CHAPTER XIV.THE EXPEDITIONS IN SEARCH OF FRANKLIN.
Wednesday, the 21st of May, the _Forward_ resumed her perilous voyage,making her way dexterously through the packs and icebergs, thanks tosteam, which is seldom used by explorers in polar seas; she seemed tosport among the moving masses; one would have said she felt the handof a skilled master, and that, like a horse under a skilful rider, sheobeyed the thought of her captain.
The weather grew warmer. At six o'clock in the morning the thermometerstood at 26 degrees, at six in the evening at 29 degrees, and atmidnight at 25 degrees; the wind was light from the southeast.
Thursday, at about three o'clock in the morning, the _Forward_ arrivedin sight of Possession Bay, on the American shore, at the entrance ofLancaster Sound; soon Cape Burney came into sight. A few Esquimauxcame out to the ship; but Hatteras could not stop to speak with them.
The peaks of Byam Martin, which rise above Cape Liverpool, were passedon the left, and they soon disappeared in the evening mist; this hidfrom them Cape Hay, which has a very slight elevation, and so isfrequently confounded with ice about the shore, a circumstance whichvery often renders the determination of the coast-line in polarregions very difficult.
Puffins, ducks, and white gulls appeared in great numbers. Byobservation the latitude was 74 degrees 1 minute, and the longitude,according to the chronometer, 77 degrees 15 minutes.
The two mountains, Catherine and Elizabeth, raised their snowy headsabove the clouds.
At ten o'clock on Friday Cape Warrender was passed on the right sideof the sound, and on the left Admiralty Inlet, a bay which has neverbeen fully explored by navigators, who are always hastening westward.The sea ran rather high, and the waves often broke over the bows,covering the deck with small fragments of ice. The land on the northcoast presented a strange appearance with its high, flat table-landssparkling beneath the sun's rays.
Hatteras would have liked to skirt these northern lands, in order toreach the sooner Beechey Island and the entrance of WellingtonChannel; but, much to his chagrin, the bank-ice obliged him to takeonly the passes to the south.
Hence, on the 26th of May, in the midst of a fog and a snow-storm, the_Forward_ found herself off Cape York; a lofty, steep mountain wassoon recognized; the weather got a little clearer, and at midday thesun appeared long enough to permit an observation to be taken:latitude 74 degrees 4 minutes, and longitude 84 degrees 23 minutes.The _Forward_ was at the end of Lancaster Sound.
Hatteras showed the doctor on the chart the route he had taken andthat which he was to follow. At that time the position of the brig wasinteresting.
"I should have liked to be farther north," he said, "but it wasimpossible; see, here is our exact position."
The captain pointed to a spot near Cape York.
"We are in the middle of this open space, exposed to every wind; intoit open Lancaster Sound, Barrow Strait, Wellington Channel, andRegent's Inlet; here, of necessity, come all northern explorers."
"Well," answered the doctor, "so much the worse for them; it is indeedan open space, where four roads meet, and I don't see any sign-post topoint out the right way! What did Parry, Ross, and Franklin do?"
"They didn't do anything in particular; they let themselves begoverned by circumstances; they had no choice, I can assure you; atone time Barrow Strait would be closed against one, and the next yearit would be open for another; again the ship would be irresistiblydriven towards Regent's Inlet. In this way we have at last been ableto learn the geography of these confused seas."
"What a strange region!" said the doctor, gazing at the chart. "Howeverything is divided and cut up, without order or reason! It seems asif all the land near the Pole were divided in this way in order tomake the approach harder, while in the other hemisphere it ends insmooth, regular points, like Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, andthe Indian peninsula! Is it the greater rapidity at the equator whichhas thus modified things, while the land lying at the extremity, whichwas fluid at the beginning of the world, could not condense and uniteas elsewhere, on account of slower rotation?"
"That may be, for there is a reason for everything, and nothinghappens without a cause, which God sometimes lets students find out;so, Doctor, find it out if you can."
"I shall not waste too much time over it, Captain. But what is thisfierce wind?" added the doctor, wrapping himself up well.
"The north-wind is the common one, and delays our progress."
"Still it ought to blow the ice toward the south, and leave our wayfree."
"It ought to, Doctor, but the wind doesn't always do what it ought to.See, that ice looks impenetrable. We shall try to reach GriffithIsland, then to get around Cornwallis Island to reach Queen's Channel,without going through Wellington Channel. And yet I am anxious totouch at Beechey Island to get some more coal."
"How will you do that?" asked the astonished doctor.
"Easily; by order of the Admiralty, a great amount has been placed onthis island, to supply future expeditions, and although CaptainMacClintock took some in 1859, I can assure you there is still someleft for us."
"In fact, these regions have been explored for fifteen years, anduntil certain proof of Franklin's death was received, the Admiraltyalways kept five or six ships cruising in these waters. If I'm notmistaken, Griffith Island, which I see in the middle of the openspace, has become a general rendezvous for explorers."
"True, Doctor, and Franklin's ill-fated expedition has been the meansof our learning so much about these parts."
"Exactly; for there have been a great many expeditions since 1845. Itwas not till 1848 that there was any alarm about the continuednon-appearance of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, Franklin's two ships.Then the admiral's old friend, Dr. Richardson, seventy years of age,went through Canada, and descended Coppermine River to the Polar Sea;on the other side, James Ross, in command of the _Enterprise_ and the_Investigator_, sailed from Upernavik in 1848, and reached Cape York,where we are now. Every day he threw overboard a cask containingpapers telling where he was; during fogs he fired cannon; at night heburned signal-fires and sent off rockets, carrying always but littlesail; finally, he wintered at Leopold's Harbor in 1848-49; there hecaught a large number of white foxes; he had put on their necks coppercollars on which was engraved a statement of the position of the shipand where supplies had been left, and he drove them away in everydirection; then, in the spring, he explored the coast of NorthSomerset on sledges, amid dangers and privations which disabled nearlyall his men. He built cairns, enclosing copper cylinders withinstructions to the absent expedition; during his absence, LieutenantMacClure explored fruitlessly the northern coast of Barrow Strait. Itis noteworthy, Captain, that James Ross had among his officers two menwho afterwards became celebrated,--MacClure, who found the NorthwestPassage, and MacClintock, who found the last remains of the Franklinexpedition."
"He caught a large number of white foxes; he had put ontheir necks copper collars."]
"Two good and brave captains, two brave Englishmen; go on, Doctor,with this account which you know so well; there is always something tobe learned from the account of bold adventurers."
"Well, to conclude with James Ross, I have only to add that he triedto go farther west from Melville Island; but he nearly lost his ships,and being caught in the ice he was carried, against his will, toBaffin's Bay."
"Carried," said Hatteras, frowning,--"carried against his will!"
"He had discovered nothing," resumed the doctor; "it was only after1850 that English ships were always exploring there, when a reward oftwenty thousand pounds was offered to any one who should discover thecrews of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_. Already, in 1848, Captains Kelletand Moore, in command of the _Herald_ and the _Plover_, tried to maketheir way through by Behring Strait. I ought to say that the winter of1850-51, Captain Austin passed at Cornwallis Island; Captain Penny,with the _Assistance_ and _Resolute_, explored Wellington Channel; oldJohn Ross, who discovered the magnetic pole, started in his yacht, the_Felix_, in search of h
is friend; the brig _Prince Albert_ made herfirst voyage at the expense of Lady Franklin; and, finally, twoAmerican ships, sent out by Grinnell, under Captain Haven, carriedbeyond Wellington Channel, were cast into Lancaster Sound. It wasduring this year that MacClintock, Austin's lieutenant, pushed on toMelville Island and to Cape Dundas, the extreme points reached byParry in 1819, and on Beechey Island were found traces of Franklin'swintering there in 1845."
"Yes," answered Hatteras, "three of his sailors were buried there,three fortunate men!"
"From 1851 to 1852," continued the doctor, with a gesture ofagreement, "we find the _Prince Albert_ making a second attempt withthe French lieutenant, Bellot; he winters at Batty Bay in PrinceRegent's Sound, explores the southwest of Somerset, and reconnoitresthe coast as far as Cape Walker. Meanwhile, the _Enterprise_ and_Investigator_, having returned to England, came under the command ofCollinson and MacClure, and they rejoined Kellet and Moore at BehringStrait; while Collinson returned to winter at Hong-Kong, MacClure wenton, and after three winters, 1850-51, 1851-52, and 1852-53, hediscovered the Northwest Passage without finding any traces ofFranklin. From 1852 to 1853, a new expedition, consisting of threesailing-vessels, the _Assistance_, the _Resolute_, the _North Star_,and two steam-vessels, the _Pioneer_ and the _Intrepid_, started outunder the orders of Sir Edward Belcher, with Captain Kellet second incommand; Sir Edward visited Wellington Channel, wintered inNorthumberland Bay, and explored the coast, while Kellet, pushing onas far as Brideport on Melville Island, explored that region withoutsuccess. But then it was rumored in England that two ships, abandonedin the ice, had been seen not far from New Caledonia. At once LadyFranklin fitted out the little screw-steamer _Isabella_, and CaptainInglefield, after ascending Baffin's Bay to Victoria Point, at theeightieth parallel, returned to Beechey Island with equal unsuccess.At the beginning of 1855 the American Grinnell defrays the expense ofa new expedition, and Dr. Kane, trying to reach the Pole--"
"But he did not succeed," cried Hatteras with violence, "and thank Godhe did not! What he did not do, we shall!"
"I know it, Captain," answered the doctor, "and I only speak of it onaccount of its connection with the search for Franklin. Besides, itaccomplished nothing. I nearly forgot to say that the Admiralty,regarding Beechey Island as a general rendezvous, ordered the steamer_Phoenix_, Captain Inglefield, in 1853, to carry provisions there; hesailed with Lieutenant Bellot, who for the second, and last, timeoffered his services to England; we can get full details about thecatastrophe, for Johnson, our boatswain, was eye-witness of this sadaffair."
"Lieutenant Bellot was a brave Frenchman," said Hatteras, "and hismemory is honored in England."
"Then," resumed the doctor, "the ships of Belcher's squadron began toreturn one by one; not all, for Sir Edward had to abandon the_Assistance_ in 1854, as McClure had the _Investigator_ in 1853.Meanwhile Dr. Rae, in a letter dated July 29, 1854, written fromRepulse Bay, gave information that the Esquimaux of King William'sLand had in their possession different objects belonging to the_Erebus_ and _Terror_; then there was no doubt possible about the fateof the expedition; the _Phoenix_, the _North Star_, and the ship ofCollinson returned to England; there was then no English ship in thesewaters. But if the government seemed to have lost all hope, LadyFranklin did not despair, and with what was left of her fortune shefitted out the _Fox_, commanded by MacClintock; he set sail in 1857,wintered about where you made yourself known to us, Captain; he cameto Beechey Island, August 11, 1858; the next winter he passed atBellot Sound; in February, 1859, he began his explorations anew; onthe 6th of May he found the document which left no further doubt as tothe fate of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, and returned to England at theend of the same year. That is a complete account of all that has beendone in these regions during the last fifteen years; and since thereturn of the _Fox_, no ship has ventured among these dangerouswaters!"
"Well, we shall try it!" said Hatteras.