Chapter IV (2)

‘—(1)848. H.M. ships _Terror_ and _Erebus_ were deserted on the
22nd April, 5 leagues NN. W. of this—(hav)ing been beset since
12th Sept., 1846. The officers & crews consisting of 105 souls
under the command ——tain F R M. Crozier landed here in lat.
69° 37´ 42´´, long. 98° 41´—paper was found by Lt. Irving under
the cairn supposed to have been built by Sir James Ross in 1831,
4 miles to the northward, where it had been deposited by the
late Commander Gore in June, 1847. Sir James Ross’ pillar has
not, however, been found, and the paper has been transferred to
this position which is that in which Sir J. Ross’ pillar was
erected. Sir John Franklin died on the 11th June, 1847, and the
total loss by deaths in the expedition has been to this date 9
officers & 15 men. F. R. M. Crozier, Captain & Senior Offr., and
start on to-morrow 26th, for Back’s Fish river. James Fitzjames,
Captain H.M.S. _Erebus_.’

The rest of the sad story may be shortly told: the distance to the mouth of the Fish river, from the spot where the ships were abandoned, is about 250 miles. They started from the ships dragging heavy boats on sleds. M’Clintock found one of the boats on the west side of King William island with two skeletons inside it; and the Eskimos told him that the men dropped down and died in the drag ropes. The Eskimos living at the mouth of Fish river said that about forty white men reached the mouth of the river, and dragged a boat as far as Montreal island in the estuary, where the natives found it and broke it up. The last of the survivors died shortly after the arrival of the summer birds. It is exceedingly doubtful, if their strength had lasted, whether they could have travelled over the thousand miles of barrens separating the month of the river from the nearest trading post on Great Slave lake, but at least a trial would have been made.

It is impossible to give in this report more than a mention of the numerous searching expeditions, and a brief summary of the geographical work accomplished by them.

1847-50—Sir John Richardson and Dr. Rae, overland, and along the coast in boats from the mouth of the Mackenzie to that of the Coppermine.

1848-50—Captain Thomas Moore, of H.M.S. _Plover_, and Captain Henry Kellett, of H.M.S. _Herald_, and Robert Shedden, in yacht _Nancy Dawson_, to Bering sea.

1848-49—Captain Sir James Clark Ross, of H.M.S. _Enterprise_, and Captain E. J. Bird, of H.M.S. _Investigator_, to Lancaster sound.

1849-50—James Saunders, Master of H.M.S. _North Star_, to Wolstenholme sound and Ponds inlet.

1849—Dr. R. A. Goodsir, in the _Advice_, whaler, to Baffin bay.

1849—Lieutenant W. J. S. Pullen, of H.M.S. _Herald_, boat voyage from Bering strait to the Mackenzie.

1850-51—Lieutenant De Haven, of United States navy, in the _Advance_; S. P. Griffin, of the United States navy, in the _Rescue_; Captain Horatio Austin, of H.M.S. _Resolute_; Captain Ommaney, of H.M.S. _Assistance_; William Penny, Master of the _Lady Franklin_, under Admiralty orders; Alexander Stewart, Master of the _Sophia_, under Admiralty orders; Rear-Admiral Sir John Ross, in the _Felix_ yacht, fitted at the expense of the Hudson’s Bay Company, all to Lancaster sound.

1850—Captain C. C. Forsyth, R.N., commanding the _Prince Albert_, belonging to Lady Franklin, to Regent inlet.

1850-54—Commander Robert M’Clure, of H.M.S. _Investigator_, to Bering strait, Banks island and Lancaster sound. The crew abandoned the ship, and by walking over the ice to Beechey island made the northern northwest passage.

1850-55—Captain Richard Collison, C.B., of H.M.S. _Enterprise_, to Bering strait, Banks island, and along the continental channel to Cambridge bay, in Victoria island, near King William island.

1851—Dr. John Rae, employed by the Admiralty, descended the Coppermine, and traced Victoria island up to the parallel of the north end of King William island, in Victoria strait.

1851-52—William Kennedy, Master of the _Prince Albert_, belonging to Lady Franklin, to Regent inlet, Bellot strait and Prince of Wales island.

1852—Captain Charles Frederick, of H.M.S. _Amphitrite_, to Bering strait.

1852—Captain Edward A. Inglefield, in the _Isabel_, Lady Franklin’s vessel, to Lancaster sound.

1852-55—Captain Rochfort Maguire, of H.M.S. _Plover_, to Bering strait.

1852—Dr. R. M’Cormick, a boat excursion to Wellington channel.

1852-54—Captain Sir Edward Belcher, C.B., of H.M.S. _Assistance_, to Wellington channel.

1852-54—Captain Henry Kellett, C.B., of H.M.S. _Resolute_, to Lancaster sound, Melville and Banks islands.

1852-54—Lieutenant Sherard Osborn, of H.M.S. _Pioneer_, to Wellington channel.

1852-54—Captain Francis Leopold M’Clintock, of H.M.S. _Intrepid_, to Lancaster sound and Prince Arthur island.

1852-54—Captain W. S. J. Pullen, of H.M.S. _North Star_, to Beechey island.

1853—William H. Fawckner, Master, _Breadalbane_ Transport, Beechey island; crushed in the ice and foundered.

1853—Captain E. A. Inglefield, of H.M.S. _Phœnix_, and Lieutenant Elliott, of the store ship _Diligence_, to Beechey island.

1853—Dr. John Rae, under Admiralty orders, by sled to Victoria island, and by boat voyage to Victoria strait.

1854—Captain E. A. Inglefield, of H.M.S. _Phœnix_, and Commander Jenkins, of H.M.S. _Talbot_, to Beechey island.

1853-54—Dr. John Rae, boat expedition at the expense of the Hudson’s Bay Company, to Repulse bay, and the east side of King William island, bringing the first intelligence of the loss of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, and of all their crews.

1853-55—Dr. Elisha Kent Kane, of the United States navy, to Smith sound, Humboldt glacier and Grinnell land.

1855—Chief factor John Anderson, of the Hudson’s Bay Company, canoe voyage down the Great Fish river to Montreal island and Point Ogle, procuring further relics of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_.

1857-59—Captain F. L. M’Clintock, R.N., in the _Fox_, Lady Franklin’s yacht, to Peel sound, Regent inlet, Bellot strait, King William island and Montreal island, bringing precise intelligence of the fate of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, and a short record of their proceedings.

The above list is taken from ‘The Polar Regions,’ by Sir John Richardson, and gives a very brief statement of the numerous expeditions sent out in search of these ill-fated ships. Lengthy records of most of these expeditions have been published, in which the trials and hardships undergone are recorded in a matter-of-fact way, without any attempt to excite sympathy, and all honour should be paid to the memory of these men, many of them volunteers, for the dangers they passed through in the endeavour to rescue their fellowmen from terrible death by starvation and cold in the inaccessible Arctics. Many lost their own lives, while others drifted all winter in ships crushed between great floes of arctic ice; others, again, travelled through the northern winter, with its short days and intensely cold nights, with only a fireless tent to shield them from death in the howling storms which sweep the treeless regions; all did their duty, and were faithful unto death.

A summary made shortly after the search ended, gives the length of coast-line examined by the various searching parties as follows: Sir James Ross, in 1849, explored 990 miles of coast-line on the eastern side of Peel strait, in Lancaster sound and in Regent inlet; Captain Austen traced 6,087 miles; Sir Edward Belcher and Captain Kellett, 9,432 miles; Sir Robert M’Clure, 2,350 miles; Captain Collison in his voyage to Cambridge bay, and Dr. Rae on the same coasts, 1,030 miles, making in all, 21,500 miles of coast-line examined, of which 5,780 miles were previously unknown. From this summary the search of the American expeditions is omitted, as well as those of Lady Franklin’s private expeditions, all of which would add greatly to the total. Admiral Sir F. L. M’Clintock has estimated the amount of money expended by the British government on Arctic research, including the outfitting of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, at £272,000, and on the relief and search expeditions, £675,000; to this must be added the money subscribed for private expeditions, amounting to £35,000. The expeditions fitted out in the United States, mostly by private subscriptions, cost over $250,000. Admiral M’Clintock has further estimated that the number of miles traversed by sled expeditions only, over ice and land, is about 43,000 miles. His views as regards the economic and scientific value of the Arctic explorations are as follows:

‘The benefits, doubtless, have been very great; to whaling
commerce it has opened up all to the north and west of Davis
strait and Hudson strait; also to the north of Bering strait.
The value of these fisheries alone amounts to very many millions
sterling into the pockets of English and American traders. The
scientific results are very varied, and ample in almost every
department, and peculiarly so in magnetism, meteorology, the
tides, geographical discoveries, geology, botany and zoology, as
shown by the general advance in each branch. Upon naval impulse
the influence has been truly great; we could man an expedition
with English naval officers.’

The exploration of Smith sound, the northern inlet to Baffin bay, was commenced during the search for Franklin. In 1852, Captain Inglefield left England, in the screw schooner _Isabel_, with the intention of searching the deep northern inlets of Baffin bay for traces of Franklin, and with the hope of reaching the open Polar sea through Smith sound. Cape Farewell was sighted on the 30th of July, and Cape York on the 21st of August where a number of natives were seen in the vicinity. At North Omenak native caches of meat and winter clothing were found. On the 26th Cape Alexander, the farthest point seen by Baffin, was passed, with an open sea to the northward. On the 27th he reached latitude 78° 21´ N. one hundred and forty miles beyond any previous navigator. He was forced by a strong northerly gale and low temperature to retreat south, and on his way entered Jones sound, which he explored to latitude 76° 11´ N. and longitude 84° 10´ W. He then entered Lancaster sound, and visited Beechey island, after which, turning homeward, he did not cross the Arctic circle until the 12th of October.

In 1853, Dr. Elisha Kent Kane left New York in the brig _Advance_, fitted out by Henry Grinnell and George Peabody, to assist in the search for Franklin. The _Advance_ entered Smith sound on the 7th of August, and, after considerable danger and trouble with ice, was moored in Rensselaer bay, from which she never emerged. This wintering place was about 120 miles north of any previously attained, being in latitude 78° 38´ and longitude 70° 40´. Kane confined his explorations to the Greenland side of the sound, and personally reached the southern edge of the great Humboldt glacier, while Dr. Hayes, surgeon to Kane, crossed Kane basin to the neighbourhood of Cape Fraser, and William Morton, on the Greenland coast, passed the Humboldt glacier and attained latitude 80° 35´ in the vicinity of Cape Constitution, where from an elevation of 500 feet he saw open water in Kennedy channel extending to the north as far as the eye could reach. In July, 1854, the ice being still firm, Kane attempted to reach Beechey island, where he knew that assistance could be obtained, but had to return before reaching Cape Parry. At the end of August, Hayes and eight others of the crew left the ship with the intention of reaching the Danish settlement of Upernivik; they returned in December, nearly dead of starvation and cold. The vessel was formally abandoned on the 20th of May following, and on the 17th of June the boats were launched in open water near Cape Alexander. Cape York was doubled on the 21st of July, and the greatly reduced party reached Upernivik on the 6th of August.

Dr. I. I. Hayes was the next to attempt to reach the supposed open sea, by way of Smith sound. He left Boston, in the schooner _United States_, on the 7th of July, 1860, and on the 12th of August reached Upernivik, where he added six natives to his crew, bringing the total number up to twenty-one. Meeting with a succession of northerly gales off Cape Alexander, Hayes was obliged to winter south of Littleton island, in Foulke fiord, in latitude 78° 18´ N. He first tried to explore the Greenland coast, but was obliged to abandon the attempt on account of the very rough ice. He then determined to cross Kane basin and follow the west coast northward. Thirty-eight days were occupied in crossing the seventy miles between the ship and Cape Hawkes, after which he claims that six days’ travel brought him to Cape Lieber, situated 170 miles beyond Cape Hawkes; this is evidently a mistake. The ship was released on the 10th of July, and the passage north being barred by solid ice, Hayes crossed to the west side, and explored the coast southward from Cape Sabine to Cape Isabella before returning home. He was thus making good the claim of being the first white man to tread the shores of Ellesmere island.

The next expedition to Smith sound was commanded by Charles F. Hall, in the _Polaris_. Hall had previously spent two years among the natives at Frobisher bay, the charting of which is due to his efforts. On his return from this first trip he went, in a whaler, to Roes Welcome, where he again lived with and like the natives, in an attempt to recover the logs and other records of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_. He remained in the country for four winters before he succeeded in reaching the southern shores of King William island; he was unsuccessful in his quest. Hall throughout his journeys kept a voluminous journal; he took meteorological observations and observations for his position. His instruments appear to have been not of the best, and Hall seems to have had a great faith in the statements of the natives, a faith that was often abused; in consequence, much of his information from that source is quite unreliable.

To return to the _Polaris_ expedition, fitted out by the United States government, with the object of reaching the North Pole. She left New York on the 29th of June, 1871, with a crew of twenty-three, which was increased by ten Greenlanders. Melville bay was crossed in thirty-four hours, and Smith sound being free of ice, an almost uninterrupted passage was made through Kane basin and Kennedy channel, so that the Polar ocean was reached on the 31st of August in latitude 82° 11´, to the northwest of Repulse harbour, where heavy, ancient, arctic ice stopped further progress. Returning southward, the _Polaris_ went into winter quarters at Thank God harbour. Hall, in October, reached Cape Brevoort, but died suddenly shortly after his return, and this calamity put a stop to further efforts to reach the Pole. Some explorations were made in the early spring before it was decided to return home. On the way south the ship was caught in the ice in Kennedy channel, on the 14th of August, and remained fast in the pack until the 15th of October, when a furious gale broke up the pack, in sight of Northumberland island, after nearly destroying her in the process of disruption. When this occurred several of the party who were on the ice landing stores were left, and drifted southward 1,500 miles on the ice, being rescued by the _Tigress_, off the coast of Labrador, on the 30th of April, 1872. The vessel was beached at Life Boat cove, and the remainder of the crew passed the winter in safety in a house built from the wreck. During the winter two boats were built, in which the party started to retreat on Upernivik, but were fortunately rescued by a relief steamer in the vicinity of Cape York.

The British Government, in 1875, fitted out an expedition with Captain George Nares in command of the _Alert_, and Captain Stephenson, second in command, on the _Discovery_, while the complete crews numbered one hundred and thirty officers and men, with three native dog-drivers. The instructions, which were to proceed up Smith sound, indicated that the primary object of the expedition was to attain the highest northern latitude, and, if possible, the North Pole, including explorations to the adjacent coasts from winter quarters. The ships left England on the 29th of May, and Cape York was reached on the 25th of July, after very little trouble with the ice. Here the first of a series of caches of provisions was established, to provide for the safety of the crews in case they were obliged to abandon the ships and retreat southward over the ice. These caches were not used, and being left for future explorations were the means of preserving life in the survivors of Greely’s party some years later.

From Cape York the passage northward was a constant struggle with immense floes of heavy ice, so that it was the 25th of August before the _Discovery_ anchored for the winter in Discovery harbour. The _Alert_ pushed on, and reached Floeberg beach, in latitude 82° 25´ N., and longitude 61° 30´ W., where further progress was barred by the heavy ancient ice of the Polar sea, to which Nares has given the name paleocrystic, to distinguish it from the ice of more southern waters, which is formed annually. Here the _Alert_ was moored for the winter, exposed to the crushing action and movement of these solid floes, in a latitude far north of that before attained by any ship. Depots of provisions were established during the autumn by sledging parties for use in the following spring. On the 3rd of April seven sleds, manned by fifty-three men and officers, left the _Alert_ for northern explorations. One party, under Commander Markham, was to push northward over the frozen ocean; the other, under Lieutenant Aldrich, to explore the north coast of Grinnell land. Markham, after great toil and hardships, hauling heavy sledges and boats over exceedingly rough ice, and with five of his eighteen men helpless from the effects of scurvy, succeeded in reaching a point on the ice in latitude 83° 20´ 26´´, the farthest north to that date. The health of the men became worse on the return journey, and if Lieutenant Parr had not, by a forced march of twenty-four hours, reached the ship for assistance, all would probably have been lost; as it was, one died and eleven others had to be dragged to the ship.

Lieutenant Aldrich surveyed two hundred and twenty miles of new coast, reaching, on the 18th of May, Point Albert, in 82° 16´, and 85° 33´ W. His party, also attacked by scurvy, would not have reached the ship without assistance.

Exploring parties were, at the same time, in the field from the _Discovery_. Lieutenant Archer explored Franklin sound and reached the head of Archer fiord. Lieutenant Beaumont left the ship with two sleds, and, after first visiting the _Alert_, crossed Robeson channel to Repulse harbour, on the coast of Greenland. He succeeded in reaching with one man, the eastern side of Sherard Osborne fiord, in 82° 20´ N. and 50° 45´ W., on the 20th of May. The return was made under distressing circumstances; only Beaumont and one man were free from scurvy when Repulse harbour was reached. The ice in Robeson channel was too rotten to cross with his crew of invalids, and but for the timely arrival of a relief party all would have perished. Two men died, and only with great difficulty did the remainder reach the ship. Owing to the scurvy, Captain Nares wisely determined to return home. The disease had attacked almost every man on the ships outside the officers, but it is a mystery why it should have played such ravages on an expedition fitted out and provisioned with all possible precautions against the disease; the only explanation given is that the men were over-worked, slept in damp clothes, and were regularly served with a liberal ration of spirits. The _Alert_ left Floeberg beach on the 31st of July, and on the 9th of September both vessels safely reached the open sea, and recrossed the Arctic circle on the 4th of October.

In 1881 the United States government determined to establish a meteorological station in connection with the international polar stations in the region of Smith sound. Congress voted an appropriation of $25,000 for this expedition, a sum ridiculously small, as only $6,000 remained after paying for the transport of the party to their destination. The expedition was under the command of Lieutenant A. W. Greely, and was composed of officers and men from the United States army, none of whom had had previous experience in Arctic work. The party, numbering twenty-six, sailed from St. John’s, Newfoundland, in the steam sealer _Proteus_, on the 4th of July, 1881. At Upernivik two Eskimo dog-drivers were added to their number. Little trouble was experienced from the ice until the ship reached Discovery bay, where the station was to be located, and after a short delay the party was landed on the 11th of August. Two men found to be physically unfit were sent home. A house was soon erected, and the observation work carried on regularly during the time that the expedition remained there. In the spring of 1882 several sled journeys were made, the most important being that of Lieutenant Lockwood, who crossed Kennedy channel, and passing northeastward along the coast of Greenland pushed beyond the farthest point reached by Lieutenant Beaumont, and succeeded in reaching latitude 83° 23´ N., the highest attained at that time. The _Neptune_ attempted to relieve them during the summer of 1882, but found Smith sound blocked with ice. The second autumn and spring were spent in making explorations, chiefly in Ellesmere island. Lockwood attempted to pass his previous record, but was prevented by the loose ice and the rugged mountains along the northern coast. As no relief ship arrived and parts of the supplies were running short, a retreat was decided upon, and the party started south in a steam launch and two boats, on the 11th of August. Great trouble was experienced in the heavy ice, and they were obliged to abandon their boats on the 10th of September, after having been beset by the ice for two weeks. Land was reached at Cape Sabine on the 29th of September, where a poor shelter of stones and canvas was erected, in which the party passed the winter. Their provisions comprised the remainder of the food taken with them, and a small quantity landed from the _Proteus_ after that vessel sank from an ice nip while trying to reach Greely a few weeks earlier in the season. The bulk of their provisions was obtained from the caches left by Nares in 1875. Exposure to the weather had nearly ruined everything left in the caches, but their contents, even in this shape, were of great assistance to these famished men; without them all would have succumbed; as it was, only seven survived the hardships and starvation, when the rescue steamer arrived on the 22nd of June, 1883.

The next Arctic work was the crossing of the Greenland ice-cap, in 1893, by Nansen, who landed on the eastern side, and with a few companions succeeded in passing over the immense fields of ice and snow, coming out on the coast of the western side to the southward of Disko.

Lieutenant R. E. Peary, United States navy, spent eight winters in the regions about Smith sound. During these years none of the ships engaged to take supplies to him were able to penetrate more than the southern portion of Smith sound, and consequently Peary had to haul all his provisions and outfit over the very rough ice in dog-sleds two hundred miles before he arrived at the original starting point of Beaumont and Lockwood. This was a handicap of the severest description, and Peary deserves the greatest credit for the manful way in which he overcame it, and succeeded in not only crossing the ice-cap of the northern part of Greenland, but also in tracing its northern outline far to the eastward, and so establishing the certainty of the island character of that supposed peninsula.

The last of the expeditions to the Smith sound region was that headed by Captain Sverdrup, in the famous _Fram_. This expedition started with the intention of exploring the northern part of Greenland, but found Smith sound blocked with ice, and the _Fram_ was obliged to pass the winter of 1898-99 at Cape Sabine, where Greely’s party passed their last winter. In the spring, parties from the ship explored Hayes sound, and crossed Ellesmere island to its west coast. In 1899 Smith sound continued closed, and Sverdrup returned south with the intention of exploring Jones sound. Taking the _Fram_ up that channel, he went into the second winter quarters on its north side, in a small fiord on the south coast of Ellesmere island. During the following spring two long sled journeys were made to the north and west, occupying seventy-six and ninety days respectively. The _Fram_ broke out of winter quarters on the 9th of August, 1901, and proceeding westward was beset off the north coast of Grinnell peninsula until the middle of September, when she was again released, and reached winter quarters in Belcher channel at the western end of Jones sound. In the spring of 1902 two long journeys were again undertaken by Sverdrup and Isacksen, involving important discoveries. The _Fram_ could not be released, and a fourth winter had to be faced. Sverdrup made his longest and most important journey in the spring of 1902, while his companions were making minor trips. On the 6th of August the _Fram_ was released, and returned to Norway, after having completed the last great and important work that remained to be done in the Arctics, thus finishing the work begun three centuries ago. The principal achievements were the mapping of Jones sound and the western side of Ellesmere island, the discovery of a large island lying on the west side of Ellesmere island, and two other large islands in latitude 79°, extending westward to longitude 106° W., which is that of the eastern side of Melville island, while North Cornwall and Findlay islands were seen to the south. To the westward and northward no signs of land were seen, and the ancient Arctic ice was found pressing on the coasts of these new northern islands, so that the line of drift pressure can now be traced from Bering sea to the east coast of Greenland.

-----

* Another version, however, of the origin of the Hudson’s Bay Company, states that the two Frenchmen went to Boston, New England, where they met Sir George Carteret (or Cartwright), who gave them letters of introduction to King Charles.