Part 12 (1/2)
In consequence of the excessive roughness of the ice, no other boat could have been got across. ”By these means a large party were relieved, who were without tents, clothing, fuel, provisions, or in any way provided to withstand the severities of a Polar night, with the thermometer eight degrees _minus_.” We take the opportunity of advising that all vessels should be provided with one or more of these admirable contrivances. They may be of any size, from that in which one man alone can sit, to one capable of carrying fifty people. One might always be kept on deck, which could be launched in a moment should a man fall overboard. By this means numberless lives might be saved.
Captain McClure, feeling a.s.sured that the s.h.i.+p was immovably fixed for the winter, started with a sledge party on the 21st, to proceed to the north-east, in the hopes of discovering Barrow's Straits; and, after travelling for upwards of seventy miles, they had the intense gratification, on the 26th of October, of pitching their tents on its sh.o.r.es. The next morning, before sunrise, he and Mr Court ascended a hill, 600 feet in height, whence they could command a view of forty or fifty miles over the Straits, though the opposite sh.o.r.e of Melville Island could not be discerned. They found, however, by their observations, that Sir Edward Parry had very correctly marked the loom of the land on which they stood; and that thus the long-vexed question was solved, and that, whatever others might have done, or might be doing, they had, at all events, found a watery way from the Pacific to the Atlantic Oceans.
They reached the s.h.i.+p again on the 31st, narrowly escaping destruction in a fog, when Captain McClure had to wander about during a whole night on a floe, with the thermometer from five to fifteen degrees below zero.
And now the first winter of the _Investigator_ was commenced in those ice-bound regions. By the middle of April, expeditions were sent out in all directions, and depots of provisions established for the relief of the long-lost companions of Sir John Franklin.
Both sides of the Prince of Wales' Straits were thoroughly explored, as was Baring Island and Prince Albert's Land as far as its southern sh.o.r.e, known as Wollaston Land,--a continuous coast-line being thus laid down along the whole southern sh.o.r.e of Barrow's Straits, and that of the north sh.o.r.e of the American continent, united with the discoveries of previous explorers. This, it will be remembered, was the winter of 1850-51.
When the short summer once more returned, Captain McClure made every endeavour to get the s.h.i.+p to the north-east, through the Prince of Wales' Straits into Barrow's Straits, but in vain. So closely was the ice packed at the north-east end, that, after running great hazard of s.h.i.+pwreck, he was compelled to give up the attempt on the 16th of July, when only twenty-five miles distant from Barrow's Straits, and bearing up, he ran to the south and west round Baring Island. The voyage off the west coast of that large island was full of danger, the s.h.i.+p frequently narrowly escaping being cast away, till at length, with a fair breeze, she entered Banks' Straits, which, leading into Melville Sound, may be looked upon as the western end of Barrow's Straits. They were but some eighty miles distant from Barrow's Straits, with every prospect of gaining them, and being able the following season to return home, when a heavy barrier of ice rose before them to intercept their progress. Backward they were driven into a deep bay, to which the name of the Bay of Mercy was given, as an acknowledgment of the merciful way in which they had been preserved from so many dangers. They had actually been only five days under weigh after leaving their winter quarters in Prince of Wales' Straits.
As in the previous season, their time was fully occupied in making exploring expeditions in all directions, and in shooting excursions.
With the exception of about three weeks in January, when it was too dark to shoot, enough game was killed to enable them to enjoy a meal of fresh meat three days in the fortnight.
On the 11th of April, Captain McClure, with Mr Court, second master, and a sledge party, started to cross the ice on sledges, to visit Winter Harbour, in Melville Island. Soon after leaving the s.h.i.+p a thick fog came on, and continued for several days, so that their destination was not reached till the 28th.
We must picture to ourselves the sort of work these brave men had to go through, to do full justice to their perseverance and courage,--day after day travelling on, dragging their sledges across the frozen strait, often in the face of biting winds, encamping night after night with simply a tent to shelter them and a spirit-lamp only with which to cook their food or to afford them warmth. Yet thus, during that eventful period in the history of Arctic discovery, were many hundred British seamen employed in different portions of the icy ocean, all n.o.bly engaged in the search for their lost countrymen and brother sailors. Not only for month after month, but year after year,--the only interruption being the dark, long night of mid-winter, and the brief period of summer navigation,--when, amid icebergs and ice-fields, whirled here and there, tossed by storms, and urged impetuously on by currents, they forced their way onward, in the hope of gaining the open ocean in another hemisphere.
At Winter Harbour Captain McClure found a large fragment of sandstone, with this inscription--”His Britannic Majesty's s.h.i.+ps _Hecla_ and _Griper_, Commanders Parry and Lyddon, wintered in the adjacent harbour during the winter of 1819-20. _A. Fisher, sculpsit_.” Lieutenant McClintock had left a notice of his visit on the previous year on the same fragment, and protected it by a large cairn. In this cairn Captain McClure now deposited his own despatches, giving a plan of the way he intended to proceed under the various circ.u.mstances which might occur.
One portion especially is worthy of notice.
After stating his intention of visiting Port Leopold, in Barrow's Straits, and of leaving there information of the route he purposed to pursue, he says: ”Should no intimation be found of our having been there, it may be at once surmised that some fatal catastrophe has happened, either from being carried into the Polar Sea, or smashed in Barrow's Straits, and no survivors left. If such should be the case, it will then be quite unnecessary to penetrate farther to the westward to our relief, as, by the period that any vessel could reach that port, we must, from want of provisions, all have perished; in such case I would submit that the officer may be directed to return, and by no means incur the danger of losing other lives in quest of those who will then be no more.” Admirable indeed is the calm courage with which he contemplated that fearful contingency which we now know too well overtook the expedition of which he was in quest, and his generous anxiety that no more valuable lives should be sacrificed in searching for him.
Accomplis.h.i.+ng in ten days what occupied eighteen upon the outward trip, the party reached the s.h.i.+p on the 9th of May. Summer was approaching.
Some deer and musk oxen were shot. By the 10th of August the frozen-up mariners began to entertain the joyful hopes of being liberated. Lanes of water were observed to seaward, and along the cliffs of Banks' Land there was a clear s.p.a.ce of six miles in width extending along them as far as the eye could reach; and on the 12th the wind, which had been for some time from the northward, veered to the south, which had the effect of separating the ice from that of the bay entirely across the entrance.
Every moment they were in expectation of their release, and then a few days' sail would carry them into Barrow's Straits, and perhaps into Baffin's Bay itself. Shortly, however, the wind changed to the northward, the ice again closed: in vain they waited for it to open.
On the 20th the temperature fell to 27 degrees, and the entire bay was frozen over. The ice never again opened, and the usual preparations were made for pa.s.sing a third winter in those Arctic seas. It is wonderful to observe how officers and men kept up their spirits, and how cheerfully they bore their trials and privations. They had for a year been placed on two-thirds allowance of provisions; the consumption was still further decreased, to enable them to exist another eighteen months. The winter was severe, but pa.s.sed away without sickness; and now Captain McClure informed his crew that it was his purpose to send a portion home in a boat by Baffin's Bay. The intended travellers were put on full allowance, and all preparations were made for their starting on the 15th of April.
One day towards the end of March, Captain McClure and his first lieutenant were taking their daily exercise on the floe near the s.h.i.+p, when they saw running towards them a person whom they supposed to be one of their own men chased by a bear. They hurried on, when, to their surprise, they discovered that he was a stranger, his face so blackened by the smoke from the oil-lamp that his features could not be recognised. ”Who are you? Where are you come from?”
”Lieutenant Pim--_Herald_--Captain Kellet,” was the answer. Wonderful indeed it seemed; for Lieutenant Pim was the last person with whom the captain of the _Investigator_ had shaken hands in Behring's Straits. It was some time before Lieutenant Pim could find words to express himself, when he announced that he was ahead of his party, who had crossed from the winter quarters of the _Resolute_ in Bridport Inlet, Melville Island. Captain McClure then set out with a party of officers and men to visit the _Resolute_, which s.h.i.+p was reached on the 19th of April 1853, after traversing a distance of 170 miles.
Great was the satisfaction of the two gallant captains at thus again meeting. It was finally resolved that a portion of the crews of both s.h.i.+ps should be sent home, while the remainder should stay in the hopes of extricating them during the coming summer. As, however, many of the _Investigator's_ crew were suffering from scurvy, only a small number were able to continue the journey westward, under command of Lieutenant Cresswell and Lieutenant Wynniett.
On the 2nd of June they arrived on board the _North Star_, Captain Pullen, at Beechey Island. The distance was 300 miles, and it had taken them four weeks to perform the journey.
On the 8th of August the _Phoenix_ screw-steamer, Captain Inglefield, arrived. At that time Captain Pullen had been away a month up Wellington Channel, to communicate with Sir Edward Belcher. By the time he returned, the season had so much advanced, that it was decided to send back the _Phoenix_ with Lieutenant Cresswell and his party. On the 4th of October they landed at Thurso, and on the 7th of October arrived at the Admiralty, with the announcement of the safety of the _Investigator_, and the tidings that the geographical question of the existence of the long-sought-for North-West Pa.s.sage had been satisfactorily solved.
We must now turn briefly to narrate the fate of the numerous exploring vessels left in the Arctic regions at the setting in of the winter of 1853-54.
Before we do so, we must, however, give a brief account of the progress made by the persevering and brave Captain Collinson.
When, in 1850, Captain McClure succeeded in reaching the ice through Behring's Straits, the _Enterprise_, from having been somewhat longer on her voyage, was not so fortunate, and was compelled to winter in Port Clarence. Hence the _Enterprise_ again sailed on the 10th of July 1851, to push her way eastward along the American coast, visiting the islands which form the northern sh.o.r.e of the channel. Here he found several depots and marks left by Captain McClure in the spring or in the previous autumn. The _Enterprise_ finally was frozen in, in a sheltered harbour in Prince Albert's Land, near the entrance of Prince of Wales'
Straits.
Several long and hazardous expeditions were performed on foot with sledges during the spring of 1852, both north and east, being out between forty and fifty days. Again putting to sea, the _Enterprise_ pa.s.sed through Dolphin and Union Straits and Dean's Straits eastward.
By the 26th of September the _Enterprise_ reached Cambridge Bay, when she was again frozen in, to pa.s.s her third winter in the ice--one of the most severe ever experienced in those regions. During the next spring, that of 1853, Captain Collinson, with his Lieutenants Jago, Parkes, and other officers, were employed in pus.h.i.+ng on their laborious explorations in the direction where they hoped some traces of their long-lost countrymen might be found. In lat.i.tude 70 degrees 3 minutes north and longitude 101 degrees west they fell in with a cairn erected by Dr Rae, from which they obtained the first intimation that any parties had preceded them in the search, and their observations tended to corroborate his, namely, that the ice, _except in extraordinary seasons, does not leave the east coast of Victoria Land_.