CHAPTER XX.BEECHEY ISLAND.
June 25th the _Forward_ sighted Cape Dundas, at the northwestextremity of Prince of Wales Land. There they found more seriousdifficulties amid thicker ice. The channel here grows narrower, andthe line of Crozier, Young, Day, and Lowther Islands ranged in a line,like forts in a harbor, drive the ice-streams nearer together. Whatwould otherwise have taken the brig a day now detained her from June25th to the end of the month; she was continually obliged to stop, toretreat, and to wait for a favorable chance to reach Beechey Island.Meanwhile a great deal of coal was consumed; though during thefrequent halts only small fires were kept burning, sufficient to keepsteam up day and night.
Hatteras knew as well as Shandon the reduced state of their supply;but feeling sure that he would find fuel at Beechey Island, he did notwish to lose a minute for the sake of economy; he had been very muchdelayed by running south; and, although he had taken the precaution ofleaving England in April, he now found himself no farther advancedthan previous expeditions had been at that time of year.
The 30th they passed Cape Walker at the northeast extremity of Princeof Wales Land; this is the farthest point seen by Kennedy and Bellot,May 3d, 1852, after an expedition across North Somerset. In 1851,Captain Ommaney of the Austin expedition had been fortunate enough toget fresh supplies there for his detachment.
This cape, which is very lofty, is remarkable for its reddish-browncolor; in clear weather one can see as far as the entrance ofWellington Channel. Towards evening they saw Cape Bellot, separatedfrom Cape Walker by MacLeon's Bay. Cape Bellot was so named inpresence of that young French officer to whom the English expeditiongave three cheers. At this place the coast consists of a yellowishlimestone, very rough in appearance; it is protected by huge masses ofice which the north-wind collects there in the most imposing way. Itwas soon no longer to be seen from the _Forward's_ deck, as she wasmaking her way amid the loose ice towards Beechey Island throughBarrow Strait.
Hatteras, having resolved to go on in a straight line, in order not tobe carried past the island, hardly left the deck during the subsequentdays; he would go aloft to the cross-trees in order to pick out themost favorable path for the brig. All that skill, coolness, boldness,and even maritime genius could do, was done by him while sailingthrough the strait. It is true that fortune did not favor him, for atthat season he ought to have found the sea nearly open. But by dint ofsparing neither steam, his men, nor himself, he succeeded in his aim.
July 3d, at eleven o'clock in the morning, the ice-master saw land tothe north; Hatteras soon made it out as Beechey Island, the generalrendezvous for arctic explorers. Almost all the ships which sail inthese latitudes touch here. Here Franklin passed his first winterbefore advancing into Wellington Channel. Here Creswell, MacClure'slieutenant, after a march of four hundred and sixty miles on the ice,rejoined the _Phoenix_ and returned to England. The last ship whichanchored at Beechey Island before the _Forward_ was the _Fox_;MacClintock took in supplies there, August 11, 1855, and repaired thedwellings and storehouses; that was but a short time previous.Hatteras knew all these details.
The boatswain's heart beat strongly at the sight of this island; whenhe had last seen it he had been quartermaster on the _Phoenix_;Hatteras asked him about the coast, the place for anchoring, thepossible change of the bottom. The weather was perfect; thethermometer marked 57 degrees.
"Well, Johnson," said the captain, "do you recognize this place?"
"Yes, Captain, it's Beechey Island! Only we ought to bear a littlefarther north; the coast is more easily approached there."
"But the buildings, the stores?" said Hatteras.
"O, you can't see them till you get ashore; they are hidden behindthose hillocks you see there!"
"And did you carry large supplies there?"
"Yes, they were large. The Admiralty sent us here in 1853, under thecommand of Captain Inglefield, with the steamer _Phoenix_ and atransport, the _Breadalbane_, loaded with supplies; we carried enoughto revictual a whole expedition."
"But did not the commander of the _Fox_ take a great deal away in1855?" said Hatteras.
"O, don't be anxious, Captain!" answered Johnson; "there will beenough left for you; the cold keeps everything wonderfully, and weshall find everything as fresh and in as good condition as on thefirst day."
"I'm not so anxious about the provisions," answered Hatteras; "I haveenough for several years; what I stand in need of is coal."
"Well, Captain, we left more than a thousand tons there; so you canfeel easy about that."
"Let us stand nearer," resumed Hatteras, who, glass in hand, keptexamining the shore.
"You see that point," said Johnson; "when we've doubled it, we shallbe near our anchorage. Yes, it's from there we started for Englandwith Lieutenant Creswell and twelve sick men of the _Investigator_.But if we were fortunate enough to be of service to Captain MacClure'slieutenant, Bellot, the officer who accompanied us on the _Phoenix_,never saw his home again! Ah, that's a sad memory! But, Captain, Ithink it's here we ought to anchor."
"Very well," answered Hatteras.
And he gave the proper orders. The _Forward_ lay in a little harborsheltered from the north, east, and south winds, about a cable-lengthfrom the shore.
"Mr. Wall," said Hatteras, "you will lower the launch and send six mento bring coal aboard."
"Yes, sir," answered Wall.
"I am going ashore in the gig with the doctor and the boatswain; Mr.Shandon, will you go with us?"
"At your orders," answered Shandon.
A few minutes later the doctor, with gun and baskets for any specimenshe might find, took his place in the gig with his companions; tenminutes later they stepped out on a low, rocky shore.
"Lead the way, Johnson," said Hatteras; "do you remember it?"
"Perfectly, Captain; only here is a monument which I did not expect tofind here."
"That," shouted the doctor, "I know what it is; let's go look at it;it will tell us of itself why it was put here."
The four men went up to it, and the doctor, baring his head, said,--
"This, my friends, is a monument raised to the memory of Franklin andhis companions."
In fact, Lady Franklin having, in 1855, sent a tablet of black marbleto Dr. Kane, gave another in 1858 to MacClintock to be placed onBeechey Island. MacClintock discharged his duty, and placed thistablet near a funeral pile raised to the memory of Bellot by Sir JohnBarrow.
This tablet bore the following inscription:--
TO THE MEMORY OF FRANKLIN, CROZIER, FITZ-JAMES, AND ALL THEIR GALLANT BROTHER OFFICERS AND FAITHFUL COMPANIONS Who have suffered and perished in the cause of science and the service of their country. THIS TABLET Is erected near the spot where they passed their first arctic Winter, and whence they issued forth to conquer difficulties or TO DIE. It commemorates the grief of their Admiring Countrymen and Friends, and the anguish, subdued by Faith, of her who has lost, in the heroic Leader of the Expedition, the Most Devoted and Affectionate of Husbands.
"_And so he bringeth them unto the Haven where they would be._" 1855.
This stone, on a lonely shore of these remote regions, touched everyone's heart; the doctor felt the tears rising in his eyes. On the veryspot whence Franklin and his men sailed, full of hope and strength,there was now merely a slab of marble to commemorate them; and inspite of this solemn warning of fate, the _Forward_ was about tofollow the path of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_.
Hatteras was the first to rouse himself; he ascended quickly a ratherhigh hillock, which was almost entirely bare of snow.
"Captain," said Johnson, following him, "from there we ought to seethe stores."
Shandon and the doctor joined them just as they reached the top of thehill.
But their eyes saw nothing but large pla
ins with no trace of abuilding.
"This is very strange," said the boatswain.
"Well, these stores?" said Hatteras, quickly.
"I don't know,--I don't see--" stammered Johnson.
"You must have mistaken the path," said the doctor.
"Still it seems to me," resumed Johnson after a moment's reflection,"that at this very spot--"
"Well," said Hatteras, impatiently, "where shall we go?"
"Let's go down again," said the boatswain, "for it's possible I'velost my way! In seven years I may have forgotten the place."
"Especially," said the doctor, "when the country is so monotonous."
"And yet--" muttered Johnson.
Shandon said not a word. After walking a few minutes, Johnson stopped.
"No," he said, "I'm not mistaken."
"Well," said Hatteras, looking around.
"What makes you say so, Johnson?" asked the doctor.
"Do you see this little rise in the earth?" asked the boatswain,pointing downwards to a mound in which three elevations could beclearly seen.
"What does that mean?" asked the doctor.
"There," answered Johnson, "are the three tombs of Franklin's sailors.I'm sure of it! I'm not mistaken, and the stores must be within ahundred paces of us, and if they're not there,--it's because--"
He durst not finish his sentence; Hatteras ran forward, and terribledespair seized him. There ought to stand those much-neededstorehouses, with supplies of all sorts on which he had been counting;but ruin, pillage, and destruction had passed over that place wherecivilized hands had accumulated resources for battered sailors. Whohad committed these depredations? Wild animals, wolves, foxes, bears?No, for they would have destroyed only the provisions; and there wasleft no shred of a tent, not a piece of wood, not a scrap of iron, nobit of any metal, nor--what was more serious for the men of the_Forward_--a single lump of coal.
Evidently the Esquimaux, who have often had much to do with Europeanships, had finally learned the value of these objects; since the visitof the _Fox_ they had come frequently to this great storehouse, andhad pillaged incessantly, with the intention of leaving no trace ofwhat had been there; and now a long drift of half-melted snow coveredthe ground.
Hatteras was baffled. The doctor gazed and shook his head. Shandonsaid nothing, but an attentive observer would have noticed a wickedsmile about his lips.
At this moment the men sent by Wall arrived. They took it all in at aglance. Shandon went up to the captain and said,--
"Mr. Hatteras, we need not despair; fortunately we are near theentrance to Barrow Strait, which will carry us back to Baffin's Bay."
"Mr. Shandon," answered Hatteras, "we are fortunately near theentrance of Wellington Channel, and it will lead us to the north."
"And how shall we go, Captain?"
"Under sail, sir. We have two months' fuel left, and that is more thanwe shall need for next winter."
"Permit me to say," began Shandon.
"I permit you to follow me to the ship, sir," was Hatteras's answer.
And turning his back on his first officer, he returned to the brig andlocked himself in his cabin.
For two days the wind was unfavorable; the captain did not come ondeck. The doctor profited by this forced delay to examine BeecheyIsland; he collected a few plants which a comparatively hightemperature let grow here and there on some rocks which projected fromthe snow, such as heather, a few lichens, a sort of yellow ranunculus,a plant like sorrel with leaves a trifle larger, and some sturdysaxifrages.
The fauna of this country was much richer; the doctor saw large flocksof geese and cranes flying northward; partridges, eider-ducks,northern divers, numerous ptarmigans, which are delicious eating,noisy flocks of kittiwakes, and great white-bellied loons representedthe winged tribe. The doctor was lucky enough to kill some gray hares,which had not yet put on their white winter coat of fur, and a bluefox, which Duke skilfully caught. A few bears, evidently accustomed tofear men, could not be approached, and the seals were very timid,probably for the same reason. The harbor was full of a very goodtasting shellfish. The genus _articulata_, order _diptera_, family_culicides_, division _nemocera_, was represented by a simplemosquito, a single one, which the doctor, though much bitten, had thepleasure of catching. As a conchologist, he was less fortunate, and hewas obliged to content himself with a sort of mussel and somebivalves.