1,000 had been captured by the crew of a single vessel in seven hours"
time. Many interesting traits of walrus character-if the expression may be used-were observed on this expedition. "We were greatly amused," says Captain Beechey, the historian of the voyage, "by the singular and affectionate conduct of a walrus towards its young. In the vast sheet of ice that surrounded the ships there were occasionally many pools, and when the weather was clear and warm, animals of various kinds would frequently rise and sport about in them, or crawl from thence upon the ice to bask in the warmth of the sun. A walrus rose in one of these pools close to the ship, and finding everything quiet, dived down and brought up its young, which it held by its breast by pressing it with its flipper. In this manner it moved about the pool, keeping in an erect posture, and always directing the face of the young towards the vessel. On the slightest movement on board the mother released her flipper and pushed the young one under water, but when everything was again quiet, brought it up as before, and for a length of time continued to play about in the pool, to the great amus.e.m.e.nt of the seamen, who gave her credit for abilities in tuition which, though possessed of considerable sagacity, she hardly merited."
[Ill.u.s.tration: MAGDALEN BAY, SPITZBERGEN.]
On May 28th, the weather being severe, with heavy fogs, the ships separated, to rejoin at Magdalena Bay, Spitzbergen, a few days later. The harbour was full of ice in a rapidly decaying state. This bay is remarkable for four glaciers, the smallest of which, called the Hanging Iceberg, is 200 feet above the sea-level at its termination. The largest extends several miles inland, and, owing to the immense rents in its surface, was called the Waggon Way. In the vicinity of the icebergs, which had become detached from these glaciers, the observance of strict silence was necessary, and the concussion produced by the discharge of a gun (not its "explosion," as Sir John Barrow says) would often detach large ma.s.ses.
Beechey notes the effects of such a discharge: A musket had been fired at half a mile distance, which not merely brought down an immense piece of ice, but which was the cause of a ship"s launch being carried ninety-six feet by the wave produced, filled with water, and landed on a beach, where it was badly stove, the men barely escaping with their lives. They also had the rare opportunity of noting the creation of an iceberg. An immense piece of the front of a glacier was observed sliding down from the height of at least 200 feet into the sea, dispersing the water in every direction. This discharge was accompanied by a loud grinding noise, and the ice was followed by quant.i.ties of water, which, being previously lodged in the fissures, now made its escape in numberless small cataracts from the face of the glacier. Some idea may be formed of the disturbance caused by its plunge and the rollers which agitated the bay when we learn that the _Dorothea_, then careening on her side at a distance of _four miles_, righted herself. This ma.s.s dived wholly under water, and then reappeared, rearing its head a hundred feet high, accompanied by the boiling of the sea and clouds of spray. Its circ.u.mference was found to be nearly a quarter of a mile, while its weight was computed at over 400,000 tons.
In summer the coasts of Spitzbergen were found perfectly alive with animated nature. The sh.o.r.es reverberated with the cries of the little auks, cormorants, divers, and gulls. Walruses were basking in the sun, mingling their roar with the bark of the seal. Beechey describes an uninterrupted line of little auks flying in the air three miles in length, and so close together that thirty fell at one shot. He estimated their number at 4,000,000, allowing sixteen to a cubic yard. This number appears very large; yet Audubon, in describing the pa.s.senger-pigeons on the banks of the Ohio, speaks of one single flock of 1,115,000,000. Audubon"s character for veracity is too unquestioned for us to inquire how he made the calculation.
The surrounding islands were thick with reindeer, Vogel Sang, in particular, yielding the expedition forty carcases. The king eider-ducks were found in such numbers that it was impossible almost to walk without treading on their nests, which they defended with determined resolution; but, in fact, all nature was alive at this time, and birds of many kinds, foxes, and bears, were everywhere found on the sh.o.r.e and on the ice, while amphibious animals, from whales downwards, abounded in the water.
On the 7th of June the ships left Magdalena Bay, and were greatly hampered in the ice. Indeed, they learned from several whale-ships that the ice to the westward was very thick, and that fifteen vessels were beset in it.
Proceeding northward themselves, they became entangled in a floe of ice, where they had to remain thirteen days, after which the field broke up, and they got into an open sea. Several attempts were made to prosecute their voyage in a northerly direction, but without success; and Captain Buchan, being satisfied that he had given the ice a fair trial in the vicinity of Spitzbergen, resolved on bearing for the coast of Greenland.
Having arrived at the edge of the pack, a gale came on so suddenly that they were at once reduced to storm staysails. The vessels were reduced to take refuge among the ice, a proceeding often rendered necessary in those lat.i.tudes, though extremely dangerous. The _Trent_, following the _Dorothea_, dashed into the unbroken line of furious breakers, in which immense ma.s.ses of ice were crashing, heaving, and subsiding with the waves. The noise was so great that the officers could scarcely be heard by the crew. "If ever the fort.i.tude of seamen was fairly tried it was a.s.suredly not less so on this occasion; and I would not," says Beechey, "conceal the pride I felt in witnessing the bold and decisive tone in which the orders were issued by the commander of our little vessel (Franklin), and the prompt.i.tude and steadiness with which they were executed by the crew. Each person instinctively secured his own hold, and, with his eyes fixed upon the masts, awaited in breathless anxiety the moment of the concussion. It soon arrived; the brig, cutting her way through the light ice, came in violent contact with the main body. In an instant we all lost our footing, the masts bent with the impetus, and the cracking timbers from below bespoke a pressure which was calculated to awaken our serious apprehensions." So great was the motion of the vessel that the ship"s bells tolled continually, and they were ordered to be m.u.f.fled; the heaviest gale of wind had never before made them strike.
After many dangers from the ice the pack broke up sufficiently to release the ships, both of which were greatly disabled, while the _Dorothea_ was in a foundering condition. They proceeded as well as they could to Fair Haven, Spitzbergen, where the damages were in some sort repaired, and they sailed for home.
The character of Sir William Edward Parry, who carried the Union Jack nearer the Pole than any explorer prior to Markham and Parr, was truly admirable, while his services to his country were as brilliant as they were numerous. In every way he was an honour to the British navy, such a union of lofty heroism, consummate nautical skill, and calm daring, is almost without parallel. The amiability and benevolence of his manners endeared him to all ranks of the service, and made him the idol of his men, whom he never failed to encourage by all the means in his power. His name, though written in snow and ice, is imperishable, for his heart was in his work, and he always believed in its future success. In the four voyages made under his command to the Arctic seas he was most careful of the health and comfort of his followers, and lost fewer hands than any other commander in these parts; and when we remember the kind of vessels he sometimes sailed in (the _Griper_, in particular, being about as unseaworthy a ship as could well be sent out of dock), we can only wonder at his patience under difficulties and the persevering energy which kept him "pegging away."
The son of a celebrated physician, Dr. Caleb Hillier Parry, he was born at Bath on the 19th of December, 1760, and was intended originally for his father"s profession; but circ.u.mstances having occurred to alter his determination, he was appointed to the _Ville de Paris_, the flagship of Admiral Cornwallis"s Channel Fleet, as a volunteer of the first cla.s.s.
Here he remained for three years, during which period he was engaged in an action off Brest Harbour. Fortunate in making his first essay of a seaman"s life under officers who were desirous of winning the esteem and affection of those beneath them, he soon became a favourite, and the admiral, on his leaving the ship, thus records his opinion of him:-"Parry is a fine, steady lad. I never knew any one so generally approved of. He will receive civility and kindness from all while he continues to conduct himself as he has done, which, I dare believe, will be as long as he lives." He was afterwards appointed to the _Tribune_ frigate and to the _Vanguard_, and was frequently engaged with the Danish gun-boats in the Baltic.
In 1810 he gained his epaulet, and joined the _Alexandria_ frigate, in which, after serving in the Baltic, he made his first acquaintance with polar ice between North Cape and Bear Island; and he subsequently joined the _La Hogue_ at Halifax. In 1814 he commanded a boat in a successful expedition up the Connecticut river, for which service he received a medal. Three years later he was recalled to England in consequence of the severe illness of his father, who had been seized with a paralytic stroke.
His father"s illness and his own despair of promotion made this the gloomiest period of our young hero"s life. But dark is the hour before the dawn, and an incident occurred which threw a gleam of hope upon his professional prospects, and proved the forerunner to his future success.
At the close of 1817 he wrote to a friend on the subject of an expedition that was about starting to explore the River Congo. The letter was written, but not posted, when his eye fell on a paragraph in the newspaper relative to an expedition about to be fitted out to the northern regions.
He seized the pen, and added, by way of postscript, that, as far as he was concerned, "hot or cold it was all one to him, Africa or the Pole." This letter was shown to Mr. Barrow, the then Secretary of the Admiralty, and in a few days he was appointed to the command of the _Alexander_, discovery ship, under the orders of Commander John Ross, as recorded in the first voyage of the present series.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE NORTH CAPE.]
In 1819-20 Parry made a second voyage to the Arctic, this being the first, however, in which he had the chief command. The _Hecla_ and the _Griper_ were the vessels employed, and the expedition left the river on May 11th, reaching Davis"s Strait at the end of June, where icebergs of large size and in great numbers were encountered. Fifty or sixty _per diem_ was not an unusual allowance, and Parry counted eighty-eight large ones from the crow"s nest on one occasion, besides a profusion of smaller ones. Some most important explorations in Sir James Lancaster"s Sound were made, and the land which Ross had supposed extended across the bottom of this inlet was found to be open water. The expedition sailed across the site of the Croker Mountains, as has been before mentioned. Barrow"s Strait, Wellington Channel, Melville Island, and many others, were first discovered and named on this voyage.
CHAPTER XVIII.
PARRY"S EXPEDITIONS (_continued_).
Five Thousand Pounds earned by Parry"s Expedition-Winter Quarters-Theatre-An Arctic Newspaper-Effects of Intense Cold-The Observatory Burned down-Return to England-Parry"s Second Expedition-"Young" Ice-Winter at Lyon"s Inlet-A Snow Village in Winter and Spring-Break-up of the Ice-The Vessels in a Terrible Position-Third Winter Quarters-Parry"s Fourth Winter-The _Fury_ Abandoned-The Old _Griper_ and her n.o.ble Crew.
A very important event-at least, so far as concerned the members of Parry"s expedition-was that which occurred on September 4th, 1819. On that day the commander had the satisfaction of announcing to officers and crew that they had crossed the meridian of 110 W. from Greenwich, by which they had become ent.i.tled to the reward of 5,000 offered by the Government to "such of His Majesty"s subjects as might succeed in penetrating thus far to the westward within the Arctic circle." To a bluff headland near this point the appropriate name of Cape Bounty was given. After many perils in the ice, a secure harbour was selected for their winter quarters at Melville Island, but before they could enter it a ca.n.a.l, two and one-third miles, had to be cut through the ice. This feat was performed in three days by the united efforts of "all hands" from both vessels; and as they would probably have to remain eight or nine months in that spot, Parry began the arrangements for promoting the comfort and health of his crews, the wisdom of which has often since been admitted and imitated by others, but which were not very commonly understood then. Parry, however, has hardly had a superior in these matters since. The vessels were well housed in, and all that was possible done for warming and ventilating the decks and cabins. An anti-s...o...b..tic beer was brewed, and issued in lieu of spirits. Some difficulty was experienced in the very cold weather in making it ferment sufficiently to become palatable. A theatre was organised on board the _Hecla_, in the arrangements for which Parry took a part himself, "considering," says he, "that an example of cheerfulness, by giving a direct countenance to everything that could contribute to it, was not the least essential part of my duty, under the peculiar circ.u.mstances in which we were placed." A little weekly newspaper, _The North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle_, edited by the since ill.u.s.trious Sabine, was organised, and helped to employ many contributors, and divert their minds "from the gloomy prospect which would sometimes obtrude itself on the stoutest heart." For this desolate spot was destined, as it proved, to be their home for nearly ten months. The animals had nearly all left; seals were not found in the neighbourhood; even gulls and ducks avoided Melville Island, where the only vegetation consisted of stunted gra.s.ses and lichens. The cold was intense, and such experiences as the following did not offer much inducement for prolonged trips from the vessels.
One John Pearson, a marine, had imprudently gone out without his mittens, to attempt hunting, and with a musket in his hands. A party from the ships found him, although the night was very dark, just as he had fallen down a bank of snow, and was beginning to feel that degree of torpor and drowsiness which, if indulged, inevitably proves fatal. "When he was brought on board," says Parry, "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 frost has in benumbing the mental as well as the corporeal faculties was very striking in this man, as well as in two of the young gentlemen who returned after dark, and of whom we were anxious to make inquiries respecting Pearson. When I sent for them into my cabin, they looked wild, spoke thick and indistinctly, and it was impossible to draw from 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." At other times excursions were made when the thermometer was 40 or 50 below zero without special inconvenience.
The fact is that one"s safety or danger much depends on the absence or prevalence of wind. Even the natives of extreme lat.i.tudes have been frozen to death during its prevalence. On February 24th, 1820, a fire broke out in their house ash.o.r.e, and in their anxiety to save the valuable instruments it contained, sixteen men incurred frost-bite, the thermometer on that day being from -43 to -44 (76 below freezing). One man, by incautiously leaving his gloves off, had afterwards to suffer the amputation of most of his fingers. When he arrived on board his hands were plunged in cold water, the surface of which was immediately covered with a skin of ice by the cold suddenly communicated! "The appearance," says Parry, "which our faces presented 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 necessary for the medical gentlemen, together with some others appointed to a.s.sist 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 descended 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, Parry 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 confessed that it was almost too cold for either the actors or the audience to enjoy it, especially those of the former who undertook to appear in female dresses."
As early as March the snow commenced to melt, according to Parry"s statement. This, however, could only possibly mean under the rays of the midday sun, as, at the same time, we are told that the thermometer stood at -22 to -25 in the shade (the latter 57 below the freezing point of water). In May the ships were again afloat, the men having cut the ice around them. But the sea, as far as the eye could reach, was still "one unbroken and continuous surface of solid and impenetrable ice," not less than six or seven feet in thickness. It was not till the very last day of July that the ice broke up, and on August 1st the ships stood out to sea.
Many a "nip" and "heavy rub," as Parry describes it, did the ships sustain after this; but in spite of perils from the ice, which would become monotonous in the telling, the expedition reached England safely in the latter part of October; and, in spite of all casualties, but one man out of ninety-four had died during their eighteen months" absence-a fact which certainly speaks volumes for Parry"s unremitting care and attention to the health of his crews.
[Ill.u.s.tration: ESQUIMAUX OF WEST GREENLAND.]
In 1821-3 we again find the indefatigable Parry in the field, this, the second voyage under his direct command, being undertaken for the discovery of a north-west pa.s.sage. The vessels employed were the _Fury_ and the _Hecla_, and the expedition left the Nore on May 8th, 1821. Most of the experiences recorded in his work were similar to those already mentioned; and only a few general facts and extracts from his journal are therefore presented. Two winters were pa.s.sed by him among the frozen realms on this voyage, and several geographical examinations of importance made. The Frozen Strait, Repulse Bay, and many islands of the same neighbourhood, were carefully explored. Parry, in his journal of October 8th, gives the following interesting description of the formation of "young" ice upon the surface of the sea, and the obstacle which it forms to navigation.
"The formation of young ice upon the surface of the water is the circ.u.mstance 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 hindrance occasioned by this impediment, trifling as it always appears before it is encountered. When the sheet has acquired the thickness of about half an inch, and is of considerable extent, a ship is liable to be stopped by it, unless favoured by a strong and free wind; and even when retaining 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 a.s.sisted by the nicest attention to the action of the sails; but it 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 a.s.sistance by running out lines or otherwise; 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 continuing 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 ca.n.a.l thus formed to no purpose. A ship in this helpless state, her sails in vain expanded to a favourable breeze, her ordinary resources failing, and suddenly arrested in her course upon the element through which she has been accustomed 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 apparent insignificance of the means by which her efforts are opposed the least just or the least vexatious part of the resemblance."
[Ill.u.s.tration: AN ESQUIMAUX SNOW VILLAGE.]
It was now again time to fix upon winter quarters, and in an extensive opening of the American mainland, which they named Lyon"s Inlet, a suitable harbour was selected. The arrangements for the comfort and employment of the crews were much as before. The Sabbath was carefully observed, schools and harmless amus.e.m.e.nts provided, while the interests of science were not neglected. An observatory and house were erected for magnetic and astronomical observations. On February 1st a number of Esquimaux arrived, who had erected a temporary village some two miles from the ships. They, unlike some before seen in the vicinity of Hudson"s Strait, who had become debased and demoralised by their constant intercourse with whaling vessels, were of the unsophisticated order, and were quiet, peaceable, and, strange to say, reasonably clean. Some of the women, having handsome garments, which attracted the attention of those on board, began, to their astonishment and consternation, to divest themselves of some of their outer clothes, although the thermometer stood at the time at 20 below zero; but every individual among them having on a complete double suit of deer-skin, they did not apparently suffer much in consequence. Parry"s description of their little snow village is graphic and interesting. Not a single material was used in the construction of the huts but snow and ice. The inner apartments of each were circular, with arched domes about seven or eight feet high, and arched pa.s.sage-ways leading into them. The interior of these presented a very uniform appearance. The women were seated on the beds at the side of the huts, each having her little fireplace, a blubber lamp, with all her domestic arrangements and domestic chattels, including all the children and some of the dogs, about her. When first erected these huts had a neat and even comfortable appearance. How differently did they look when the village was broken up at the end of winter. Parry thus describes them:-"On going out to the village we found one-half of the people had quitted their late habitations, taking with them every 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 presented baffles all description. In each of the larger ones some of the apartments were either wholly or in part deserted, the very snow which composed the beds and fireplaces having been turned up, that no article might be left behind. Even the bare walls, whose original colour was scarcely perceptible for lamp-black, blood, and other filth, were not left perfect, large holes having been made in 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 mind a sensation of dreariness and desolation, especially when we have lately seen it filled with cheerful inhabitants; but the feeling is even heightened rather than diminished when a small portion of these inhabitants remain behind to endure the wretchedness which such a scene exhibits. This was now the case at the village, where, though the remaining tenants of each hut had combined to occupy one of the apartments, a great part of the bed-places were still bare, and the wind 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 to themselves, without any lamp or a single ounce of meat belonging to them, while three small skins, on which the former was lying, were all that they possessed in 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 with which the old man was afflicted would speedily combine with his age and infirmities to release him from his present sufferings. Yet in the midst of all this he was even cheerful, nor was there a gloomy countenance to be seen in the village."
It was not till July 2nd that the ships were enabled to move from their icy dock, and they at first starting encountered severe dangers. Captain Lyon, Parry"s a.s.sociate in command, thus speaks of the situation of the _Hecla_:-
"The flood-tide, coming down loaded with a more than ordinary quant.i.ty of ice, pressed the ship very much between six and seven A.M., and rendered it necessary to run out the stream 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, being backed by another large body of ice, gradually lifted her stern as if by the action of a wedge. The weight every moment increasing obliged us to veer on the hawsers, whose friction was so great as nearly to cut through the bilt-heads, and ultimately set them 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 cable, with two six and one five inch hawsers, went at the same moment. Three others soon followed. The sea was too full 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 leaning over the land ice, while her stern at the same time was entirely lifted more than five feet out of the water. The lower deck beams now complained very 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 rudder-case and struck the driver-boom with great force. In this state I made known our situation by telegraph, as I clearly saw that, in the event of another floe backing the one which lifted us, the ship must inevitably turn over or part in midships. The pressure which had been so dangerous at length proved our friend, for by its increasing weight the floe on which we were borne burst upwards, 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; circ.u.mstances 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 this dangerous tideway."
The _Fury_ experienced nearly the same dangers, and for days the situation of both vessels was most precarious. Later, the ice having cleared to some extent, they were enabled to make good headway, and on July 16th they discovered a great deal of high land to the northward and eastward. This, from the inspection of a rude chart which had been constructed by an intelligent Esquimaux, was decided to be that island between which and the mainland lay a strait leading into the Polar Sea, of which they had heard much from the natives. Several land journeys were made, and one attempt at taking the ships through, but though it was abundantly determined to be a pa.s.sage, they were obliged again to go into winter quarters before they had succeeded. They were not extricated till nearly _one year_ afterwards, and then not until a broad ca.n.a.l, 1,100 yards in length, had been cut through the ice to the sea. The scurvy had made its appearance among the crew, and Parry, after consultation with his officers, reluctantly turned the vessels" bows in a homeward direction.
Parry made a third voyage in 1824-5, pa.s.sing his _fourth_ winter in the Arctic regions. The same vessels were employed; and at the end of winter the _Fury_ was so terribly damaged by the ice that she had to be abandoned. But Parry, however disappointed with the results of this voyage, once more, as we shall see hereafter, braved the perils of the Arctic; but we must first record the circ.u.mstances connected with a northern expedition which in chronological order comes properly before it.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CAPTAIN LYON AND HIS CREW OFFERING PRAYERS FOR THEIR PRESERVATION.]
In 1824 Captain George F. Lyon was despatched, in the _Griper_, to complete surveys of north-east America, but not specially to attempt discovery. The _Griper_ was an old tub of a vessel, utterly unfitted for its work, and it is rather of the voyage itself, as displaying the advantages of perfect naval discipline under great disadvantages, than for any other reason, this unfortunate expedition is recorded. The vessel was a bad sailer, and constantly shipped seas which threatened to sweep everything from the decks. In Sir Thomas Rowe"s Welcome-the pa.s.sage between Southampton Island and the mainland-fogs and heavy seas were encountered, while no trust could be placed in the compa.s.ses, and the water was fast shallowing. Lyon was obliged to bring the vessel "up with three bowers and a stream anchor in succession," but not before the water had shoaled to five and a half fathoms, the ship all the while pitching bows under. So perilous was their position that the boats were stored with arms, ammunition, and provisions; the officers drew lots for their respective boats, although two of the smaller ones would have inevitably been swamped the moment they were lowered. Heavy seas continued to sweep the decks, and when the fog lifted a little a low beach was discovered astern of the ship, on which the surf was running to an awful height, and where, says Lyon, "no human power could save us if driven upon it."
Immediately afterwards the ship, lifted by a tremendous sea, struck with great violence the whole length of the keel, and her total wreck was momentarily expected. In the midst of all their misery the crew remained twenty-four hours on the flooded decks, and Lyon himself did not leave for his berth till exhausted after three nights" watching. Few on board expected to survive the gale. Still, every precaution was taken for the comfort of the men, who were ordered to put on their best and warmest clothing to support life as long as possible. The officers each secured some useful instrument for future work, if, indeed, the slightest hope remained. "And now," says Lyon, "that everything in our power had been done, I called all hands aft, and to a merciful G.o.d offered prayers for our preservation. 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 whatever we could find, many of us endeavoured to obtain a little sleep. Never, perhaps, was witnessed a finer scene than on the deck of my little ship, when all hope of life had left us. n.o.ble as the character of 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 word 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 neighbour and all the world; and I am firmly persuaded that the resignation which was then shown to the will of the Almighty was the means of obtaining His mercy. G.o.d was merciful to us; and the tide almost miraculously fell no lower." They were spared, and on the weather clearing discovered that they were about the centre of the Welcome. The spot where they had been in such imminent danger was named appropriately the Bay of G.o.d"s Mercy.
In the middle of September, when off the mouth of the Wager River, a gale arose, and the sluggish _Griper_ made no progress, but "remained actually pitching forecastle under, with scarcely steerage way." The ship was brought up, and the anchors fortunately held. Thick-falling sleet covered the decks to some inches in depth, and withal the spray froze as it fell.
The night was pitchy dark; several streams of drift ice came driving down upon the ship. Lyon says that it was not possible to stand below decks, while on deck ropes had to be stretched from side to side for the men to hold by. Great seas washed over them every minute, and the temporary warmth this gave them was most painfully checked by the water immediately freezing on their clothes. At dawn on the 13th their best bower anchor parted, and later all the cables gave way. The ship was lying on her broadside. Nevertheless, each man stood to his station, and in the end seamanship triumphed; the crippled ship was brought safely to England. The cool, unflinching courage of the men and the undisturbed conduct of the officers were matters for highest praise. The royal navy could not be proud of the _Griper_, but could, most a.s.suredly, of the _Griper"s_ crew.