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The English At The North Pole
(PART I OF THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERA=
S)
By
Jules Verne
Contents
CHAPTER
II - AN UNEXPECTED LETTER
CHAPTER
VI - THE GREAT POLAR CURRENT
CHAPTER
VIII - GOSSIP OF THE CREW
CHAPTER
X - DANGEROUS NAVIGATION
CHAPTER
XI - THE DEVIL'S THUMB
CHAPTER
XII - CAPTAIN HATTERAS
CHAPTER
XIII - THE PROJECTS OF HATTERAS
CHAPTER
XIV - EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF FRANKLIN..
CHAPTER
XV - THE "FORWARD" DRIVEN BACK SOUTH..
CHAPTER
XVI - THE MAGNETIC POLE
CHAPTER
XVII - THE FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN..
CHAPTER
XVIII - THE NORTHERN ROUTE
CHAPTER
XIX - A WHALE IN SIGHT
CHAPTER
XXI - THE DEATH OF BELLOT
CHAPTER
XXII - BEGINNING OF REVOLT
CHAPTER
XXIII - ATTACKED BY ICEBERGS
CHAPTER
XXIV - PREPARATIONS FOR WINTERING..
CHAPTER
XXVI - THE LAST LUMP OF COAL
CHAPTER
XXVIII - PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE.
"=
;To-morrow,
at low tide, the brig Forward , Ca=
ptain
K. Z----, Richard Shandon mate, will start from New Prince's Docks for an
unknown destination."
The foregoing might have been read in the Liverpool Herald of April 5th, 1860. The departure of a b=
rig is
an event of little importance for the most commercial port in England. Who
would notice it in the midst of vessels of all sorts of tonnage and nationa=
lity
that six miles of docks can hardly contain? However, from daybreak on the 6=
th of
April a considerable crowd covered the wharfs of New Prince's Docks--the
innumerable companies of sailors of the town seemed to have met there. Work=
men
from the neighbouring wharfs had left their work, merchants their dark
counting-houses, tradesmen their shops. The different-coloured omnibuses th=
at
ran along the exterior wall of the docks brought cargoes of spectators at e=
very
moment; the town seemed to have but one pre-occupation, and that was to see=
the
Forward go out.
The F=
orward
was a vessel of a hundred and seve=
nty
tons, charged with a screw and steam-engine of a hundred and twenty
horse-power. It might easily have been confounded with the other brigs in t=
he
port. But though it offered nothing curious to the eyes of the public, conn=
oisseurs
remarked certain peculiarities in it that a sailor cannot mistake. On board=
the
Nautilus , anchored at a little
distance, a group of sailors were hazarding a thousand conjectures about th=
e destination
of the Forward .
"I don't know what to think about its mas=
ting,"
said one; "it isn't usual for steamboats to have so much sail."
"That ship," said a quartermaster wi=
th a
big red face--"that ship will have to depend more on her masts than her
engine, and the topsails are the biggest because the others will be often
useless. I haven't got the slightest doubt that the Forward is destined for the Arctic or Antarctic =
seas,
where the icebergs stop the wind more than is good for a brave and solid
ship."
"You must be right, Mr. Cornhill," s=
aid
a third sailor. "Have you noticed her stern, how straight it falls into
the sea?"
"Yes," said the quartermaster, "=
;and
it is furnished with a steel cutter as sharp as a razor and capable of cutt=
ing
a three-decker in two if the Forwa=
rd were thrown across her at top speed.&quo=
t;
"That's certain," said a Mersey pilo=
t;
"for that 'ere vessel runs her fourteen knots an hour with her screw. =
It
was marvellous to see her cutting the tide when she made her trial trip. I
believe you, she's a quick un."
"The canvas isn't intricate either,"=
answered
Mr. Cornhill; "it goes straight before the wind, and can be managed by
hand. That ship is going to try the Polar seas, or my name isn't what it is.
There's something else--do you see the wide helm-port that the head of her =
helm
goes through?"
"It's there, sure enough," answered =
one;
"but what does that prove?"
"That proves, my boys," said Mr.
Cornhill with disdainful satisfaction, "that you don't know how to put=
two
and two together and make it four; it proves that they want to be able to t=
ake
off the helm when they like, and you know it's a manoeuvre that's often nec=
essary
when you have ice to deal with."
"That's certain," answered the crew =
of
the Nautilus .
"Besides," said one of them, "t=
he
way she's loaded confirms Mr. Cornhill's opinion. Clifton told me. The Forward is victualled and carries coal enough fo=
r five
or six years. Coals and victuals are all its cargo, with a stock of woollen
garments and sealskins."
"Then," said the quartermaster,
"there is no more doubt on the matter; but you, who know Clifton, didn=
't
he tell you anything about her destination?"
"He couldn't tell me; he doesn't know; the
crew was engaged without knowing. He'll only know where he's going when he =
gets
there."
"I shouldn't wonder if they were going to=
the
devil," said an unbeliever: "it looks like it."
"And such pay," said Clifton's frien=
d,
getting warm--"five times more than the ordinary pay. If it hadn't been
for that, Richard Shandon wouldn't have found a soul to go with him. A ship
with a queer shape, going nobody knows where, and looking more like not com=
ing
back than anything else, it wouldn't have suited this child."
"Whether it would have suited you or
not," answered Cornhill, "you couldn't have been one of the crew =
of
the Forward ."
"And why, pray?"
"Because you don't fulfil the required
conditions. I read that all married men were excluded, and you are in the
category, so you needn't talk. Even the very name of the ship is a bold one.
The Forward --where is it to be
forwarded to? Besides, nobody knows who the captain is."
"Yes, they do," said a simple-faced
young sailor.
"Why, you don't mean to say that you think
Shandon is the captain of the Forw=
ard ?"
said Cornhill.
"But----" answered the young sailor-=
-
"Why, Shandon is commander, and nothing e=
lse;
he's a brave and bold sailor, an experienced whaler, and a jolly fellow wor=
thy
in every respect to be the captain, but he isn't any more captain than you =
or
I. As to who is going to command after God on board he doesn't know any more
than we do. When the moment has come the true captain will appear, no one k=
nows
how nor where, for Richard Shandon has not said and hasn't been allowed to =
say
to what quarter of the globe he is going to direct his ship."
"But, Mr. Cornhill," continued the y= oung sailor, "I assure you that there is someone on board who was announced= in the letter, and that Mr. Shandon was offered the place of second to."<= o:p>
"What!" said Cornhill, frowning,
"do you mean to maintain that the =
span>Forward
has a captain on board?"
"Yes, Mr. Cornhill."
"Where did you get your precious informat=
ion
from?"
"From Johnson, the boatswain."
"From Johnson?"
"Yes, sir."
"Johnson told you so?"
"He not only told me so, but he showed me=
the
captain."
"He showed him to you!" said Cornhil=
l,
stupefied. "And who is it, pray?"
"A dog."
"What do you mean by a dog?"
"A dog on four legs."
Stupefaction reigned amongst the crew of the <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Nautilus . Under any other circumstances=
they
would have burst out laughing. A dog captain of a vessel of a hundred and
seventy tons burden! It was enough to make them laugh. But really the Forward was such an extraordinary ship that they=
felt
it might be no laughing matter, and they must be sure before they denied it.
Besides, Cornhill himself didn't laugh.
"So Johnson showed you the new sort of
captain, did he?" added he, addressing the young sailor, "and you=
saw
him?"
"Yes, sir, as plainly as I see you now.&q=
uot;
"Well, and what do you think about it?&qu=
ot;
asked the sailors of the quartermaster.
"I don't think anything," he answere=
d shortly.
"I don't think anything, except that the Forward is a ship belonging to the devil, or mad=
men fit
for nothing but Bedlam."
The sailors continued silently watching the Forward , whose preparations for departu=
re
were drawing to an end; there was not one of them who pretended that Johnson
had only been laughing at the young sailor. The history of the dog had alre=
ady
made the round of the town, and amongst the crowd of spectators many a one
looked out for the dog-captain and believed him to be a supernatural animal.
Besides, the Forward had been attracting public attention for=
some
months past. Everything about her was marvellous; her peculiar shape, the m=
ystery
which surrounded her, the incognito kept by the captain, the way Richard
Shandon had received the proposition to direct her, the careful selection of
the crew, her unknown destination, suspected only by a few--all about her w=
as
strange.
To a thinker, dreamer, or philosopher nothing =
is
more affecting than the departure of a ship; his imagination plays round the
sails, sees her struggles with the sea and the wind in the adventurous jour=
ney which
does not always end in port; when in addition to the ordinary incidents of
departure there are extraordinary ones, even minds little given to credulity
let their imagination run wild.
So it was with the Forward , and though the generality of p=
eople could
not make the knowing remarks of Quartermaster Cornhill, it did not prevent =
the
ship forming the subject of Liverpool gossip for three long months. The ship
had been put in dock at Birkenhead, on the opposite side of the Mersey. The
builders, Scott and Co., amongst the first in England, had received an esti=
mate
and detailed plan from Richard Shandon; it informed them of the exact tonna=
ge,
dimensions, and store room that the brig was to have. They saw by the detai=
ls given
that they had to do with a consummate seaman. As Shandon had considerable f=
unds
at his disposal, the work advanced rapidly, according to the recommendation=
of
the owner. The brig was constructed of a solidity to withstand all tests; it
was evident that she was destined to resist enormous pressure, for her ribs
were built of teak-wood, a sort of Indian oak, remarkable for its extreme
hardness, and were, besides, plated with iron. Sailors asked why the hull o=
f a
vessel made so evidently for resistance was not built of sheet-iron like ot=
her
steamboats, and were told it was because the mysterious engineer had his own
reasons for what he did.
Little by little the brig grew on the stocks, =
and
her qualities of strength and delicacy struck connoisseurs. As the sailors =
of
the Nautilus had remarked, her stern formed a right a=
ngle
with her keel; her steel prow, cast in the workshop of R. Hawthorn, of
Newcastle, shone in the sun and gave a peculiar look to the brig, though
otherwise she had nothing particularly warlike about her. However, a 16-pou=
nder
cannon was installed on the forecastle; it was mounted on a pivot, so that =
it
might easily be turned in any direction; but neither the cannon nor the ste=
rn,
steel-clad as they were, succeeded in looking warlike.
On the 5th of February, 1860, this strange ves=
sel
was launched in the midst of an immense concourse of spectators, and the tr=
ial
trip was perfectly successful. But if the brig was neither a man-of-war, a
merchant vessel, nor a pleasure yacht--for a pleasure trip is not made with=
six
years' provisions in the hold--what was it? Was it a vessel destined for
another Franklin expedition? It could not be, because in 1859, the preceding
year, Captain McClintock had returned from the Arctic seas, bringing the
certain proof of the loss of the unfortunate expedition. Was the Forward going to attempt the famous North-West
passage? What would be the use? Captain McClure had discovered it in 1853, =
and
his lieutenant, Creswell, was the first who had the honour of rounding the
American continent from Behring's Straits to Davis's Straits. Still it was
certain to competent judges that the Forward
was prepared to face the ice regio=
ns.
Was it going to the South Pole, farther than the whaler Weddell or Captain
James Ross? But, if so, what for?
The day after the brig was floated her engine =
was
sent from Hawthorn's foundry at Newcastle. It was of a hundred and twenty
horse-power, with oscillating cylinders, taking up little room; its power w=
as considerable
for a hundred-and-seventy-ton brig, with so much sail, too, and of such
fleetness. Her trial trips had left no doubt on that subject, and even the
boatswain, Johnson, had thought right to express his opinion to Clifton's
friend--
"When the Forward uses her engine and sails at the same ti=
me,
her sails will make her go the quickest."
Clifton's friend did not understand him, but he
thought anything possible of a ship commanded by a dog. After the engine was
installed on board, the stowage of provisions began. This was no slight wor=
k, for
the vessel was to carry enough for six years. They consisted of dry and sal=
ted
meat, smoked fish, biscuit, and flour; mountains of tea and coffee were thr=
own
down the shafts in perfect avalanches. Richard Shandon presided over the
management of this precious cargo like a man who knows what he is about; all
was stowed away, ticketed, and numbered in perfect order; a very large
provision of the Indian preparation called pemmican, which contains many
nutritive elements in a small volume, was also embarked. The nature of the
provisions left no doubt about the length of the cruise, and the sight of t=
he barrels
of lime-juice, lime-drops, packets of mustard, grains of sorrel and cochlearia , all antiscorbutic, confirme=
d the
opinion on the destination of the brig for the ice regions; their influence=
is
so necessary in Polar navigation. Shandon had doubtless received particular
instructions about this part of the cargo, which, along with the medicine-c=
hest,
he attended to particularly.
Although arms were not numerous on board, the
powder-magazine overflowed. The one cannon could not pretend to use the
contents. That gave people more to think about. There were also gigantic sa=
ws and
powerful instruments, such as levers, leaden maces, handsaws, enormous axes,
etc., without counting a considerable quantity of blasting cylinders, enoug=
h to
blow up the Liverpool Customs--all that was strange, not to say fearful,
without mentioning rockets, signals, powder-chests, and beacons of a thousa=
nd
different sorts. The numerous spectators on the wharfs of Prince's Docks
admired likewise a long mahogany whaler, a tin pirogue covered with gutta-percha, and a certain
quantity of halkett-boats, a sort of indiarubber cloaks that can be transfo=
rmed
into canoes by blowing in their lining. Expectation was on the qui vive , for the Forward was going out with the tide.
The l=
etter
received by Richard Shandon, eight months before, ran as follows:--
"ABERDEEN,
"August 2nd,
1859.
"To Mr. Richard Shandon,
"Liverpool.
"SIR,--I beg to advise you that the sum of
sixteen thousand pounds sterling has been placed in the hands of Messrs.
Marcuart and Co., bankers, of Liverpool. I join herewith a series of cheque=
s,
signed by me, which will allow you to draw upon the said Messrs. Marcuart f=
or
the above-mentioned sum. You do not know me, but that is of no consequence.=
I
know you: that is sufficient. I offer you the place of second on board the =
brig
Forward for a voyage that may be long and perilo=
us. If
you agree to my conditions you will receive a salary of 500 pounds, and all
through the voyage it will be augmented one-tenth at the end of each year. =
The Forward is not yet in existence. You must have it
built so as to be ready for sea at the beginning of April, 1860, at the lat=
est.
Herewith is a detailed plan and estimate. You will take care that it is
scrupulously followed. The ship is to be built by Messrs. Scott and Co., who
will settle with you. I particularly recommend you the choice of the Forward's crew; it will be composed of a captain,
myself, of a second, you, of a third officer, a boatswain, two engineers, an
ice pilot, eight sailors, and two others, eighteen men in all, comprising D=
r.
Clawbonny, of this town, who will introduce himself to you when necessary. =
The Forward's crew must be composed of Englishmen with=
out
incumbrance; they should be all bachelors and sober--for no spirits, nor ev=
en
beer, will be allowed on board--ready to undertake anything, and to bear wi=
th
anything. You will give the preference to men of a sanguine constitution, as
they carry a greater amount of animal heat. Offer them five times the usual=
pay,
with an increase of one-tenth for each year of service. At the end of the
voyage five hundred pounds will be placed at the disposition of each, and t=
wo
thousand at yours. These funds will be placed with Messrs. Marcuart and Co.=
The
voyage will be long and difficult, but honourable, so you need not hesitate=
to accept
my conditions. Be good enough to send your answer to K. Z., Poste Restante,
Goteborg, Sweden.
"P.S.--On the 15th of February next you w=
ill
receive a large Danish dog, with hanging lips, and tawny coat with black
stripes. You will take it on board and have it fed with oaten bread, mixed =
with
tallow grease. You will acknowledge the reception of the said dog to me und=
er the
same initials as above, Poste Restante, Leghorn, Italy.
"The captain of the Forward will introduce himself to you when neces=
sary.
When you are ready to start you will receive further instructions.
"THE C=
APTAIN
OF THE 'FORWARD,'
=
"K. Z."
Richa=
rd
Shandon was a good sailor; he had been commander of whalers in the Arctic s=
eas
for many years, and had a wide reputation for skill. He might well be
astonished at such a letter, and so he was, but astonished like a man used =
to
astonishments. He fulfilled, too, all the required conditions: he had no wi=
fe,
children, or relations; he was as free as a man could be. Having no one to
consult, he went straight to Messrs. Marcuart's bank.
"If the money is there," he said to =
himself,
"I'll undertake the rest."
He was received by the firm with all the atten=
tion
due to a man with sixteen thousand pounds in their safes. Sure of that fact,
Shandon asked for a sheet of letter-paper, and sent his acceptance in a lar=
ge sailor's
hand to the address indicated. The same day he put himself in communication
with the Birkenhead shipbuilders, and twenty-four hours later the keel of t=
he Forward lay on the stocks in the dockyard.
Richard Shandon was a bachelor of forty, robus=
t,
energetic, and brave, three sailor-like qualities, giving their possessor
confidence, vigour, and sang-froid=
. He
was reputed jealous and hard to be pleased, so he was more feared than love=
d by
his sailors. But this reputation did not increase the difficulty of finding=
a
crew, for he was known to be a clever commander. He was afraid that the mys=
tery
of the enterprise would embarrass his movements, and he said to himself,
"The best thing I can do is to say nothing at all; there are sea-dogs =
who
will want to know the why and the wherefore of the business, and as I know
nothing myself, I can't tell them. K. Z. is a queer fish, but after all he
knows me, and has confidence in me; that's enough. As to the ship, she will=
be
a handsome lass, and my name isn't Richard Shandon if she is not destined f=
or
the Frozen Seas. But I shall keep that to myself and my officers."
Upon which Richard Shandon set about recruiting
his crew upon the conditions of family and health exacted by the captain. He
knew a brave fellow and capital sailor, named James Wall. Wall was about th=
irty,
and had made more than one trip to the North Seas. Shandon offered him the =
post
of third officer, and he accepted blindly; all he cared for was to sail, as=
he
was devoted to his profession. Shandon told him and Johnson (whom he engage=
d as
boatswain) all he knew about the business.
"Just as soon go there as anywhere
else," answered Wall. "If it's to seek the North-West passage, ma=
ny
have been and come back."
"Been, yes; but come back I don't answer
for," said Johnson; "but that's no reason for not going."
"Besides, if we are not mistaken in our
conjectures," said Shandon, "the voyage will be undertaken under =
good
conditions. The Forward's a bonny lass, with a good engine, and wi=
ll
stand wear and tear. Eighteen men are all the crew we want."
"Eighteen men?" said Johnson.
"That's just the number that the American, Kane, had on board when he =
made
his famous voyage towards the North Pole."
"It's a singular fact that there's always
some private individual trying to cross the sea from Davis's Straits to
Behring's Straits. The Franklin expeditions have already cost England more =
than
seven hundred and sixty thousand pounds without producing any practical res=
ult.
Who the devil means to risk his fortune in such an enterprise?"
"We are reasoning now on a simple
hypothesis," said Shandon. "I don't know if we are really going to
the Northern or Southern Seas. Perhaps we are going on a voyage of discover=
y.
We shall know more when Dr. Clawbonny comes; I daresay he will tell us all
about it."
"There's nothing for it but to wait,"
answered Johnson; "I'll go and hunt up some solid subjects, captain; a=
nd
as to their animal heat, I guarantee beforehand you can trust me for
that."
Johnson was a valuable acquisition; he underst=
ood
the navigation of these high latitudes. He was quartermaster on board the <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Phoenix , one of the vessels of the Fran=
klin
expedition of 1853. He was witness of the death of the French lieutenant
Bellot, whom he had accompanied in his expedition across the ice. Johnson k=
new
the maritime population of Liverpool, and started at once on his recruiting
expedition. Shandon, Wall, and he did their work so well that the crew was
complete in the beginning of December. It had been a difficult task; many, =
tempted
by the high pay, felt frightened at the risk, and more than one enlisted bo=
ldly
who came afterwards to take back his word and enlistment money, dissuaded by
his friends from undertaking such an enterprise. All of them tried to pierce
the mystery, and worried Shandon with questions; he sent them to Johnson.
"I can't tell you what I don't know,"=
; he
answered invariably; "you'll be in good company, that's all I can tell
you. You can take it or leave it alone."
And the greater number took it.
"I have only to choose," added the
boatswain; "such salary has never been heard of in the memory of sailo=
rs,
and then the certainty of finding a handsome capital when we come back. Only
think: it's tempting enough."
"The fact is," answered the sailor,
"it is tempting; enough to live on till the end of one's days."
"I don't hide from you," continued
Johnson, "that the cruise will be long, painful, and perilous; that is
formally stated in our instructions, and you ought to know what you underta=
ke;
you will very likely be required to attempt all that it is possible for hum=
an
beings to do, and perhaps more. If you are the least bit frightened, if you=
don't
think you may just as well finish yonder as here, you'd better not enlist, =
but
give way to a bolder man."
"But, Mr. Johnson," continued the
sailor, for the want of something better to say, "at least you know the
captain?"
"The captain is Richard Shandon till anot=
her
comes."
Richard Shandon, in his secret heart, hoped th=
at
the command would remain with him, and that at the last moment he should
receive precise instructions as to the destination of the Forward . He did all he could to spread =
the
report in his conversations with his officers, or when following the
construction of the brig as it grew in the Birkenhead dockyard, looking like
the ribs of a whale turned upside down. Shandon and Johnson kept strictly to
their instructions touching the health of the sailors who were to form the
crew; they all looked hale and hearty, and had enough heat in their bodies =
to suffice
for the engine of the Forward ; th=
eir
supple limbs, their clear and florid complexions were fit to react against =
the
action of intense cold. They were confident and resolute men, energetically=
and
solidly constituted. Of course they were not all equally vigorous; Shandon =
had
even hesitated about taking some of them, such as the sailors Gripper and
Garry, and the harpooner Simpson, because they looked rather thin; but, on =
the
whole, their build was good; they were a warm-hearted lot, and their engage=
ment
was signed.
All the crew belonged to the same sect of the
Protestant religion; during these long campaigns prayer in common and the
reading of the Bible have a good influence over the men and sustain them in=
the
hour of discouragement; it was therefore important that they should be all =
of
the same way of thinking. Shandon knew by experience the utility of these
practices, and their influence on the mind of the crew; they are always
employed on board ships that are intended to winter in the Polar Seas. The =
crew
once got together, Shandon and his two officers set about the provisions; t=
hey
strictly followed the instructions of the captain; these instructions were
clear, precise, and detailed, and the least articles were put down with the=
ir
quality and quantity. Thanks to the cheques at the commander's disposition,=
every
article was paid for at once with a discount of 8 per cent, which Richard
carefully placed to the credit of K. Z.
Crew, provisions, and cargo were ready by Janu=
ary,
1860; the Forward began to look shipshape, and Shandon went
daily to Birkenhead. On the morning of the 23rd of January he was, as usual=
, on
board one of the Mersey ferry-boats with a helm at either end to prevent ha=
ving
to turn it; there was a thick fog, and the sailors of the river were oblige=
d to
direct their course by means of the compass, though the passage lasts scarc=
ely
ten minutes. But the thickness of the fog did not prevent Shandon seeing a =
man
of short stature, rather fat, with an intelligent and merry face and an ami=
able
look, who came up to him, took him by the two hands, and shook them with an
ardour, a petulance, and a familiarity "quite meridional," as a
Frenchman would have said. But if this person did not come from the South, =
he
had got his temperament there; he talked and gesticulated with volubility; =
his
thought must come out or the machine would burst. His eyes, small as those =
of
witty men generally are, his mouth, large and mobile, were safety-pipes whi=
ch
allowed him to give passage to his overflowing thoughts; he talked, and tal=
ked,
and talked so much and so fast that Shandon couldn't understand a word he s=
aid.
However, this did not prevent the =
Forward's
mate from recognising the little m=
an he
had never seen before; a lightning flash traversed his mind, and when the o=
ther
paused to take breath, Shandon made haste to get out the words, "Doctor
Clawbonny!"
"Himself in person, commander! I've been =
at
least half a quarter of an hour looking for you, asking everybody everywher=
e!
Just think how impatient I got; five minutes more and I should have lost my
head! And so you are the commander Richard? You really exist? You are not a
myth? Your hand, your hand! I want to shake it again. It is Richard Shandon=
's
hand, and if there is a commander Shandon, there's a brig Forward to command; and if he commands he will s=
tart,
and if he starts he'll take Dr. Clawbonny on board."
"Well, yes, doctor, I am Richard Shandon;
there is a brig Forward , and it w=
ill
start."
"That's logic," answered the doctor,
after taking in a large provision of breathing air--"that's logic. And=
I
am ready to jump for joy at having my dearest wishes gratified. I've wanted=
to
undertake such a voyage. Now with you, commander----"
"I don't----" began Shandon.
"With you," continued Clawbonny, wit=
hout
hearing him, "we are sure to go far and not to draw back for a
trifle."
"But----" began Shandon again.
"For you have shown what you are made of,
commander; I know your deeds of service. You are a fine sailor!"
"If you will allow me----"
"No, I won't have your bravery, audacity,=
and
skill put an instant in doubt, even by you! The captain who chose you for h=
is
mate is a man who knows what he's about, I can tell you."
"But that's nothing to do with it," =
said
Shandon, impatient.
"What is it, then? Don't keep me in suspe=
nse
another minute."
"You don't give me time to speak. Tell me=
, if
you please, doctor, how it comes that you are to take part in the expeditio=
n of
the Forward ."
"Read this letter, this worthy letter, the
letter of a brave captain--very laconic, but quite sufficient."
Saying which the doctor held out the following
letter to Shandon:--
"INVERNESS,
"Jan. 22nd,=
1860.
"To Dr. Clawbonny.
"If Dr. Clawbonny wishes to embark on boa=
rd
the Forward for a long cruise, he may introduce hims=
elf to
the commander, Richard Shandon, who has received orders concerning him.
"THE C=
APTAIN
OF THE 'FORWARD,'
=
"K. Z."
"=
;This
letter reached me this morning, and here I am, ready to embark."
"But, doctor, do you know where we are go=
ing
to?"
"I haven't the slightest idea, and I do n=
ot
care so that it is somewhere. They pretend that I am learned; they are
mistaken, commander. I know nothing, and if I have published a few books th=
at
don't sell badly, I ought not to have done it; the public is silly for buyi=
ng
them. I know nothing, I tell you. I am only an ignorant man. When I have the
offer of completing, or rather of going over again, my knowledge of medicin=
e,
surgery, history, geography, botany, mineralogy, conchology, geodesy,
chemistry, natural philosophy, mechanics, and hydrography, why I accept, of
course."
"Then," said Shandon, disappointed,
"you do not know where the Fo=
rward is bound for?"
"Yes, I do; it is bound for where there is
something to learn, to discover, and to compare--where we shall meet with o=
ther
customs, other countries, other nations, to study in the exercise of their =
functions;
it is going, in short, where I have never been."
"But I want to know something more defini=
te
than that," cried Shandon.
"Well, I have heard that we are bound for=
the
Northern Seas."
"At least," asked Shandon, "you
know the captain?"
"Not the least bit in the world! But he i=
s an
honest fellow, you may believe me."
The commander and the doctor disembarked at
Birkenhead; the former told the doctor all he knew about the situation of
things, and the mystery inflamed the imagination of the doctor. The sight of
the brig caused him transports of joy. From that day he stopped with Shando=
n, and
went every day to pay a visit to the shell of the Forward . Besides, he was specially appo=
inted
to overlook the installation of the ship's medicine-chest. For Dr. Clawbonny
was a doctor, and a good one, though practising little. At the age of
twenty-five he was an ordinary practitioner; at the age of forty he was a <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> savant , well known in the town; he was =
an
influential member of all the literary and scientific institutions of
Liverpool. His fortune allowed him to distribute counsels which were none t=
he
worse for being gratuitous; beloved as a man eminently lovable must always =
be,
he had never wronged any one, not even himself; lively and talkative, he
carried his heart in his hand, and put his hand into that of everybody. Whe=
n it
was known in Liverpool that he was going to embark on board the Forward his friends did all they could to dissua=
de
him, and only fixed him more completely in his determination, and when the
doctor was determined to do anything no one could prevent him. From that ti=
me the
suppositions and apprehensions increased, but did not prevent the Forward being launched on the 5th of February, 1=
860.
Two months later she was ready to put to sea. On the 15th of March, as the
letter of the captain had announced, a dog of Danish breed was sent by rail=
way from
Edinburgh to Liverpool, addressed to Richard Shandon. The animal seemed sur=
ly,
peevish, and even sinister, with quite a singular look in his eyes. The nam=
e of
the Forward was engraved on his brass collar. The
commander installed it on board the same day, and acknowledged its receptio=
n to
K. Z. at Leghorn. Thus, with the exception of the captain, the crew was
complete. It was composed as follows:--
1. K. Z., captain; 2. Richard Shandon, command=
er;
3. James Wall, third officer; 4. Dr. Clawbonny; 5. Johnson, boatswain; 6.
Simpson, harpooner; 7. Bell, carpenter; 8. Brunton, chief engineer; 9. Plov=
er, second
engineer; 10. Strong (negro), cook; 11. Foker, ice-master; 12. Wolsten, smi=
th;
13. Bolton, sailor; 14. Garry, sailor; 15. Clifton, sailor; 16. Gripper,
sailor; 17. Pen, sailor; 18. Warren, stoker.
The d=
ay of
departure arrived with the 5th of April. The admission of the doctor on boa=
rd
had given the crew more confidence. They knew that where the worthy doctor =
went
they could follow. However, the sailors were still uneasy, and Shandon, fea=
ring
that some of them would desert, wished to be off. With the coast out of sig=
ht,
they would make up their mind to the inevitable.
Dr. Clawbonny's cabin was situated at the end =
of
the poop, and occupied all the stern of the vessel. The captain's and mate's
cabins gave upon deck. The captain's remained hermetically closed, after be=
ing furnished
with different instruments, furniture, travelling garments, books, clothes =
for
changing, and utensils, indicated in a detailed list. According to the wish=
of
the captain, the key of the cabin was sent to Lubeck; he alone could enter =
his
room.
This detail vexed Shandon, and took away all
chance of the chief command. As to his own cabin, he had perfectly appropri=
ated
it to the needs of the presumed voyage, for he thoroughly understood the ne=
eds
of a Polar expedition. The room of the third officer was placed under the l=
ower
deck, which formed a vast sleeping-room for the sailors' use; the men were =
very
comfortably lodged, and would not have found anything like the same conveni=
ence
on board any other ship; they were cared for like the most priceless cargo:=
a
vast stove occupied all the centre of the common room. Dr. Clawbonny was in=
his
element; he had taken possession of his cabin on the 6th of February, the d=
ay
after the Forward was launched.
"The happiest of animals," he used to
say, "is a snail, for it can make a shell exactly to fit it; I shall t=
ry
to be an intelligent snail."
And considering that the shell was to be his
lodging for a considerable time, the cabin began to look like home; the doc=
tor
had a savant's or a child's pleasure in arranging his
scientific traps. His books, his herbals, his set of pigeon-holes, his
instruments of precision, his chemical apparatus, his collection of
thermometers, barometers, hygrometers, rain-gauges, spectacles, compasses,
sextants, maps, plans, flasks, powders, bottles for medicine-chest, were all
classed in an order that would have shamed the British Museum. The space of=
six
square feet contained incalculable riches: the doctor had only to stretch o=
ut
his hand without moving to become instantaneously a doctor, a mathematician=
, an
astronomer, a geographer, a botanist, or a conchologist. It must be
acknowledged that he was proud of his management and happy in his floating
sanctuary, which three of his thinnest friends would have sufficed to fill.=
His
friends came to it in such numbers that even a man as easy-going as the doc=
tor
might have said with Socrates, "My house is small, but may it please
Heaven never to fill it with friends!"
To complete the description of the Forward it is sufficient to say that the kennel =
of the
large Danish dog was constructed under the window of the mysterious cabin b=
ut
its savage inhabitant preferred wandering between decks and in the hold; it
seemed impossible to tame him, and no one had been able to become his maste=
r;
during the night he howled lamentably, making the hollows of the ship ring =
in a
sinister fashion. Was it regret for his absent master? Was it the instinct =
of
knowing that he was starting for a perilous voyage? Was it a presentiment of
dangers to come? The sailors decided that it was for the latter reason, and=
more
than one pretended to joke who believed seriously that the dog was of a
diabolical kind. Pen, who was a brutal man, was going to strike him once, w=
hen
he fell, unfortunately, against the angle of the capstan, and made a fright=
ful
wound in his head. Of course this accident was placed to the account of the=
fantastic
animal. Clifton, the most superstitious of the crew, made the singular
observation that when the dog was on the poop he always walked on the windw=
ard
side, and afterwards, when the brig was out at sea, and altered its tack, t=
he
surprising animal changed its direction with the wind the same as the capta=
in
of the Forward would have done in his place. Dr. Clawbo=
nny,
whose kindness and caresses would have tamed a tiger, tried in vain to win =
the good
graces of the dog; he lost his time and his pains. The animal did not answe=
r to
any name ever written in the dog calendar, and the crew ended by calling him
Captain, for he appeared perfectly conversant with ship customs; it was evi=
dent
that it was not his first trip. From such facts it is easy to understand the
boatswain's answer to Clifton's friend, and the credulity of those who heard
it; more than one repeated jokingly that he expected one day to see the dog
take human shape and command the manoeuvres with a resounding voice.
If Richard Shandon did not feel the same
apprehensions he was not without anxiety, and the day before the departure,=
in
the evening of April 5th, he had a conversation on the subject with the doc=
tor,
Wall, and Johnson in the poop cabin. These four persons were tasting their
tenth grog, and probably their last, for the letter from Aberdeen had order=
ed
that all the crew, from the captain to the stoker, should be teetotallers, =
and
that there should be no wine, beer, nor spirits on board except those given=
by
the doctor's orders. The conversation had been going on about the departure=
for
the last hour. If the instructions of the captain were realised to the end,
Shandon would receive his last instructions the next day.
"If the letter," said the commander,
"does not tell me the captain's name, it must at least tell me the
destination of the brig, or I shall not know where to take her to."
"If I were you," said the impatient
doctor, "I should start whether I get a letter or no; they'll know how=
to
send after you, you may depend."
"You are ready for anything, doctor; but =
if
so, to what quarter of the globe should you set sail?"
"To the North Pole, of course; there's not
the slightest doubt about that."
"Why should it not be the South Pole?&quo=
t;
asked Wall.
"The South Pole is out of the question. No
one with any sense would send a brig across the whole of the Atlantic. Just
reflect a minute, and you'll see the impossibility."
"The doctor has an answer to
everything," said Wall.
"Well, we'll say north," continued
Shandon. "But where north? To Spitzbergen or Greenland? Labrador or
Hudson's Bay? Although all directions end in insuperable icebergs, I am not
less puzzled as to which to take. Have you an answer to that, doctor?"=
"No," he answered, vexed at having
nothing to say; "but if you don't get a letter what shall you do?"=
;
"I shall do nothing; I shall wait."<= o:p>
"Do you mean to say you won't start?"
cried Dr. Clawbonny, agitating his glass in despair.
"Certainly I do."
"And that would be the wisest plan,"
said Johnson tranquilly, while the doctor began marching round the table, f=
or
he could not keep still; "but still, if we wait too long, the conseque=
nces
may be deplorable; the season is good now if we are really going north, as =
we
ought to profit by the breaking up of the ice to cross Davis's Straits;
besides, the crew gets more and more uneasy; the friends and companions of =
our
men do all they can to persuade them to leave the Forward , and their influence may be
pernicious for us."
"Besides," added Wall, "if one =
of
them deserted they all would, and then I don't know how you would get anoth=
er
crew together."
"But what can I do?" cried Shandon.<= o:p>
"What you said you would do," replied
the doctor; "wait and wait till to-morrow before you despair. The
captain's promises have all been fulfilled up to now with the greatest
regularity, and there's no reason to believe we shan't be made acquainted w=
ith
our destination when the proper time comes. I haven't the slightest doubt t=
hat to-morrow
we shall be sailing in the Irish Channel, and I propose we drink a last gro=
g to
our pleasant voyage. It begins in an unaccountable fashion, but with sailors
like you there are a thousand chances that it will end well."
And all four drank to their safe return.
"Now, commander," continued Johnson,
"if you will allow me to advise you, you will prepare everything to st=
art;
the crew must think that you know what you are about. If you don't get a le=
tter
to-morrow, set sail; do not get up the steam, the wind looks like holding o=
ut, and
it will be easy enough to sail; let the pilot come on board; go out of the
docks with the tide, and anchor below Birkenhead; our men won't be able to
communicate with land, and if the devil of a letter comes it will find us as
easily there as elsewhere."
"By heavens! you are right, Johnson!"
cried the doctor, holding out his hand to the old sailor.
"So be it," answered Shandon.
Then each one entered his cabin, and waited in
feverish sleep for the rising of the sun. The next day the first distributi=
on
of letters took place in the town, and not one bore the address of the
commander, Richard Shandon. Nevertheless, he made his preparations for depa=
rture,
and the news spread at once all over Liverpool, and, as we have already see=
n,
an extraordinary affluence of spectators crowded the wharfs of New Prince's
Docks. Many of them came on board to shake hands for the last time with a
comrade, or to try and dissuade a friend, or to take a look at the brig, an=
d to
know its destination; they were disappointed at finding the commander more
taciturn and reserved than ever. He had his reasons for that.
Ten o'clock struck. Eleven followed. The tide
began to go out that day at about one o'clock in the afternoon. Shandon from
the top of the poop was looking at the crowd with uneasy eyes, trying to re=
ad the
secret of his destiny on one of the faces. But in vain. The sailors of the =
Forward executed his orders in silence, looking =
at him
all the time, waiting for orders which did not come. Johnson went on prepar=
ing
for departure. The weather was cloudy and the sea rough; a south-easter blew
with violence, but it was easy to get out of the Mersey.
At twelve o'clock nothing had yet been receive=
d.
Dr. Clawbonny marched up and down in agitation, looking through his telesco=
pe, gesticulating,
impatient for the sea, as he said. He felt moved, though he struggled again=
st
it. Shandon bit his lips till the blood came. Johnson came up to him and sa=
id--
"Commander, if we want to profit by the t=
ide,
there is no time to be lost; we shall not be clear of the docks for at leas=
t an
hour."
Shandon looked round him once more and consult=
ed
his watch. The twelve o'clock letters had been distributed. In despair he t=
old
Johnson to start. The boatswain ordered the deck to be cleared of spectator=
s, and
the crowd made a general movement to regain the wharves while the last moor=
ings
were unloosed. Amidst the confusion a dog's bark was distinctly heard, and =
all
at once the animal broke through the compact mass, jumped on to the poop, a=
nd,
as a thousand spectators can testify, dropped a letter at Shandon's feet.
"A letter!" cried Shandon. " He=
is on board, then?"
"He was, that's certain, but he isn't
now," said Johnson, pointing to the deserted deck.
Shandon held the letter without opening it in =
his
astonishment.
"But read it, read it, I say," said =
the
doctor.
Shandon looked at it. The envelope had no post=
mark
or date; it was addressed simply to:
"RICHARD
SHANDON,
=
"Commander on board the brig
" Forwa=
rd ."
Shand=
on
opened the letter and read as follows:--
"=
;Sail
for Cape Farewell. You will reach it by the 20th of April. If the captain d=
oes
not appear on board, cross Davis's Straits, and sail up Baffin's Sea to
Melville Bay.
"THE C=
APTAIN
OF THE 'FORWARD,'
=
"K. Z."
Shand=
on
carefully folded this laconic epistle, put it in his pocket, and gave the o=
rder
for departure. His voice, which rang above the east wind, had something sol=
emn
in it.
Soon the Forward
had passed the docks, and directed=
by a
Liverpool pilot whose little cutter followed, went down the Mersey with the=
current.
The crowd precipitated itself on to the exterior wharf along the Victoria D=
ocks
in order to get a last glimpse of the strange brig. The two topsails, the
foresail and the brigantine sail were rapidly set up, and the Forward , worthy of its name, after havi=
ng
rounded Birkenhead Point, sailed with extraordinary fleetness into the Iris=
h Sea.
The w=
ind
was favourable, though it blew in April gales. The Forward cut through the waves, and towards three
o'clock crossed the mail steamer between Liverpool and the Isle of Man. The
captain hailed from his deck the last adieu that the Forward was destined to hear.
At five o'clock the pilot left the command in =
the
hands of Richard Shandon, the commander of the brig, and regained his cutte=
r,
which, turning round, soon disappeared on the south-west. Towards evening t=
he
brig doubled the Calf of Man at the southern extremity of the island. During
the night the sea was very rough, but the Forward behaved well, left the point of Ayr to t=
he
north-west, and directed its course for the Northern Channel. Johnson was
right; once out at sea the maritime instinct of the sailors gained the upper
hand. Life on board went on with regularity.
The doctor breathed in the sea air with deligh=
t;
he walked about vigorously in the squalls, and for a savant he was not a bad sailor.
"The sea is splendid," said he to
Johnson, coming up on deck after breakfast. "I have made its acquainta=
nce
rather late, but I shall make up for lost time."
"You are right, Mr. Clawbonny. I would gi=
ve
all the continents of the world for a corner of the ocean. They pretend that
sailors soon get tired of their profession, but I've been forty years on the
sea and I love it as much as the first day."
"It is a great pleasure to feel a good sh=
ip
under one's feet, and if I'm not a bad judge the Forward behaves herself well."
"You judge rightly, doctor," answered
Shandon, who had joined the talkers; "she is a good ship, and I
acknowledge that a vessel destined for navigation amongst ice has never been
better equipped. That reminds me that thirty years ago Captain James Ross,
sailing for the North-West passage----"
"In the Victory ," added the doctor quickly,
"a brig about the same tonnage as ours, with a steam-engine too."=
"What! you know about that?"
"Judge if I do," answered the doctor.
"Machines were then in their infancy, and the Victory's kept her back; the captain, James Ross, =
after
having vainly repaired it bit by bit, finished by taking it down, and aband=
oned
it at his first winter quarters."
"The devil!" said Shandon. "You
know all about it, I see."
"Yes. I've read the works of Parry, Ross,=
and
Franklin, and the reports of McClure, Kennedy, Kane, and McClintock, and I
remember something of what I've read. I can tell you, too, that this same
McClintock, on board the Fox , a s=
crew
brig in the style of ours, went easier to his destination than any of the m=
en
who preceded him."
"That's perfectly true," answered
Shandon; "he was a bold sailor was McClintock; I saw him at work. You =
may
add that, like him, we shall find ourselves in Davis's Straits in April, an=
d if
we succeed in passing the ice our voyage will be considerably advanced.&quo=
t;
"Unless," added the doctor, "it
happens to us like it did to the F=
ox in 1857, to be caught the very first yea=
r by
the ice in Baffin's Sea, and have to winter in the midst of the icebergs.&q=
uot;
"We must hope for better luck," answ=
ered
Johnson. "If a ship like the =
Forward
can't take us where we want to go,=
we
must renounce all hope for ever."
"Besides," said the doctor, "if=
the
captain is on board he will know better than we do what must be done. We kn=
ow
nothing as yet; his letter says nothing about what our voyage is for."=
"It is a good deal to know which way to
go," answered Shandon quickly. "We can do without the captain and=
his
instructions for another month at least. Besides, you know what I think abo=
ut
it."
"A short time ago," said the doctor,
"I thought like you that the captain would never appear, and that you
would remain commander of the ship; but now----"
"Now what?" replied Shandon in an
impatient tone.
"Since the arrival of the second letter I
have modified that opinion."
"Why, doctor?"
"Because the letter tells you the route to
follow, but leaves you ignorant of the =
span>Forward's
destination; and we must know wher=
e we are
going to. How the deuce are you to get a letter now we are out at sea? On t=
he
coast of Greenland the service of the post must leave much to wish for. I
believe that our gentleman is waiting for us in some Danish settlement--at
Holsteinborg or Uppernawik; he has evidently gone there to complete his car=
go
of sealskins, buy his sledges and dog, and, in short, get together all the
tackle wanted for a voyage in the Arctic Seas. I shouldn't be at all surpri=
sed
to see him come out of his cabin one of these fine mornings and begin comma=
nding
the ship in anything but a supernatural way."
"It's possible," answered Shandon dr=
ily;
"but in the meantime the wind is getting up, and I can't risk my galla=
nt
sails in such weather."
Shandon left the doctor and gave the order to =
reef
the topsails.
"He takes it to heart," said the doc=
tor
to the boatswain.
"Yes," answered the latter, "and
it's a great pity, for you may be right, Mr. Clawbonny."
In the evening of Saturday the Forward doubled the Mull of Galloway, whose ligh=
thouse
shone to the north-east; during the night they left the Mull of Cantyre to =
the
north, and Cape Fair, on the coast of Ireland, to the east. Towards three
o'clock in the morning, the brig, leaving Rathlin Island on her starboard s=
ide,
disembogued by the Northern Channel into the ocean. It was Sunday, the 8th =
of
April, and the doctor read some chapters of the Bible to the assembled seam=
en.
The wind then became a perfect hurricane, and tended to throw the brig on t=
o the
Irish coast; she pitched, and rolled, and tossed, and if the doctor was not
seasick it was because he would not be, for nothing was easier. At noon Cape
Malinhead disappeared towards the south; it was the last European ground th=
at
these bold sailors were to perceive, and more than one watched it out of si=
ght,
destined never to see it again. They were then in 55 degrees 57 minutes
latitude and 7 degrees 40 minutes longitude by the Greenwich meridian.
The storm spent itself out about nine o'clock =
in
the evening; the Forward , like a =
good
sailor, maintained her route north-west. She showed by her behaviour during=
the
day what her sailing capacities were, and as the Liverpool connoisseurs had
remarked, she was above all, a sailing vessel. During the following days th=
e Forward gained the north-west with rapidity; the=
wind
veered round south, and the sea had a tremendous swell on; the brig was then
going along under full sail. Some petrels and puffins came sailing over the
poop; the doctor skilfully shot one of the latter, and it fell, fortunately=
, on
the deck. The harpooner, Simpson, picked it up and brought it to its owner.=
"Nasty game that, Mr. Clawbonny," he
said.
"It will make an excellent meal, on the
contrary," said the doctor.
"You don't mean to say you are going to e=
at
that thing?"
"And so are you, old fellow," said t=
he
doctor, laughing.
"Poh!" replied Simpson, "but it=
's
oily and rancid, like all other sea birds."
"Never mind!" answered the doctor,
"I have a peculiar way of cooking that game, and if you recognise it f=
or a
sea bird I'll consent never to kill another in my life."
"Do you know how to cook, then?"
"A savant
ought to know how to do a little of
everything."
"You'd better take care, Simpson," s=
aid
the boatswain; "the doctor's a clever man, and he'll make you take this
puffin for a grouse."
The fact is that the doctor was quite right ab=
out
his fowl; he took off all the fat, which all lies under the skin, principal=
ly
on the thighs, and with it disappeared the rancidity and taste of fish whic=
h is
so disagreeable in a sea bird. Thus prepared the puffin was declared excell=
ent,
and Simpson acknowledged it the first.
During the late storm Richard Shandon had been
able to judge of the qualities of his crew; he had watched each man narrowl=
y,
and knew how much each was to be depended upon.
James Wall was devoted to Richard, understood
quickly and executed well, but he might fail in initiative; he placed him in
the third rank. Johnson was used to struggle with the sea; he was an old st=
ager
in the Arctic Ocean, and had nothing to learn either in audacity or sang-froid . The harpooner, Simpson, and=
the
carpenter, Bell, were sure men, faithful to duty and discipline. The
ice-master, Foker, was an experienced sailor, and, like Johnson, was capabl=
e of
rendering important service. Of the other sailors Garry and Bolton seemed t=
o be
the best; Bolton was a gay and talkative fellow; Garry was thirty-five, wit=
h an
energetic face, but rather pale and sad-looking. The three sailors, Clifton,
Gripper, and Pen, seemed less ardent and resolute; they easily grumbled.
Gripper wanted to break his engagement even before the departure of the
On the 14th of April the Forward got into the grand current of the Gulf S=
tream,
which, after ascending the eastern coast of America to Newfoundland, inclin=
es
to the north-east along the coast of Norway. They were then in 57 degrees 37
minutes latitude by 22 degrees 58 minutes longitude, at two hundred miles f=
rom
the point of Greenland. The weather grew colder, and the thermometer descen=
ded
to thirty-two degrees, that is to say to freezing point.
The doctor had not yet begun to wear the garme=
nts
he destined for the Arctic Seas, but he had donned a sailor's dress like the
rest; he was a queer sight with his top-boots, in which his legs disappeare=
d, his
vast oilcloth hat, his jacket and trousers of the same; when drenched with
heavy rains or enormous waves the doctor looked like a sort of sea-animal, =
and
was proud of the comparison.
During two days the sea was extremely rough; t=
he
wind veered round to the north-west, and delayed the progress of the Forward . From the 14th to the 16th of A=
pril
the swell was great, but on the Monday there came such a torrent of rain th=
at
the sea became calm immediately. Shandon spoke to the doctor about this
phenomenon.
"It confirms the curious observations of =
the
whaler Scoresby, who laid it before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of whic=
h I
have the honour to be an honorary member. You see that when it rains the wa=
ves are
not very high, even under the influence of a violent wind, and when the wea=
ther
is dry the sea is more agitated, even when there is less wind."
"But how is this phenomenon accounted
for?"
"Very simply; it is not accounted for at
all."
Just then the ice-master, who was keeping watc=
h on
the crossbars of the topsails, signalled a floating mass on the starboard, =
at
about fifteen miles distance before the wind.
"An iceberg here!" cried the doctor.=
Shandon pointed his telescope in the direction
indicated, and confirmed the pilot's announcement.
"That is curious!" said the doctor.<= o:p>
"What! you are astonished at last!" =
said
the commander, laughing.
"I am surprised, but not astonished,"
answered the doctor, laughing; "for the brig Ann , of Poole, from Greenspond, was cau=
ght in
1813 in perfect ice-fields, in the forty-fourth degree of north latitude, a=
nd
her captain, Dayernent, counted them by hundreds!"
"I see you can teach us something, even u=
pon
that subject."
"Very little," answered Clawbonny
modestly; "it is only that ice has been met with in even lower
latitudes."
"I knew that already, doctor, for when I =
was
cabinboy on board the war-sloop Fl=
y ----"
"In 1818," continued the doctor,
"at the end of March, almost in April, you passed between two large
islands of floating ice under the forty-second degree of latitude."
"Well, I declare you astonish me!" c=
ried
Shandon.
"But the iceberg doesn't astonish me, as =
we
are two degrees further north."
"You are a well, doctor," answered t=
he
commander, "and all we have to do is to be water-buckets."
"You will draw me dry sooner than you thi=
nk
for; and now, Shandon, if we could get a nearer look at this phenomenon, I
should be the happiest of doctors."
"Just so, Johnson," said Shandon,
calling his boatswain. "It seems to me that the breeze is getting
up."
"Yes, commander," answered Johnson;
"we are making very little way, and the currents of Davis's Straits wi=
ll
soon be against us."
"You are right, Johnson, and if we wish t=
o be
in sight of Cape Farewell on the 20th of April we must put the steam on, or=
we
shall be thrown on the coasts of Labrador. Mr. Wall, will you give orders to
light the fires?"
The commander's orders were executed, an hour
afterwards the steam was up, the sails were furled, and the screw cutting t=
he
waves sent the Forward against the north-west wind.
A sho=
rt
time after the flights of birds became more and more numerous. Petrels,
puffins, and mates, inhabitants of those desolate quarters, signalled the
approach of Greenland. The Forward=
was rapidly nearing the north, leaving t=
o her
leeward a long line of black smoke.
On Tuesday the 17th of April, about eleven o'c=
lock
in the morning, the ice-master signalled the first sight of the ice-blink; =
it
was about twenty miles to the N.N.W. This glaring white strip was brilliant=
ly
lighted up, in spite of the presence of thick clouds in the neighbouring pa=
rts
of the sky. Experienced people on board could make no mistake about this
phenomenon, and declared, from its whiteness, that the blink was owing to a
large ice-field, situated at about thirty miles out of sight, and that it
proceeded from the reflection of luminous rays. Towards evening the wind tu=
rned
round to the south, and became favourable; Shandon put on all sail, and for
economy's sake caused the fires to be put out. The Forward , under her topsails and foresai=
ls,
glided on towards Cape Farewell.
At three o'clock on the 18th they came across =
the
ice-stream, and a white thick line of a glaring colour cut brilliantly the
lines of the sea and sky. It was evidently drifting from the eastern coast =
of
Greenland more than from Davis's Straits, for ice generally keeps to the we=
st
coast of Baffin's Sea. An hour afterwards the Forward passed in the midst of isolated portions=
of
the ice-stream, and in the most compact parts, the icebergs, though welded
together, obeyed the movements of the swell. The next day the man at the ma=
sthead
signalled a vessel. It was the Val=
kirien
, a Danish corvette, running alongside the Forward , and making for the bank of
Newfoundland. The current of the Strait began to make itself felt, and Shan=
don
had to put on sail to go up it. At this moment the commander, the doctor, J=
ames
Wall, and Johnson were assembled on the poop examining the direction and
strength of the current. The doctor wanted to know if the current existed a=
lso
in Baffin's Sea.
"Without the least doubt," answered Shandon, "and the sailing vessels have much trouble to stem it."<= o:p>
"Besides there," added Wall, "y=
ou
meet with it on the eastern coast of America, as well as on the western coa=
st
of Greenland."
"There," said the doctor, "that=
is
what gives very singular reason to the seekers of the North-West passage! T=
hat
current runs about five miles an hour, and it is a little difficult to supp=
ose
that it springs from the bottom of a gulf."
"It is so much the more probable,
doctor," replied Shandon, "that if this current runs from north t=
o south
we find in Behring's Straits a contrary current which runs from south to no=
rth,
and which must be the origin of this one."
"According to that," replied the doc=
tor,
"we must admit that America is totally unconnected with the Polar land=
s,
and that the waters of the Pacific run round the coasts of America into the
Atlantic. On the other hand, the greater elevation of the waters of the Pac=
ific
gives reason to the supposition that they fall into the European seas."=
;
"But," sharply replied Shandon,
"there must be facts to establish that theory, and if there are any,&q=
uot;
added he with irony, "our universally well-informed doctor ought to kn=
ow
them."
"Well," replied the above-mentioned,
with amiable satisfaction, "if it interests you, I can tell you that
whales, wounded in Davis's Straits, are caught some time afterwards in the
neighbourhood of Tartary with the European harpoon still in their flanks.&q=
uot;
"And unless they have been able to double
Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope," replied Shandon, "they must =
necessarily
have rounded the septentrional coasts of America--that's what I call
indisputable, doctor."
"However, if you were not convinced, my d=
ear
fellow," said the doctor, smiling, "I could still produce other
facts, such as drift-wood, of which Davis's Straits are full, larch, aspen,=
and
other tropical trees. Now we know that the Gulf Stream hinders those woods =
from
entering the Straits. If, then, they come out of it they can only get in fr=
om Behring's
Straits."
"I am convinced, doctor, and I avow that =
it
would be difficult to remain incredulous with you."
"Upon my honour," said Johnson,
"there's something that comes just in time to help our discussion. I
perceive in the distance a lump of wood of certain dimensions; if the comma=
nder
permits it we'll haul it in, and ask it the name of its country."
"That's it," said the doctor, "=
the
example after the rule."
Shandon gave the necessary orders; the brig was
directed towards the piece of wood signalled, and soon afterwards, not with=
out
trouble, the crew hoisted it on deck. It was the trunk of a mahogany tree, =
gnawed
right into the centre by worms, but for which circumstance it would not have
floated.
"This is glorious," said the doctor
enthusiastically, "for as the currents of the Atlantic could not carry=
it
to Davis's Straits, and as it has not been driven into the Polar basin by t=
he
streams of septentrional America, seeing that this tree grew under the Equa=
tor,
it is evident that it comes in a straight line from Behring; and look here,=
you
see those sea-worms which have eaten it, they belong to a hot-country
species."
"It is evident," replied Wall,
"that the people who do not believe in the famous passage are wrong.&q=
uot;
"Why, this circumstance alone ought to
convince them," said the doctor; "I will just trace you out the
itinerary of that mahogany; it has been floated towards the Pacific by some
river of the Isthmus of Panama or Guatemala, from thence the current has
dragged it along the American coast as far as Behring's Straits, and in spi=
te
of everything it was obliged to enter the Polar Seas. It is neither so old =
nor
so soaked that we need fear to assign a recent date to its setting out; it =
has
had the good luck to get clear of the obstacles in that long suite of strai=
ts
which lead out of Baffin's Bay, and quickly seized by the boreal current ca=
me
by Davis's Straits to be made prisoner by the Forward to the great joy of Dr. Clawbonny, who a=
sks
the commander's permission to keep a sample of it."
"Do so," said Shandon, "but all=
ow
me to tell you that you will not be the only proprietor of such a wreck. The
Danish governor of the Isle of Disko----"
"On the coast of Greenland," continu=
ed
the doctor, "possesses a mahogany table made from a trunk fished up un=
der
the same circumstances. I know it, but I don't envy him his table, for if i=
t were
not for the bother, I should have enough there for a whole bedroom."
During the night, from Wednesday to Thursday, =
the
wind blew with extreme violence, and driftwood was seen more frequently.
Nearing the coast offered many dangers at an epoch in which icebergs were so
numerous; the commander caused some of the sails to be furled, and the Forward glided away under her foresail and forem=
ast
only. The thermometer sank below freezing-point. Shandon distributed suitab=
le
clothing to the crew, a woollen jacket and trousers, a flannel shirt, wadmel
stockings, the same as those the Norwegian country-people wear, and a pair =
of
perfectly waterproof sea-boots. As to the captain, he contented himself with
his natural fur, and appeared little sensible to the change in the temperat=
ure;
he had, no doubt, gone through more than one trial of this kind, and beside=
s, a
Dane had no right to be difficult. He was seen very little, as he kept hims=
elf
concealed in the darkest parts of the vessel.
Towards evening the coast of Greenland peeped =
out
through an opening in the fog. The doctor, armed with his glass, could
distinguish for an instant a line of peaks, ridged with large blocks of ice;
but the fog closed rapidly on this vision, like the curtain of a theatre fa=
lling
in the most interesting moment of the piece.
On the morning of the 20th of April the Forward was in sight of an iceberg a hundred and=
fifty
feet high, stranded there from time immemorial; the thaws had taken no effe=
ct
on it, and had respected its strange forms. Snow saw it; James Ross took an
exact sketch of it in 1829; and in 1851 the French lieutenant Bellot saw it
from the deck of the Prince Albert=
. Of
course the doctor wished to keep a memento of the celebrated mountain, and =
made
a clever sketch of it. It is not surprising that such masses should be stra=
nded
and adhere to the land, for to each foot above water they have two feet bel=
ow, giving,
therefore, to this one about eighty fathoms of depth.
At last, under a temperature which at noon was
only 12 degrees, under a snowy and foggy sky, Cape Farewell was perceived. =
The Forward arrived on the day fixed; if it pleased =
the
unknown captain to come and occupy his position in such diabolical weather =
he
would have no cause to complain.
"There you are, then," said the doct=
or
to himself, "cape so celebrated and so well named! Many have cleared it
like us who were destined never to see it again. Is it, then, an eternal ad=
ieu
said to one's European friends? You have all passed it. Frobisher, Knight,
Barlow, Vaughan, Scroggs, Barentz, Hudson, Blosseville, Franklin, Crozier, =
Bellot,
never to come back to your domestic hearth, and that cape has been really f=
or
you the cape of adieus."
It was about the year 970 that some navigators
left Iceland and discovered Greenland. Sebastian Cabot forced his way as fa=
r as
latitude 56 degrees in 1498. Gaspard and Michel Cotreal, in 1500 and 1502, =
went
as far north as 60 degrees; and Martin Frobisher, in 1576, arrived as far as
the bay that bears his name. To John Davis belongs the honour of having
discovered the Straits in 1585; and two years later, in a third voyage, that
bold navigator and great whaler reached the sixty-third parallel, twenty-se=
ven
degrees from the Pole.
Barentz in 1596, Weymouth in 1602, James Hall =
in
1605 and 1607, Hudson, whose name was given to that vast bay which hollows =
out
so profoundly the continent of America, James Poole, in 1611, advanced far =
into
the Strait in search of that North-West passage the discovery of which woul=
d have
considerably shortened the track of communication between the two worlds.
Baffin, in 1616, found the Straits of Lancaster in the sea that bears his o=
wn
name; he was followed, in 1619, by James Munk, and in 1719 by Knight, Barlo=
w,
Vaughan, and Scroggs, of whom no news has ever been heard. In 1776 Lieutena=
nt
Pickersgill, sent out to meet Captain Cook, who tried to go up Behring's
Straits, reached the sixty-eighth degree; the following year Young, for the
same purpose, went as far north as Woman's Island.
Afterwards came Captain James Ross, who, in 18=
18,
rounded the coasts of Baffin's Sea, and corrected the hydrographic errors of
his predecessors. Lastly, in 1819 and 1820, the celebrated Parry passed thr=
ough
Lancaster Straits, and penetrated, in spite of unnumbered difficulties, as =
far
as Melville Island, and won the prize of 5,000 pounds promised by Act of
Parliament to the English sailors who would reach the hundred and seventeen=
th
meridian by a higher latitude than the seventy-seventh parallel.
In 1826 Beechey touched Chamisso Island; James
Ross wintered from 1829 to 1833 in Prince Regent Straits, and amongst other
important works discovered the magnetic pole. During this time Franklin, by=
an
overland route, traversed the septentrional coasts of America from the River
Mackenzie to Turnagain Point. Captain Back followed in his steps from 1823 =
to
1835, and these explorations were completed in 1839 by Messrs. Dease and
Simpson and Dr. Rae.
Lastly, Sir John Franklin, wishing to discover=
the
North-West passage, left England in 1845 on board the Erebus and the Terror ; he penetrated into Baffin's Sea=
, and
since his passage across Disko Island no news had been heard of his expedit=
ion.
That disappearance determined the numerous
investigations which have brought about the discovery of the passage, and t=
he
survey of these Polar continents, with such indented coast lines. The most
daring English, French, and American sailors made voyages towards these ter=
rible
countries, and, thanks to their efforts, the maps of that country, so diffi=
cult
to make, figured in the list of the Royal Geographical Society of London. T=
he
curious history of these countries was thus presented to the doctor's
imagination as he leaned on the rail, and followed with his eyes the long t=
rack
left by the brig. Thoughts of the bold navigators weighed upon his mind, an=
d he
fancied he could perceive under the frozen arches of the icebergs the pale
ghosts of those who were no more.
Durin=
g that
day the Forward cut out an easy road amongst the half-br=
oken
ice; the wind was good, but the temperature very low; the currents of air
blowing across the ice-fields brought with them their penetrating cold. The
night required the severest attention; the floating icebergs drew together =
in
that narrow pass; a hundred at once were often counted on the horizon; they
broke off from the elevated coasts under the teeth of the grinding waves and
the influence of the spring season, in order to go and melt or to be swallo=
wed
up in the depths of the ocean. Long rafts of wood, with which it was necess=
ary
to escape collision, kept the crew on the alert; the crow's nest was put in=
its
place on the mizenmast; it consisted of a cask, in which the ice-master was
partly hidden to protect him from the cold winds while he kept watch over t=
he
sea and the icebergs in view, and from which he signalled danger and someti=
mes
gave orders to the crew. The nights were short; the sun had reappeared since
the 31st of January in consequence of the refraction, and seemed to get hig=
her
and higher above the horizon. But the snow impeded the view, and if it did =
not
cause complete obscurity it rendered navigation laborious.
On the 21st of April Desolation Cape appeared =
in
the midst of thick mists; the crew were tired out with the constant strain =
on
their energies rendered necessary ever since they had got amongst the icebe=
rgs;
the sailors had not had a minute's rest; it was soon necessary to have reco=
urse
to steam to cut a way through the heaped-up blocks. The doctor and Johnson =
were
talking together on the stern, whilst Shandon was snatching a few hours' sl=
eep
in his cabin. Clawbonny was getting information from the old sailor, whose
numerous voyages had given him an interesting and sensible education. The d=
octor
felt much friendship for him, and the boatswain repaid it with interest.
"You see, Mr. Clawbonny," Johnson us=
ed
to say, "this country is not like all others; they call it Green land, but there are very few weeks=
in
the year when it justifies its name."
"Who knows if in the tenth century this l=
and
did not justify its name?" added the doctor. "More than one
revolution of this kind has been produced upon our globe, and I daresay I
should astonish you if I were to tell you that according to Icelandic chron=
icles
two thousand villages flourished upon this continent about eight or nine
hundred years ago."
"You would so much astonish me, Mr.
Clawbonny, that I should have some difficulty in believing you, for it is a
miserable country."
"However miserable it may be, it still of=
fers
a sufficient retreat to its inhabitants, and even to civilised Europeans.&q=
uot;
"Without doubt! We met men at Disko and
Uppernawik who consented to live in such climates; but my ideas upon the ma=
tter
were that they lived there by compulsion and not by choice."
"I daresay you are right, though men get
accustomed to everything, and the Greenlanders do not appear to me so
unfortunate as the workmen of our large towns; they may be unfortunate, but
they are certainly not unhappy. I say unhappy, but the word does not transl=
ate
my thought, for if these people have not the comforts of temperate countrie=
s, they
are formed for a rude climate, and find pleasures in it which we are not ab=
le
to conceive."
"I suppose we must think so, as Heaven is
just. Many, many voyages have brought me upon these coasts, and my heart al=
ways
shrinks at the sight of these wretched solitudes; but they ought to have
cheered up these capes, promontories, and bays with more engaging names, fo=
r Farewell
Cape and Desolation Cape are not names made to attract navigators."
"I have also remarked that," replied=
the
doctor, "but these names have a geographical interest that we must not
overlook. They describe the adventures of those who gave them those names. =
Next
to the names of Davis, Baffin, Hudson, Ross, Parry, Franklin, and Bellot, i=
f I meet
with Cape Desolation I soon find Mercy Bay; Cape Providence is a companion =
to
Port Anxiety; Repulsion Bay brings me back to Cape Eden, and leaving Turnag=
ain
Point I take refuge in Refuge Bay. I have there under my eyes an unceasing
succession of perils, misfortunes, obstacles, successes, despairs, and issu=
es,
mixed with great names of my country, and, like a series of old-fashioned
medals, that nomenclature retraces in my mind the whole history of these
seas."
"You are quite right, Mr. Clawbonny, and I
hope we shall meet with more Success Bays than Despair Capes in our
voyage."
"I hope so too, Johnson; but, I say, is t=
he
crew come round a little from its terrors?"
"Yes, a little; but since we got into the
Straits they have begun to talk about the fantastic captain; more than one =
of
them expected to see him appear at the extremity of Greenland; but between =
you
and me, doctor, doesn't it astonish you a little too?"
"It does indeed, Johnson."
"Do you believe in the captain's
existence?"
"Of course I do."
"But what can be his reasons for acting in
that manner?"
"If I really must tell you the whole of my
thoughts, Johnson, I believe that the captain wished to entice the crew far
enough out to prevent them being able to come back. Now if he had been on b=
oard
when we started they would all have wanted to know our destination, and he =
might
have been embarrassed."
"But why so?"
"Suppose he should wish to attempt some
superhuman enterprise, and to penetrate where others have never been able to
reach, do you believe if the crew knew it they would ever have enlisted? As=
it
is, having got so far, going farther becomes a necessity."
"That's very probable, Mr. Clawbonny. I h=
ave
known more than one intrepid adventurer whose name alone was a terror, and =
who
would never have found any one to accompany him in his perilous
expeditions----"
"Excepting me," ventured the doctor.=
"And me, after you," answered Johnso=
n,
"and to follow you; I can venture to affirm that our captain is amongst
the number of such adventurers. No matter, we shall soon see; I suppose the
unknown will come as captain on board from the coast of Uppernawik or Melvi=
lle Bay,
and will tell us at last where it is his good pleasure to conduct the
ship."
"I am of your opinion, Johnson, but the
difficulty will be to get as far as Melville Bay. See how the icebergs enci=
rcle
us from every point! They scarcely leave a passage for the Forward . Just examine that immense plai=
n over
there."
"The whalers call that in our language an
ice-field, that is to say a continued surface of ice the limits of which ca=
nnot
be perceived."
"And on that side, that broken field, tho=
se
long pieces of ice more or less joined at their edges?"
"That is a pack; if it was of a circular =
form
we should call it a patch; and, if the form was longer, a stream."
"And there, those floating icebergs?"=
;
"Those are drift-ice; if they were a litt=
le
higher they would be icebergs or hills; their contact with vessels is
dangerous, and must be carefully avoided. Here, look over there: on that
ice-field there is a protuberance produced by the pressure of the icebergs;=
we
call that a hummock; if that protuberance was submerged to its base we shou=
ld
call it a calf. It was very necessary to give names to all those forms in o=
rder
to recognise them."
"It is truly a marvellous spectacle!"
exclaimed the doctor, contemplating the wonders of the Boreal Seas; "t=
here
is a field for the imagination in such pictures!"
"Yes," answered Johnson, "ice o=
ften
takes fantastic shapes, and our men are not behindhand in explaining them
according to their own notions."
"Isn't that assemblage of ice-blocks
admirable? Doesn't it look like a foreign town, an Eastern town, with its
minarets and mosques under the pale glare of the moon? Further on there is a
long series of Gothic vaults, reminding one of Henry the Seventh's chapel or
the Houses of Parliament."
"They would be houses and towns very
dangerous to inhabit, and we must not sail too close to them. Some of those
minarets yonder totter on their base, and the least of them would crush a
vessel like the Forward ."
"And yet sailors dared to venture into th=
ese
seas before they had steam at their command! How ever could a sailing vesse=
l be
steered amongst these moving rocks?"
"Nevertheless, it has been accomplished, =
Mr.
Clawbonny. When the wind became contrary--and that has happened to me more =
than
once--we quietly anchored to one of those blocks, and we drifted more or le=
ss with
it and waited for a favourable moment to set sail again. I must acknowledge
that such a manner of voyaging required months, whilst with a little good
fortune we shall only want a few days."
"It seems to me," said the doctor,
"that the temperature has a tendency to get lower."
"That would be a pity," answered
Johnson, "for a thaw is necessary to break up these masses and drive t=
hem
away into the Atlantic; besides, they are more numerous in Davis's Straits,=
for
the sea gets narrower between Capes Walsingham and Holsteinborg; but on the=
other
side of the 67th degree we shall find the seas more navigable during the mo=
nths
of May and June."
"Yes; but first of all we must get to the
other side."
"Yes, we must get there, Mr. Clawbonny. In June and July we should have found an open passage, like the whalers do, but our orders were precise; we were to be here in April. I am very much mistak= en if our captain has not his reasons for getting us out here so early."<= o:p>
The doctor was right in stating that the
temperature was lowering; the thermometer at noon only indicated 6 degrees,=
and
a north-west breeze was getting up, which, although it cleared the sky,
assisted the current in precipitating the floating masses of ice into the p=
ath of
the Forward . All of them did not =
obey
the same impulsion, and it was not uncommon to encounter some of the highest
masses drifting in an opposite direction, seized at their base by an
undercurrent.
It is easy to understand the difficulties of t=
his
kind of navigation; the engineers had not a minute's rest; the engines were
worked from the deck by means of levers, which opened, stopped, and reversed
them according to the orders of the officers on watch. Sometimes the brig h=
ad
to hasten through an opening in the ice-fields, sometimes to struggle again=
st
the swiftness of an iceberg which threatened to close the only practicable
issue, or, again, some block, suddenly overthrown, compelled the brig to ba=
ck
quickly so as not to be crushed to pieces. This mass of ice, carried along,
broken up and amalgamated by the northern current, crushed up the passage, =
and
if seized by the frost would oppose an impassable barrier to the passage of=
the
Forward .
Birds were found in innumerable quantities on
these coasts, petrels and other sea-birds fluttered about here and there wi=
th
deafening cries, a great number of big-headed, short-necked sea-gulls were =
amongst
them; they spread out their long wings and braved in their play the snow
whipped by the hurricane. This animation of the winged tribe made the lands=
cape
more lively.
Numerous pieces of wood were floating to leewa=
y,
clashing with noise; a few enormous, bloated-headed sharks approached the
vessel, but there was no question of chasing them, although Simpson, the
harpooner, was longing to have a hit at them. Towards evening several seals
made their appearance, nose above water, swimming between the blocks.
On the 22nd the temperature again lowered; the=
Forward put on all steam to catch the favourable
passes: the wind was decidedly fixed in the north-west; all sails were furl=
ed.
During that day, which was Sunday, the sailors=
had
little to do. After the reading of Divine service, which was conducted by
Shandon, the crew gave chase to sea-birds, of which they caught a great num=
ber.
They were suitably prepared according to the doctor's method, and furnished=
an
agreeable increase of provisions to the tables of the officers and crew.
At three o'clock in the afternoon the Forward had attained Thin de Sael, Sukkertop Mou=
ntain;
the sea was very rough; from time to time a vast and inopportune fog fell f=
rom
the grey sky; however, at noon an exact observation could be taken. The ves=
sel
was in 65 degrees 20 minutes latitude by 54 degrees 22 minutes longitude. It
was necessary to attain two degrees more in order to meet with freer and mo=
re
favourable navigation.
During the three following days, the 24th, 25t=
h,
and 26th of April, the Forward
Richard Shandon never missed completing his
provision of water by embarking several tons of ice every day. The doctor c=
ould
not accustom himself to the optical delusions that refraction produces on t=
hese
coasts. An iceberg sometimes appeared to him like a small white lump within
reach, when it was at least at ten or twelve miles' distance. He endeavoure=
d to
accustom his eyesight to this singular phenomenon, so that he might be able=
to
correct its errors rapidly.
At last the crew were completely worn out by t=
heir
labours in hauling the vessel alongside of the ice-fields and by keeping it
free from the most menacing blocks by the aid of long perches. Nevertheless=
, the
Forward was still held back in the impassable li=
mits
of the Polar Circle on Friday, the 27th of April.
Howev=
er,
the Forward managed, by cunningly slipping into narr=
ow passages,
to gain a few more minutes north; but instead of avoiding the enemy, it was
soon necessary to attack it. The ice-fields, several miles in extent, were
getting nearer, and as these moving heaps often represent a pressure of more
than ten millions of tons, it was necessary to give a wide berth to their
embraces. The ice-saws were at once installed in the interior of the vessel=
, in
such a manner as to facilitate immediate use of them. Part of the crew phil=
osophically
accepted their hard work, but the other complained of it, if it did not ref=
use
to obey. At the same time that they assisted in the installation of the
instruments, Garry, Bolton, Pen and Gripper exchanged their opinions.
"By Jingo!" said Bolton gaily, "=
;I
don't know why the thought strikes me that there's a very jolly tavern in
Water-street where it's comfortable to be between a glass of gin and a bott=
le
of porter. Can't you imagine it, Gripper?"
"To tell you the truth," quickly
answered the questioned sailor, who generally professed to be in a bad temp=
er,
"I don't imagine it here."
"It's for the sake of talking, Gripper; i=
t's
evident that the snow towns Dr. Clawbonny admires so don't contain the least
public where a poor sailor can get a half-pint of brandy."
"That's sure enough, Bolton; and you may =
as
well add that there's nothing worth drinking here. It's a nice idea to depr=
ive
men of their grog when they are in the Northern Seas."
"But you know," said Garry, "th=
at
the doctor told us it was to prevent us getting the scurvy. It's the only w=
ay
to make us go far."
"But I don't want to go far, Garry; it's =
pretty
well to have come this far without trying to go where the devil is determin=
ed
we shan't."
"Well, we shan't go, that's all," replied Pen. "I declare I've almost forgotten the taste of gin."<= o:p>
"But remember what the doctor says,"
replied Bolton.
"It's all very fine for them to talk. It
remains to be seen if it isn't an excuse for being skinny with the drink.&q=
uot;
"Pen may be right, after all," said
Gripper.
"His nose is too red for that," answ=
ered
Bolton. "Pen needn't grumble if it loses a little of its colour in the
voyage."
"What's my nose got to do with you?"
sharply replied the sailor, attacked in the most sensitive place. "My =
nose
doesn't need any of your remarks; take care of your own."
"Now, then, don't get angry, Pen; I didn't
know your nose was so touchy. I like a glass of whisky as well as anybody,
especially in such a temperature; but if I know it'll do me more harm than
good, I go without."
"You go without," said Warren, the
stoker; "but everyone don't go without."
"What do you mean, Warren?" asked Ga=
rry,
looking fixedly at him.
"I mean that for some reason or other the= re are spirits on board, and I know they don't go without in the stern."<= o:p>
"And how do you know that?" asked Ga=
rry.
Warren did not know what to say: he talked for=
the
sake of talking.
"You see Warren don't know anything about=
it,
Garry," said Bolton.
"Well," said Pen, "we'll ask the
commander for a ration of gin; we've earned it well and we'll see what he
says."
"I wouldn't if I were you," answered
Garry.
"Why?" cried Pen and Gripper.
"Because he'll refuse. You knew you weren=
't
to have any when you enlisted; you should have thought of it then."
"Besides," replied Bolton, who took
Garry's part because he liked his character, "Richard Shandon isn't ma=
ster
on board; he obeys, like us."
"Who is master if he isn't?"
"The captain."
"Always that unfortunate captain!"
exclaimed Pen. "Don't you see that on these ice-banks there's no more a
captain than there is a public? It's a polite way of refusing us what we've=
a
right to claim."
"But if there's a captain," replied Bolton, "I'll bet two months' pay we shall see him before long."<= o:p>
"I should like to tell the captain a bit =
of
my mind," said Pen.
"Who's talking about the captain?" s=
aid
a new-comer. It was Clifton, the sailor, a superstitious and envious man.
"Is anything new known about the captain?" he asked.
"No," they all answered at once.
"Well, I believe we shall find him one fi=
ne
morning installed in his cabin, and no one will know how he got there."=
;
"Get along, do!" replied Bolton.
"Why, Clifton, you imagine that he's a hobgoblin--a sort of wild child=
of
the Highlands."
"Laugh as much as you like, Bolton, you w= on't change my opinion. Every day as I pass his cabin I look through the keyhole. One of these fine mornings I shall come and tell you what he's like."<= o:p>
"Why, he'll be like everyone else," =
said
Pen, "and if he thinks he'll be able to do what he likes with us, he'll
find himself mistaken, that's all!"
"Pen don't know him yet," said Bolto=
n,
"and he's beginning to quarrel with him already."
"Who doesn't know him?" said Clifton,
looking knowing; "I don't know that he don't!"
"What the devil do you mean?" asked
Gripper.
"I know very well what I mean."
"But we don't."
"Well, Pen has quarrelled with him
before."
"With the captain?"
"Yes, the dog-captain--it's all one."=
;
The sailors looked at one another, afraid to s=
ay
anything.
"Man or dog," muttered Pen, "I
declare that that animal will have his account one of these days."
"Come, Clifton," asked Bolton seriou=
sly,
"you don't mean to say that you believe the dog is the real captain?&q=
uot;
"Indeed I do," answered Clifton with
conviction. "If you noticed things like I do, you would have noticed w=
hat
a queer beast it is."
"Well, tell us what you've noticed."=
"Haven't you noticed the way he walks on =
the
poop with such an air of authority, looking up at the sails as if he were on
watch?"
"That's true enough," added Gripper,
"and one evening I actually found him with his paws on the
paddle-wheel."
"You don't mean it!" said Bolton.
"And now what do you think he does but go=
for
a walk on the ice-fields, minding neither the bears nor the cold?"
"That's true enough," said Bolton.
"Do you ever see that 'ere animal, like an
honest dog, seek men's company, sneak about the kitchen, and set his eyes on
Mr. Strong when's he taking something good to the commander? Don't you hear=
him
in the night when he goes away two or three miles from the vessel, howling =
fit
to make your blood run cold, as if it weren't easy enough to feel that sens=
ation
in such a temperature as this? Again, have you ever seen him feed? He takes
nothing from any one. His food is always untouched and unless a secret hand
feeds him on board, I may say that he lives without eating, and if he's not
unearthly, I'm a fool!"
"Upon my word," said Bell, the
carpenter, who had heard all Clifton's reasoning, "I shouldn't be
surprised if such was the case." The other sailors were silenced.
"Well, at any rate, where's the Forward going to?"
"I don't know anything about it," re=
plied
Bell. "Richard Shandon will receive the rest of his instructions in due
time."
"But from whom?"
"From whom?"
"Yes, how?" asked Bolton, becoming
pressing.
"Now then, answer, Bell!" chimed in =
all
the other sailors.
"By whom? how? Why, I don't know," s=
aid
the carpenter, embarrassed in his turn.
"Why, by the dog-captain," exclaimed
Clifton. "He has written once already; why shouldn't he again? If I on=
ly
knew half of what that 'ere animal knows, I shouldn't be embarrassed at bei=
ng
First Lord of the Admiralty!"
"So then you stick to your opinion that t=
he
dog is the captain?"
"Yes."
"Well," said Pen in a hoarse voice,
"if that 'ere animal don't want to turn up his toes in a dog's skin, h=
e's
only got to make haste and become a man, or I'm hanged if I don't settle
him."
"What for?" asked Garry.
"Because I choose," replied Pen
brutally; "besides, it's no business of any one."
"Enough talking, my boys," called out
Mr. Johnson, interfering just in time, for the conversation was getting hot.
"Get on with your work, and set up your saws quicker than that. We must
clear the iceberg."
"What! on a Friday?" replied Clifton,
shrugging his shoulders. "You'll see she won't get over the Polar circ=
le
as easily as you think."
The efforts of the crew were almost powerless
during the whole day. The Forward =
could not separate the ice-fields even by
going against them full speed, and they were obliged to anchor for the nigh=
t.
On Saturday the temperature lowered again under the influence of an easterly
wind. The weather cleared up, and the eye could sweep over the white plains=
in
the distance, which the reflection of the sun's rays rendered dazzling. At
seven in the morning the thermometer marked eight degrees below zero. The
doctor was tempted to stay quietly in his cabin, and read the Arctic voyages
over again; but, according to his custom, he asked himself what would be the
most disagreeable thing he could do, which he settled was to go on deck and
assist the men to work in such a temperature. Faithful to the line of condu=
ct he
had traced out for himself, he left his well-warmed cabin and came to help =
in
hauling the vessel. His was a pleasant face, in spite of the green spectacl=
es
by which he preserved his eyes from the biting of the reflected rays; in his
future observations he was always careful in making use of his snow spectac=
les,
in order to avoid ophthalmia, very frequent in these high latitudes.
Towards evening the Forward had made several miles further north, th=
anks
to the activity of the men and Shandon's skill, which made him take advanta=
ge
of every favourable circumstance; at midnight he had got beyond the sixty-s=
ixth
parallel, and the fathom line declared twenty-three fathoms of water; Shand=
on
discovered that he was on the shoal where Her Majesty's ship Victoria struck, and that land was drawing near, =
thirty
miles to the east. But now the heaps of ice, which up till now had been
motionless, divided and began to move; icebergs seemed coming from every po=
int
of the horizon; the brig was entangled in a series of moving rocks, the
crushing force of which it was impossible to resist. Moving became so diffi=
cult
that Garry, the best helmsman, took the wheel; the mountains had a tendency=
to close
up behind the brig; it then became essential to cut through the floating ic=
e,
and prudence as well as duty ordered them to go ahead. Difficulties became
greater from the impossibility that Shandon found in establishing the direc=
tion
of the vessel amongst such changing points, which kept moving without offer=
ing
one firm perspective. The crew was divided into two tacks, larboard and sta=
rboard;
each one, armed with a long perch with an iron point, drove back the two
threatening blocks. Soon the Forwa=
rd entered into a pass so narrow, between t=
wo
high blocks, that the extremity of her yards struck against the walls, hard=
as
rock; by degrees she entangled herself in the midst of a winding valley, fi=
lled
up with eddies of snow, whilst the floating ice was crashing and splitting =
with
sinister cracklings. But it soon became certain that there was no egress fr=
om this
gullet. An enormous block, caught in the channel, was driving rapidly on to=
the
Forward ! It seemed impossible to =
avoid
it, and equally impossible to back out along a road already obstructed.
Shandon and Johnson, standing on the prow, were
contemplating the position. Shandon was pointing with his right hand at the
direction the helmsman was to take, and with his left was conveying to Jame=
s Wall,
posted near the engineer, his orders for the working of the machine.
"How will this end?" asked the docto=
r of
Johnson.
"As it may please God," replied the
boatswain.
The block of ice, at least a hundred feet high,
was only about a cable's length from the Forward , and threatened to pound her un=
der
it.
"Cursed luck!" exclaimed Pen, sweari=
ng
frightfully.
"Silence!" exclaimed a voice which it
was impossible to recognise in the midst of the storm.
The block seemed to be precipitating itself up=
on
the brig; there was a moment of undefinable anguish; the men forsook their
poles and flocked to the stern in spite of Shandon's orders.
Suddenly a frightful sound was heard; a genuine
waterspout fell upon deck, heaved up by an enormous wave. A cry of terror r=
ang
out from the crew whilst Garry, at the helm, held the Forward in a straight line in spite of the frigh=
tful
incumbrance. When their frightened looks were drawn towards the mountain of=
ice
it had disappeared; the pass was free, and further on a long channel,
illuminated by the oblique rays of the sun, allowed the brig to pursue her
track.
"Well, Mr. Clawbonny," said Johnson,
"can you explain to me the cause of that phenomenon?"
"It is a very simple one," answered =
the
doctor, "and happens very often. When those floating bodies are diseng=
aged
from each other by the thaw, they sail away separately, maintaining their
balance; but by degrees, as they near the south, where the water is relativ=
ely warmer,
their base, shaken by the collision with other icebergs, begins to melt and
weaken; it then happens that their centre of gravity is displaced, and,
naturally, they overturn. Only, if that one had turned over two minutes lat=
er,
it would have crushed our vessel to pieces."
The P=
olar
circle was cleared at last. On the 30th of April, at midday, the Forward passed abreast of Holsteinborg; pictures=
que
mountains rose up on the eastern horizon. The sea appeared almost free from=
icebergs,
and the few there were could easily be avoided. The wind veered round to the
south-east, and the brig, under her mizensail, brigantine, topsails, and her
topgallant sail, sailed up Baffin's Sea. It had been a particularly calm da=
y,
and the crew were able to take a little rest. Numerous birds were swimming =
and
fluttering about round the vessel; amongst others, the doctor observed some=
alca-alla , very much like the teal, with
black neck, wings and back, and white breast; they plunged with vivacity, a=
nd
their immersion often lasted forty seconds.
The day would not have been remarkable if the
following fact, however extraordinary it may appear, had not occurred on bo=
ard.
At six o'clock in the morning Richard Shandon, re-entering his cabin after
having been relieved, found upon the table a letter with this address:
"To the Commander,
"RICHARD SHANDON,
"On board the 'FORWARD,'
=
"Baffin's Sea."
Shand=
on
could not believe his own eyes, and before reading such a strange epistle he
caused the doctor, James Wall and Johnson to be called, and showed them the
letter.
"That grows very strange," said John=
son.
"It's delightful!" thought the docto=
r.
"At last," cried Shandon, "we s=
hall
know the secret."
With a quick hand he tore the envelope and rea=
d as
follows:
"=
;COMMANDER,--The
captain of the Forward is pleased with the coolness, skill, and=
courage
that your men, your officers, and yourself have shown on the late occasions,
and begs you to give evidence of his gratitude to the crew.
"Have the goodness to take a northerly
direction towards Melville Bay, and from thence try and penetrate into Smit=
h's
Straits.
"THE C=
APTAIN
OF THE Forward ,
=
"K. Z.
"Monday, April 30th,
"Abreast of Cape Walsingham."
"=
;Is
that all?" cried the doctor.
"That's all," replied Shandon, and t=
he
letter fell from his hands.
"Well," said Wall, "this chimer=
ical
captain doesn't even mention coming on board, so I conclude that he never w=
ill
come."
"But how did this letter get here?" =
said
Johnson.
Shandon was silent.
"Mr. Wall is right," replied the doc=
tor,
after picking up the letter and turning it over in every direction; "t=
he
captain won't come on board for an excellent reason----"
"And what's that?" asked Shandon
quickly.
"Because he is here already," replied
the doctor simply.
"Already!" said Shandon. "What =
do
you mean?"
"How do you explain the arrival of this
letter if such is not the case?"
Johnson nodded his head in sign of approbation=
.
"It is not possible!" said Shandon
energetically. "I know every man of the crew. We should have to believ=
e,
in that case, that the captain has been with us ever since we set sail. It =
is
not possible, I tell you. There isn't one of them that I haven't seen for m=
ore
than two years in Liverpool; doctor, your supposition is inadmissible."=
;
"Then what do you admit, Shandon?"
"Everything but that! I admit that the
captain, or one of his men, has profited by the darkness, the fog, or anyth=
ing
you like, in order to slip on board; we are not very far from land; there a=
re
Esquimaux kayaks that pass unperceived between the icebergs; someone may ha=
ve come
on board and left the letter; the fog was intense enough to favour their
design."
"And to hinder them from seeing the
brig," replied the doctor; "if we were not able to perceive an in=
truder
slip on board, how could he have discovered the Forward in the midst of a fog?"
"That is evident," exclaimed Johnson=
.
"I come back, then," said the doctor,
"to my first hypothesis. What do you think about it, Shandon?"
"I think what you please," replied
Shandon fiercely, "with the exception of supposing that this man is on
board my vessel."
"Perhaps," added Wall, "there m=
ay
be amongst the crew a man of his who has received instructions from him.&qu=
ot;
"That's very likely," added the doct=
or.
"But which man?" asked Shandon. &quo=
t;I
tell you I have known all my men a long time."
"Anyhow," replied Johnson, "if =
this
captain shows himself, let him be man or devil, we'll receive him; but we h=
ave
another piece of information to draw from this letter."
"What's that?" asked Shandon.
"Why, that we are to direct our path not =
only
towards Melville Bay, but again into Smith's Straits."
"You are right," answered the doctor=
.
"Smith's Straits?" echoed Shandon
mechanically.
"It is evident," replied Johnson,
"that the destination of the =
Forward
is not to seek a North-West passag=
e, as
we shall leave to our left the only track that leads to it--that is to say,
Lancaster Straits; that's what forebodes us difficult navigation in unknown=
seas."
"Yes, Smith's Straits," replied Shan=
don,
"that's the route the American Kane followed in 1853, and at the price=
of
what dangers! For a long time he was thought to be lost in those dreadful
latitudes! However, as we must go, go we must. But where? how far? To the
Pole?"
"And why not?" cried the doctor.
The idea of such an insane attempt made the
boatswain shrug his shoulders.
"After all," resumed James Wall,
"to come back to the captain, if he exists, I see nowhere on the coast=
of
Greenland except Disko or Uppernawik where he can be waiting for us; in a f=
ew
days we shall know what we may depend upon."
"But," asked the doctor of Shandon,
"aren't you going to make known the contents of that letter to the
crew?"
"With the commander's permission,"
replied Johnson, "I should do nothing of the kind."
"And why so?" asked Shandon.
"Because all that mystery tends to discou=
rage
the men: they are already very anxious about the fate of our expedition, an=
d if
the supernatural side of it is increased it may produce very serious result=
s,
and in a critical moment we could not rely upon them. What do you say about=
it,
commander?"
"And you, doctor--what do you think?"
asked Shandon.
"I think Johnson's reasoning is just.&quo=
t;
"And you, Wall?"
"Unless there's better advice forthcoming=
, I
shall stick to the opinion of these gentlemen."
Shandon reflected seriously during a few minut=
es,
and read the letter over again carefully.
"Gentlemen," said he, "your opi=
nion
on this subject is certainly excellent, but I cannot adopt it."
"Why not, Shandon?" asked the doctor=
.
"Because the instructions of this letter =
are
formal: they command me to give the captain's congratulations to the crew, =
and
up till to-day I have always blindly obeyed his orders in whatever manner t=
hey
have been transmitted to me, and I cannot----"
"But----" said Johnson, who rightly
dreaded the effect of such a communication upon the minds of the sailors.
"My dear Johnson," answered Shandon,
"your reasons are excellent, but read--'he begs you to give evidence of
his gratitude to the crew.'"
"Act as you think best," replied
Johnson, who was besides a very strict observer of discipline. "Are we=
to
muster the crew on deck?"
"Do so," replied Shandon.
The news of a communication having been receiv=
ed
from the captain spread like wildfire on deck; the sailors quickly arrived =
at
their post, and the commander read out the contents of the mysterious lette=
r. The
reading of it was received in a dead silence; the crew dispersed, a prey to=
a
thousand suppositions. Clifton had heard enough to give himself up to all t=
he
wanderings of his superstitious imagination; he attributed a considerable s=
hare
in this incident to the dog-captain, and when by chance he met him in his
passage he never failed to salute him. "I told you the animal could
write," he used to say to the sailors. No one said anything in answer =
to
this observation, and even Bell, the carpenter himself, would not have known
what to answer.
Nevertheless it was certain to all that, in
default of the captain, his spirit or his shadow watched on board; and
henceforward the wisest of the crew abstained from exchanging their opinions
about him.
On the 1st of May, at noon, they were in 68
degrees latitude and 56 degrees 32 minutes longitude. The temperature was
higher and the thermometer marked twenty-five degrees above zero. The doctor
was amusing himself with watching the antics of a white bear and two cubs on
the brink of a pack that lengthened out the land. Accompanied by Wall and
Simpson, he tried to give chase to them by means of the canoe; but the anim=
al,
of a rather warlike disposition, rapidly led away its offspring, and
consequently the doctor was compelled to renounce following them up.
Chilly Cape was doubled during the night under=
the
influence of a favourable wind, and soon the high mountains of Disko rose in
the horizon. Godhavn Bay, the residence of the Governor-General of the Dani=
sh
Settlements, was left to the right. Shandon did not consider it worth while=
to
stop, and soon outran the Esquimaux pirogues who were endeavouring to reach=
his
ship.
The Island of Disko is also called Whale Islan=
d.
It was from this point that on the 12th of July, 1845, Sir John Franklin wr=
ote
to the Admiralty for the last time. It was also on that island on the 27th =
of
August, 1859, that Captain McClintock set foot on his return, bringing back,
alas! proofs too complete of the loss of the expedition. The coincidence of
these two facts were noted by the doctor; that melancholy conjunction was
prolific in memories, but soon the heights of Disko disappeared from his vi=
ew.
There were, at that time, numerous icebergs on=
the
coasts, some of those which the strongest thaws are unable to detach; the
continual series of ridges showed themselves under the strangest forms.
The next day, towards three o'clock, they were
bearing on to Sanderson Hope to the north-east. Land was left on the starbo=
ard
at a distance of about fifteen miles; the mountains seemed tinged with a re=
d-coloured
bistre. During the evening, several whales of the finners species, which ha=
ve
fins on their backs, came playing about in the midst of the ice-trails,
throwing out air and water from their blow-holes. It was during the night
between the 3rd and 4th of May that the doctor saw for the first time the s=
un
graze the horizon without dipping his luminous disc into it. Since the 31st=
of
January the days had been getting longer and longer till the sun went down =
no
more. To strangers not accustomed to the persistence of this perpetual ligh=
t it
was a constant subject of astonishment, and even of fatigue; it is almost
impossible to understand to what extent obscurity is requisite for the
well-being of our eyes. The doctor experienced real pain in getting accusto=
med
to this light, rendered still more acute by the reflection of the sun's rays
upon the plains of ice.
On May 5th the Forward headed the seventy-second parallel; two =
months
later they would have met with numerous whalers under these high latitudes,=
but
at present the straits were not sufficiently open to allow them to penetrate
into Baffin's Bay. The following day the brig, after having headed Woman's
Island, came in sight of Uppernawik, the most northerly settlement that Den=
mark
possesses on these coasts.
Shand=
on,
Dr. Clawbonny, Johnson, Foker, and Strong, the cook, went on shore in the s=
mall
boat. The governor, his wife, and five children, all of the Esquimaux race,
came politely to meet the visitors. The doctor knew enough Danish to enable=
him
to establish a very agreeable acquaintance with them; besides, Foker, who w=
as
interpreter of the expedition, as well as ice-master, knew about twenty wor=
ds
of the Greenland language, and if not ambitious, twenty words will carry you
far. The governor was born on the island, and had never left his native
country. He did the honours of the town, which is composed of three wooden
huts, for himself and the Lutheran minister, of a school, and magazines sto=
red
with the produce of wrecks. The remainder consists of snow-huts, the entran=
ce
to which is attained by creeping through a hole.
The greater part of the population came down to
greet the Forward , and more than =
one
native advanced as far as the middle of the bay in his kayak, fifteen feet =
long
and scarcely two wide. The doctor knew that the word Esquimaux signified
raw-fish-eater, and he likewise knew that the name was considered an insult=
in
the country, for which reason he did not fail to address them by the title =
of Greenlanders,
and nevertheless only by the look of their oily sealskin clothing, their bo=
ots
of the same material, and all their greasy tainted appearance, it was easy =
to
discover their accustomed food. Like all Ichthyophagans, they were half-eat=
en
up with leprosy; and yet, for all that, were in no worse health.
The Lutheran minister and his wife, with whom =
the
doctor promised himself a private chat, were on a journey towards Proven on=
the
south of Uppernawik; he was therefore reduced to getting information out of=
the
governor. This chief magistrate did not seem to be very learned; a little l=
ess
and he would have been an ass, a little more and he would have known how to
read. The doctor, however, questioned him upon the commercial affairs, the
customs and manners of the Esquimaux, and learnt by signs that seals were w=
orth
about 40 pounds delivered in Copenhagen, a bearskin forty Danish dollars, a
blue foxskin four, and a white one two or three dollars. The doctor also
wished, with an eye to completing his personal education, to visit one of t=
he Esquimaux
huts; it is almost impossible to imagine of what a learned man who is desir=
ous
of knowledge is capable. Happily the opening of those hovels was too narrow,
and the enthusiastic fellow was not able to crawl in; it was very lucky for
him, for there is nothing more repulsive than that accumulation of things
living and dead, seal flesh or Esquimaux flesh, rotten fish and infectious
wearing apparel, which constitute a Greenland hovel; no window to revive the
unbreathable air, only a hole at the top of the hut, which gives free passa=
ge
to the smoke, but does not allow the stench to go out.
Foker gave these details to the doctor, who did
not curse his corpulence the less for that. He wished to judge for himself
about these emanations, sui generi=
s .
"I am sure," said he, "one gets
used to it in the long run."
In th=
e long
run depicts Dr. Clawbonny in a sin=
gle
phrase. During the ethnographical studies of the worthy doctor, Shandon,
according to his instructions, was occupied in procuring means of transport=
to
cross the ice. He had to pay 4 pounds for a sledge and six dogs, and even t=
hen
he had great difficulty in persuading the natives to part with them. Shandon
wanted also to engage Hans Christian, the clever dog-driver, who made one of
the party of Captain McClintock's expedition; but, unfortunately, Hans was =
at
that time in Southern Greenland. Then came the grand question, the topic of=
the
day, was there in Uppernawik a European waiting for the passage of the Forward ? Did the governor know if any
foreigner, an Englishman probably, had settled in those countries? To what
epoch could he trace his last relations with whale or other ships? To these
questions the governor replied that not one single foreigner had landed on =
that
side of the coast for more than ten months.
Shandon asked for the names of the last whalers
seen there; he knew none of them. He was in despair.
"You must acknowledge, doctor, that all t=
his
is quite inconceivable. Nothing at Cape Farewell, nothing at Disko Island,
nothing at Uppernawik."
"If when we get there you repeat 'Nothing=
in
Melville Bay,' I shall greet you as the only captain of the Forward ."
The small boat came back to the brig towards
evening, bringing back the visitors. Strong, in order to change the food a
little, had procured several dozens of eider-duck eggs, twice as big as hen=
s' eggs,
and of greenish colour. It was not much, but the change was refreshing to a
crew fed on salted meat. The wind became favourable the next day, but, howe=
ver,
Shandon did not command them to get under sail; he still wished to stay ano=
ther
day, and for conscience' sake to give any human being time to join the Forward . He even caused the 16-pounder =
to be
fired from hour to hour; it thundered out with a great crash amidst the
icebergs, but the noise only frightened the swarms of molly-mokes and rotch=
es.
During the night several rockets were sent up, but in vain. And thus they w=
ere
obliged to set sail.
On the 8th of May, at six o'clock in the morni=
ng,
the Forward under her topsails, foresails, and topga=
llant,
lost sight of the Uppernawik settlement, and the hideous stakes to which we=
re
hung seal-guts and deer-paunches. The wind was blowing from the south-east,=
and
the temperature went up to thirty-two degrees. The sun pierced through the =
fog,
and the ice was getting a little loosened under its dissolving action. But =
the
reflection of the white rays produced a sad effect on the eyesight of sever=
al
of the crew. Wolsten, the gunsmith, Gripper, Clifton, and Bell were struck =
with
snow blindness, a kind of weakness in the eyes very frequent in spring, and
which determines, amongst the Esquimaux, numerous cases of blindness. The
doctor advised those who were so afflicted and their companions in general =
to
cover their faces with green gauze, and he was the first to put his own pre=
scription
into execution.
The dogs bought by Shandon at Uppernawik were =
of a
rather savage nature, but in the end they became accustomed to the ship; the
captain did not take the arrival of these new comrades too much to heart, a=
nd he
seemed to know their habits. Clifton was not the last to remark the fact th=
at
the captain must already have been in communication with his Greenland
brethren, as on land they were always famished and reduced by incomplete
nourishment; they only thought of recruiting themselves by the diet on boar=
d.
On the 9th of May the Forward touched within a few cables' length the =
most
westerly of the Baffin Isles. The doctor noticed several rocks in the bay
between the islands and the continent, those called Crimson Cliffs; they we=
re
covered over with snow as red as carmine, to which Dr. Kane gives a purely
vegetable origin. Clawbonny wanted to consider this phenomenon nearer, but =
the
ice prevented them approaching the coast; although the temperature had a
tendency to rise, it was easy enough to see that the icebergs and ice-strea=
ms were
accumulating to the north of Baffin's Sea. The land offered a very different
aspect from that of Uppernawik; immense glaciers were outlined on the horiz=
on
against a greyish sky. On the 10th the =
span>Forward
left Hingston Bay on the right, ne=
ar to
the seventy-fourth degree of latitude. Several hundred miles westward the
Lancaster Channel opened out into the sea.
But afterwards that immense extent of water
disappeared under enormous fields of ice, upon which hummocks rose up as
regularly as a crystallisation of the same substance. Shandon had the steam=
put
on, and up to the 11th of May the =
Forward
wound amongst the sinuous rocks, l=
eaving
the print of a track on the sky, caused by the black smoke from her funnels.
But new obstacles were soon encountered; the paths were getting closed up in
consequence of the incessant displacement of the floating masses; at every
minute a failure of water in front of the Forward's prow became imminent, and if she had been
nipped it would have been difficult to extricate her. They all knew it, and
thought about it.
On board this vessel, without aim or known
destination, foolishly seeking to advance towards the north, some symptoms =
of
hesitation were manifested amongst those men, accustomed to an existence of=
danger;
many, forgetting the advantages offered, regretted having ventured so far, =
and
already a certain demoralisation prevailed in their minds, still more incre=
ased
by Clifton's fears, and the idle talk of two or three of the leaders, such =
as
Pen, Gripper, Warren, and Wolston.
To the uneasiness of the crew were joined
overwhelming fatigues, for on the 12th of May the brig was closed in on eve=
ry
side; her steam was powerless, and it was necessary to force a road through=
the
ice-fields. The working of the saws was very difficult in the floes, which
measured from six to seven feet in thickness. When two parallel grooves div=
ided
the ice for the length of a hundred feet, they had to break the interior pa=
rt
with hatchets or handspikes; then took place the elongation of the anchors,
fixed in a hole by means of a thick auger; afterwards the working of the
capstan began, and in this way the vessel was hauled over. The greatest
difficulty consisted in driving the smashed pieces under the floes in order=
to
open up a free passage for the ship, and to thrust them away they were comp=
elled
to use long iron-spiked poles.
At last, what with the working of the saws, the
hauling, the capstan and poles, incessant, dangerous, and forced work, in t=
he
midst of fogs or thick snow, the temperature relatively low, ophthalmic suf=
fering
and moral uneasiness, all contributed to discourage the crew, and react on =
the
men's imagination. When sailors have an energetic, audacious, and convinced=
man
to do with, who knows what he wants, where he is bound for, and what end he=
has
in view, confidence sustains them in spite of everything. They make one with
their chief, feeling strong in his strength, and quiet in his tranquillity;=
but
on the brig it was felt that the commander was not sure of himself, that he
hesitated before his unknown end and destination. In spite of his energetic
nature, his weakness showed itself in his changing orders, incomplete
manoeuvres, stormy reflections, and a thousand details which could not esca=
pe
the notice of the crew.
Besides, Shandon was not captain of the ship, a
sufficient reason for argument about his orders; from argument to a refusal=
to
obey the step is easy. The discontented soon added to their number the first
engineer, who up to now had remained a slave to his duty.
On May 16th, six days after the Forward's arrival at the icebergs, Shandon had not
gained two miles northward, and the ice threatened to freeze in the brig ti=
ll
the following season. This was becoming dangerous. Towards eight in the eve=
ning
Shandon and the doctor, accompanied by Garry, went on a voyage of discovery=
in
the midst of the immense plains; they took care not to go too far away from=
the
vessel, as it was difficult to fix any landmarks in those white solitudes, =
the
aspects of which changed constantly.
The refraction produced strange effects; they
still astonished the doctor; where he thought he had only one foot to leap =
he
found it was five or six, or the contrary; and in both cases the result was=
a
fall, if not dangerous, at least painful, on the frozen ice as hard as glas=
s.
Shandon and his two companions went in search =
of a
practicable passage. Three miles from the ship they succeeded, not without
trouble, in climbing the iceberg, which was perhaps three hundred feet high=
.
From this point their view extended over that
desolated mass which looked like the ruins of a gigantic town with its
beaten-down obelisks, its overthrown steeples and palaces turned upside down
all in a lump--in fact, a genuine chaos. The sun threw long oblique rays of=
a
light without warmth, as if heat-absorbing substances were placed between it
and that gloomy country. The sea seemed to be frozen to the remotest limits=
of
view.
"How shall we get through?" exclaimed
the doctor.
"I have not the least idea," replied
Shandon; "but we will get through, even if we are obliged to employ po=
wder
to blow up those mountains, for I certainly won't let that ice shut me up t=
ill
next spring."
"Nevertheless, such was the fate of the <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Fox , almost in these same quarters. Nev=
er mind,"
continued the doctor, "we shall get through with a little philosophy.
Believe me, that is worth all the engines in the world."
"You must acknowledge," replied Shan=
don,
"that the year doesn't begin under very favourable auspices."
"That is incontestable, and I notice that
Baffin's Sea has a tendency to return to the same state in which it was bef=
ore
1817."
"Then you think, doctor, that the present
state of things has not always existed?"
"Yes; from time to time there are vast
breakings up which scientific men can scarcely explain; thus, up to 1817 th=
is
sea was constantly obstructed, when suddenly an immense cataclysm took place
which drove back these icebergs into the ocean, the great part of which wer=
e stranded
on Newfoundland Bank. From that time Baffin's Bay has been almost free, and=
has
become the haunt of numerous whalers."
"Then, since that epoch, voyages to the n=
orth
have been easier?"
"Incomparably so; but for the last few ye=
ars
it has been observed that the bay has a tendency to be closed up again, and
according to investigations made by navigators, it may probably be so for a
long time--a still greater reason for us to go on as far as possible. Just =
now
we look like people who get into unknown galleries, the doors of which are
always shut behind them."
"Do you advise me to back out?" asked
Shandon, endeavouring to read the answer in the doctor's eyes.
"I! I have never known how to take a step
backward, and should we never return, I say 'Go ahead.' However, I should l=
ike
to make known to you that if we do anything imprudent, we know very well wh=
at
we are exposed to."
"Well, Garry, what do you think about
it?" asked Shandon of the sailor.
"I? Commander, I should go on; I'm of the
same opinion as Mr. Clawbonny; but you do as you please; command, and we wi=
ll
obey."
"They don't all speak like you, Garry,&qu=
ot;
replied Shandon. "They aren't all in an obedient humour! Suppose they =
were
to refuse to execute my orders?"
"Commander," replied Garry coldly,
"I have given you my advice because you asked me for it; but you are n=
ot
obliged to act upon it."
Shandon did not reply; he attentively examined=
the
horizon, and descended with his two companions on to the ice-field.
Durin=
g the
commander's absence the men had gone through divers works in order to make =
the
ship fit to avoid the pressure of the ice-fields. Pen, Clifton, Gripper,
Bolton, and Simpson were occupied in this laborious work; the stoker and the
two engineers were even obliged to come to the aid of their comrades, for, =
from
the instant they were not wanted at the engine, they again became sailors, =
and,
as such, they could be employed in all kinds of work on board. But this was=
not
accomplished without a great deal of grumbling.
"I'll tell you what," said Pen,
"I've had enough of it, and if in three days the breaking up isn't com=
e,
I'll swear to God that I'll chuck up!"
"You'll chuck up?" replied Gripper;
"you'd do better to help us to back out. Do you think we are in the hu=
mour
to winter here till next year?"
"To tell you the truth, it would be a dre=
ary
winter," said Plover, "for the ship is exposed from every
quarter."
"And who knows," added Brunton, &quo=
t;if
even next spring we should find the sea freer than it is now?"
"We aren't talking about next spring,&quo=
t; said
Pen; "to-day's Thursday; if next Sunday morning the road ain't clear,
we'll back out south."
"That's the ticket!" cried Clifton.<= o:p>
"Are you all agreed?" said Pen.
"Yes," answered all his comrades.
"That's right enough," answered Warr=
en,
"for if we are obliged to work like this, hauling the ship by the stre=
ngth
of our arms, my advice is to backwater."
"We'll see about that on Sunday,"
answered Wolsten.
"As soon as I get the order," said
Brunton, "I'll soon get my steam up."
"Or we'd manage to get it up ourselves,&q=
uot;
said Clifton.
"If any of the officers," said Pen,
"wants to have the pleasure of wintering here, we'll let him. He can b=
uild
himself a snow-hut like the Esquimaux."
"Nothing of the kind, Pen," replied
Brunton; "we won't leave anybody. You understand that, you others.
Besides, I don't think it would be difficult to persuade the commander; he
already seems very uncertain, and if we were quietly to propose it----"=
;
"I don't know that," said Plover;
"Richard Shandon is a hard, headstrong man, and we should have to sound
him carefully."
"When I think," replied Bolton, with=
a
covetous sigh, "that in a month we might be back in Liverpool; we could
soon clear the southern ice-line. The pass in Davis's Straits will be open =
in
the beginning of June, and we shall only have to let ourselves drift into t=
he Atlantic."
"Besides," said the prudent Clifton,
"if we bring back the commander with us, acting under his responsibili=
ty,
our pay and bounty money will be sure; whilst if we return alone it won't b=
e so
certain."
"That's certain!" said Plover; "that devil of a Clifton speaks like a book. Let us try to have nothin= g to explain to the Admiralty; it's much safer to leave no one behind us."<= o:p>
"But if the officers refuse to follow
us?" replied Pen, who wished to push his comrades to an extremity.
To such a question they were puzzled to reply.=
"We shall see about it when the time
comes," replied Bolton; "besides, it would be enough to win Richa=
rd
Shandon over to our side. We shall have no difficulty about that."
"Anyhow," said Pen, swearing,
"there's something I'll leave here if I get an arm eaten in the
attempt."
"Ah! you mean the dog," said Plover.=
"Yes, the dog; and before long I'll settle
his hash!"
"The more so," replied Clifton, comi=
ng
back to his favourite theme, "that the dog is the cause of all our
misfortunes."
"He's cast an evil spell over us," s=
aid
Plover.
"It's through him we're in an iceberg,&qu=
ot;
said Gripper.
"He's the cause that we've had more ice
against us than has ever been seen at this time of year," said Wolsten=
.
"He's the cause of my bad eyes," said
Brunton.
"He's cut off the gin and brandy," a=
dded
Pen.
"He's the cause of everything," said=
the
assembly, getting excited.
"And he's captain into the bargain!"
cried Clifton.
"Well, captain of ill-luck," said Pe=
n,
whose unreasonable fury grew stronger at every word; "you wanted to co=
me
here, and here you'll stay."
"But how are we to nap him?" said
Plover.
"We've a good opportunity," replied
Clifton; "the commander isn't on deck, the lieutenant is asleep in his
cabin, and the fog's thick enough to stop Johnson seeing us."
"But where's the dog?" cried Pen.
"He's asleep near the coalhole," rep=
lied
Clifton, "and if anybody wants----"
"I'll take charge of him," answered =
Pen
furiously.
"Look out, Pen, he's got teeth that could
snap an iron bar in two."
"If he moves I'll cut him open," cri=
ed
Pen, taking his knife in one hand. He bounced in between decks, followed by
Warren, who wanted to help him in his undertaking. They quickly came back,
carrying the animal in their arms, strongly muzzled, with his paws bound
tightly together. They had taken him by surprise whilst he slept, so that t=
he
unfortunate dog could not escape them.
"Hurrah for Pen!" cried Plover.
"What do you mean to do with him now you'=
ve
got him?" asked Clifton.
"Why, drown him, and if ever he gets over
it----" replied Pen, with a fearful smile of satisfaction.
About two hundred steps from the vessel there =
was
a seal-hole, a kind of circular crevice cut out by the teeth of that amphib=
ious
animal, hollowed out from underneath, and through which the seal comes up to
breathe on to the surface of the ice. To keep this aperture from closing up=
he
has to be very careful because the formation of his jaws would not enable h=
im
to bore through the hole again from the outside, and in a moment of danger =
he
would fall a prey to his enemies. Pen and Warren directed their steps towar=
ds
this crevice, and there, in spite of the dog's energetic efforts, he was
unmercifully precipitated into the sea. An enormous lump of ice was then pl=
aced
over the opening, thus closing all possible issue to the poor animal, walle=
d up
in a watery prison.
"Good luck to you, captain," cried t=
he
brutal sailor.
Shortly afterwards Pen and Warren returned on
deck. Johnson had seen nothing of this performance. The fog thickened round
about the ship, and snow began to fall with violence. An hour later, Richard
Shandon, the doctor, and Garry rejoined the Forward . Shandon had noticed a pass in a
north-eastern direction of which he was resolved to take advantage, and gave
his orders in consequence. The crew obeyed with a certain activity, not wit=
hout
hinting to Shandon that it was impossible to go further on, and that they o=
nly
gave him three more days' obedience. During a part of the night and the
following day the working of the saws and the hauling were actively kept up;
the Forward gained about two miles further north. On=
the
18th she was in sight of land, and at five or six cable-lengths from a pecu=
liar
peak, called from its strange shape the Devil's Thumb.
It was there that the Prince Albert in 1851, and the Advance with Kane, in 1853, were kept prisoners =
by the
ice for several weeks. The odd form of the Devil's Thumb, the dreary desert=
s in
its vicinity, the vast circus of icebergs--some of them more than three hun=
dred
feet high--the cracking of the ice, reproduced by the echo in so sinister a
manner, rendered the position of the Forward
horribly dreary. Shandon understoo=
d the
necessity of getting out of it and going further ahead. Twenty-four hours
later, according to his estimation, he had been able to clear the fatal coa=
st
for about two miles, but this was not enough. Shandon, overwhelmed with fea=
r,
and the false situation in which he was placed, lost both courage and energ=
y;
in order to obey his instructions and get further north, he had thrown his
vessel into an excessively perilous situation. The men were worn out by the
hauling; it required more than three hours to hollow out a channel twenty f=
eet
long, through ice that was usually from four to five feet thick. The health=
of
the crew threatened to break down. Shandon was astonished at the silence of=
his
men and their unaccustomed obedience, but he feared that it was the calm be=
fore
the storm. Who can judge, then, of his painful disappointment, surprise, and
despair when he perceived that in consequence of an insensible movement of =
the
ice-field the Forward had, during the night from the 18th to t=
he
19th, lost all the advantage she had gained with so much toil? On the Satur=
day
morning they were once more opposite the ever-threatening Devil's Thumb, an=
d in
a still more critical position. The icebergs became more numerous, and drif=
ted
by in the fog like phantoms. Shandon was in a state of complete demoralisat=
ion,
for fright had taken possession of the dauntless man and his crew. Shandon =
had
heard the dog's disappearance spoken about, but dared not punish those who =
were
guilty of it. He feared that a rebellion might be the consequence. The weat=
her
was fearful during the whole day; the snow rose up in thick whirlpools,
wrapping up the Forward in an impenetrable cloak. Sometimes, und=
er the
action of the storm, the fog was torn asunder, and displayed towards land,
raised up like a spectre, the Devil's Thumb.
The F=
orward
was anchored to an immense block o=
f ice;
it was all that could be done; there was nothing more to attempt; the obscu=
rity
became denser, and the man at the helm could not see James Wall, who was on
duty in the bow. Shandon withdrew to his cabin, a prey to unremitting
uneasiness; the doctor was putting his voyage notes in order; one half the =
crew
remained on deck, the other half stayed in the common cabin. At one moment,
when the storm increased in fury, the Devil's Thumb seemed to rise up out o=
f all
proportion in the midst of the fog.
"Good God!" cried Simpson, drawing b=
ack
with fright.
"What the devil's that?" said Foker,=
and
exclamations rose up in every direction.
"It is going to smash us!"
"We are lost!"
"Mr. Wall! Mr. Wall!"
"It's all over with us!"
"Commander! Commander!"
These cries were simultaneously uttered by the=
men
on watch. Wall fled to the quarter-deck, and Shandon, followed by the docto=
r,
rushed on deck to look. In the midst of the fog the Devil's Thumb seemed to
have suddenly neared the brig, and seemed to have grown in a most fantastic
manner. At its summit rose up a second cone, turned upside down and spindle=
d on
its point; its enormous mass threatened to crush the ship, as it was
oscillating and ready to fall. It was a most fearful sight; every one
instinctively drew back, and several sailors, leaping on to the ice, abando=
ned
the ship.
"Let no one move!" cried the command=
er
in a severe voice. "Every one to his post!"
"How now, my friends? There's nothing to =
be
frightened at!" said the doctor. "There's no danger! Look, comman=
der,
look ahead, Mr. Wall; it's only an effect of the mirage, nothing else."=
;
"You are quite right, Mr. Clawbonny,"
answered Johnson; "those fools were frightened at a shadow."
After the doctor had spoken most of the sailors
drew near, and their fear changed to admiration at the wonderful phenomenon,
which shortly disappeared from sight.
"They call that a mirage?" said Clif=
ton.
"Well, you may believe me that the devil has something to do with
it."
"That's certain!" replied Gripper.
But when the fog cleared away it disclosed to = the eyes of the commander an immense free and unexpected passage; it seemed to = run away from the coast, and he therefore determined to seize such a favourable= hazard. Men were placed on each side of the creek, hawsers were lowered down to the= m, and they began to tow the vessel in a northerly direction. During long hours this work was actively executed in silence. Shandon caused the steam to be = got up, in order to take advantage of the fortunate discovery of this channel.<= o:p>
"This," said he to Johnson, "is=
a
most providential hazard, and if we can only get a few miles ahead, we shall
probably get to the end of our misfortunes."
"Brunton! stir up the fires, and as soon =
as
there's enough pressure let me know. In the meantime our men will pluck up
their courage--that will be so much gained. They are in a hurry to run away
from the Devil's Thumb; we'll take advantage of their good inclinations!&qu=
ot;
All at once the progress of the Forward was abruptly arrested.
"What's up?" cried Shandon. "I =
say,
Wall! have we broken our tow-ropes?"
"Not at all, commander," answered Wa=
ll,
looking over the side. "Hallo! Here are the men coming back again. They
are climbing the ship's side as if the devil was at their heels."
"What the deuce can it be?" cried
Shandon, rushing forward.
"On board! On board!" cried the
terrified sailors.
Shandon looked in a northerly direction, and
shuddered in spite of himself. A strange animal, with appalling movements, =
whose
foaming tongue emerged from enormous jaws, was leaping about at a cable's l=
ength
from the ship. In appearance he seemed to be about twenty feet high, with h=
air
like bristles; he was following up the sailors, whilst his formidable tail,=
ten
feet long, was sweeping the snow and throwing it up in thick whirlwinds. The
sight of such a monster riveted the most daring to the spot.
"It's a bear!" said one.
"It's the Gevaudan beast!"
"It's the lion of the Apocalypse!"
Shandon ran to his cabin for a gun he always k=
ept
loaded. The doctor armed himself, and held himself in readiness to fire upo=
n an
animal which, by its dimensions, recalled the antediluvian quadrupeds. He n=
eared
the ship in immense leaps; Shandon and the doctor fired at the same time, w=
hen,
suddenly, the report of their firearms, shaking the atmospheric stratum,
produced an unexpected effect. The doctor looked attentively, and burst out
laughing.
"It's the refraction!" he exclaimed.=
"Only the refraction!" repeated Shan=
don.
But a fearful exclamation from the crew interrupted them.
"The dog!" said Clifton.
"The dog, captain!" repeated all his
comrades.
"Himself!" cried Pen; "always t=
hat
cursed brute."
They were not mistaken--it was the dog. Having=
got
loose from his shackles, he had regained the surface by another crevice. At
that instant the refraction, through a phenomenon common to these latitudes,
caused him to appear under formidable dimensions, which the shaking of the =
air
had dispersed; but the vexatious effect was none the less produced upon the
minds of the sailors, who were very little disposed to admit an explanation=
of
the fact by purely physical reasons. The adventure of the Devil's Thumb, the
reappearance of the dog under such fantastic circumstances, gave the finish=
ing
touch to their mental faculties, and murmurs broke out on all sides.
The <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Forward , under steam, rapidly made its =
way
between the ice-mountains and the icebergs. Johnson was at the wheel. Shand=
on, with
his snow spectacles, was examining the horizon, but his joy was of short
duration, for he soon discovered that the passage ended in a circus of
mountains. However, he preferred going on, in spite of the difficulty, to g=
oing
back. The dog followed the brig at a long distance, running along the plain,
but if he lagged too far behind a singular whistle could be distinguished,
which he immediately obeyed. The first time this whistle was heard the sail=
ors
looked round about them; they were alone on deck all together, and no stran=
ger was
to be seen; and yet the whistle was again heard from time to time. Clifton =
was
the first alarmed.
"Do you hear?" said he. "Just l=
ook
how that animal answers when he hears the whistle."
"I can scarcely believe my eyes,"
answered Gripper.
"It's all over!" cried Pen. "I
don't go any further."
"Pen's right!" replied Brunton;
"it's tempting God!"
"Tempting the devil!" replied Clifto=
n.
"I'd sooner lose my bounty money than go a step further."
"We shall never get back!" said Bolt=
on
in despair.
The crew had arrived at the highest pitch of
insubordination.
"Not a step further!" cried Wolsten.
"Are you all of the same mind?"
"Ay! ay!" answered all the sailors.<= o:p>
"Come on, then," said Bolton;
"let's go and find the commander; I'll undertake the talking."
The sailors in a tight group swayed away towar=
ds
the poop. The Forward at the time was penetrating into a vast
circus, which measured perhaps 800 feet in diameter, and with the exception=
of
one entrance--that by which the vessel had come--was entirely closed up.
Shandon said that he had just imprisoned himse=
lf;
but what was he to do? How were they to retrace their steps? He felt his
responsibility, and his hand grasped the telescope. The doctor, with folded
arms, kept silent; he was contemplating the walls of ice, the medium altitu=
de
of which was over 300 feet. A foggy dome remained suspended above the gulf.=
It
was at this instant that Bolton addressed his speech to the commander.
"Commander!" said he in a trembling
voice, "we can't go any further."
"What do you say?" replied Shandon,
whose consciousness of disregarded authority made the blood rise to the roo=
ts
of his hair.
"Commander," replied Bolton, "we
say that we've done enough for that invisible captain, and we are decided t=
o go
no further ahead."
"You are decided?" cried Shandon.
"You talk thus, Bolton? Take care!"
"Your threats are all the same to us,&quo=
t;
brutally replied Pen; "we won't go an inch further."
Shandon advanced towards the mutineers; at the
same time the mate came up and said in a whisper: "Commander, if you w=
ish
to get out of here we haven't a minute to lose; there's an iceberg drifting=
up the
pass, and it is very likely to cork up all issue and keep us prisoners.&quo=
t;
Shandon examined the situation.
"You will give an account of your conduct=
later
on, you fellows," said he. "Now heave aboard!"
The sailors rushed to their posts, and the
"Steam up! steam up!" cried Shandon.
"Do you hear, Brunton?"
The F=
orward
glided like a bird amidst the stru=
ggling
icebergs, which her prow sent to the right-about; the brig's hull shivered
under the action of the screw, and the manometer indicated a prodigious ten=
sion
of steam, for it whistled with a deafening noise.
"Load the valves!" cried Shandon, and
the engineer obeyed at the risk of blowing up the ship; but his despairing
efforts were in vain. The iceberg, caught up by an undercurrent, rapidly
approached the pass. The brig was still about three cables' length from it,
when the mountain, entering like a corner-stone into the open space, strong=
ly adhered
to its neighbours and closed up all issue.
"We are lost!" cried Shandon, who co=
uld
not retain the imprudent words.
"Lost!" repeated the crew.
"Let them escape who can!" said some=
.
"Lower the shore boats!" said others=
.
"To the steward's room!" cried Pen a=
nd
several of his band, "and if we are to be drowned, let's drown ourselv=
es
in gin!"
Disorder among the men was at its height. Shan=
don
felt himself overcome; when he wished to command, he stammered and hesitate=
d.
His thought was unable to make way through his words. The doctor was walking
about in agitation. Johnson stoically folded his arms and said nothing. All=
at
once a strong, imperious, and energetic voice was heard to pronounce these
words:
"Every man to his post and tack about!&qu=
ot;
Johnson started, and, hardly knowing what he d=
id,
turned the wheel rapidly. He was just in time, for the brig, launched at fu=
ll
speed, was about to crush herself against her prison walls. But while Johns=
on was
instinctively obeying, Shandon, Clawbonny, the crew, and all down to the st=
oker
Warren, who had abandoned his fires, even black Strong, who had left his
cooking, were all mustered on deck, and saw emerge from that cabin the only=
man
who was in possession of the key, and that man was Garry, the sailor.
"Sir!" cried Shandon, becoming pale.
"Garry--you--by what right do you command here?"
"Dick," called out Garry, reproducing
that whistle which had so much surprised the crew. The dog, at the sound of=
his
right name, jumped with one bound on to the poop and lay quietly down at his
master's feet. The crew did not say a word. The key which the captain of th=
e Forward alone possessed, the dog sent by him, an=
d who
came thus to verify his identity, that commanding accent which it was impos=
sible
to mistake--all this acted strongly on the minds of the sailors, and was
sufficient to establish Garry's authority.
Besides, Garry was no longer recognisable; he =
had
cut off the long whiskers which had covered his face, which made it look mo=
re energetic
and imperious than ever; dressed in the clothes of his rank which had been
deposited in the cabin, he appeared in the insignia of commander.
Then immediately, with that mobility which
characterised them, the crew of the Forward
cried out--"Three cheers for =
the
captain!"
"Shandon!" said the latter to his
second, "muster the crew; I am going to inspect it!"
Shandon obeyed and gave orders with an altered
voice. The captain advanced to meet his officers and men, saying something
suitable to each, and treating each according to his past conduct. When he =
had finished
the inspection, he returned on to the poop, and with a calm voice pronounced
the following words:
"Officers and sailors, like you, I am
English, and my motto is that of Nelson, 'England expects that every man wi=
ll
do his duty.' As an Englishman I am resolved, we are resolved, that no bold=
er
men shall go further than we have been. As an Englishman I will not allow, =
we will
not allow, other people to have the glory of pushing further north themselv=
es.
If ever human foot can step upon the land of the North Pole, it shall be the
foot of an Englishman. Here is our country's flag. I have equipped this ves=
sel,
and consecrated my fortune to this enterprise, and, if necessary, I shall
consecrate to it my life and yours; for I am determined that these colours
shall float on the North Pole. Take courage. From this day, for every degre=
e we
can gain northwards the sum of a thousand pounds will be awarded to you. Th=
ere
are ninety, for we are now in the seventy-second. Count them. Besides, my n=
ame
is enough. It means energy and patriotism. I am Captain Hatteras!"
"Captain Hatteras!" exclaimed Shando=
n,
and that name, well known to English sailors, was whispered amongst the cre=
w.
"Now," continued Hatteras, "anc=
hor
the brig to the ice, put out the fires, and each of you return to your usual
work. Shandon, I wish to hold a council with you relative to affairs on boa=
rd.
Join me with the doctor, Wall, and the boatswain in my cabin. Johnson, disp=
erse
the men."
Hatteras, calm and haughty, quietly left the p=
oop.
In the meantime Shandon was anchoring the brig.
Who, then, was this Hatteras, and for what rea=
son
did his name make such a profound impression upon the crew? John Hatteras w=
as
the only son of a London brewer, who died in 1852 worth six millions of mon=
ey. Still
young, he embraced the maritime career in spite of the splendid fortune
awaiting him. Not that he felt any vocation for commerce, but the instinct =
of
geographical discoveries was dear to him. He had always dreamt of placing h=
is
foot where no mortal foot had yet soiled the ground.
At the age of twenty he was already in possess=
ion
of the vigorous constitution of a thin and sanguine man; an energetic face,
with lines geometrically traced; a high and perpendicular forehead; cold bu=
t handsome
eyes; thin lips, which set off a mouth from which words rarely issued; a mi=
ddle
stature; solidly-jointed limbs, put in motion by iron muscles; the whole
forming a man endowed with a temperament fit for anything. When you saw him=
you
felt he was daring; when you heard him you knew he was coldly determined; h=
is
was a character that never drew back, ready to stake the lives of others as
well as his own. It was well to think twice before following him in his
expeditions.
John Hatteras was proud of being an Englishman=
. A
Frenchman once said to him, with what he thought was refined politeness and
amiability:
"If I were not a Frenchman I should like =
to
be an Englishman."
"And if I were not an Englishman,"
answered Hatteras, "I should like to be an Englishman."
That answer revealed the character of the man.=
It
was a great grief to him that Englishmen had not the monopoly of geographic=
al discoveries,
and were, in fact, rather behind other nations in that field.
Christopher Columbus, the discoverer of Americ=
a,
was a Genoese; Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese, discovered India; another
Portuguese, Fernando de Andrada, China; and a third, Magellan, the Terra del
Fuego. Canada was discovered by Jacques Cartier, a Frenchman; Labrador, Bra=
zil,
the Cape of Good Hope, the Azores, Madeira, Newfoundland, Guinea, Congo,
Mexico, Cape Blanco, Greenland, Iceland, the South Seas, California, Japan,
Cambodia, Peru, Kamtchatka, the Philippines, Spitzbergen, Cape Horn, Behrin=
g's
Straits, Tasmania, New Zealand, New Brittany, New Holland, Louisiana, Jean
Mayen Island, were discovered by Icelanders, Scandinavians, French, Russian=
s, Portuguese,
Danes, Spaniards, Genoese, and Dutch, but not one by an Englishman. Captain
Hatteras could not reconcile himself to the fact that Englishmen were exclu=
ded
from the glorious list of navigators who made the great discoveries of the =
15th
and 16th centuries.
Hatteras consoled himself a little when he tur=
ned
to more modern times. Then Englishmen had the best of it with Sturt, Burke,
Wills, King, and Grey in Australia; with Palliser in America; with Cyril
Graham, Wadington, and Cummingham in India; with Burton, Speke, Grant, and =
Livingstone
in Africa.
But for a man like Hatteras this was not enoug=
h;
from his point of view these bold travellers were improvers rather than inventors ; and he was determined to do
something better, and he would have invented a country if he could, only to
have the honour of discovering it. Now he had noticed that, although Englis=
hmen
did not form a majority amongst ancient discoverers, and that he had to go =
back
to Cook in 1774 to obtain New Caledonia and the Sandwich Isles, where the
unfortunate captain perished in 1778, yet there existed, nevertheless, a co=
rner
of the globe where they seemed to have united all their efforts. This corner
was precisely the boreal lands and seas of North America. The list of Polar
discoveries may be thus written:
Nova Zembla, discovered by Willoughby, in 1553;
Weigatz Island, by Barrough, in 1556; the West Coast of Greenland, by Davis=
, in
1585; Davis's Straits, by Davis, in 1587; Spitzbergen, by Willoughby, in 15=
96;
Hudson's Bay, by Hudson, in 1610; Baffin's Bay, by Baffin, in 1616.
In more modern times, Hearne, Mackenzie, John
Ross, Parry, Franklin, Richardson, Beechey, James Ross, Back, Dease, Simpso=
n,
Rae, Inglefield, Belcher, Austin, Kellett, Moore, McClure, Kennedy, and McC=
lintock
have continually searched those unknown lands.
The limits of the northern coasts of America h=
ad
been fixed, and the North-West passage almost discovered, but this was not
enough; there was something better still to be done, and John Hatteras had
twice attempted it by equipping two ships at his own expense. He wanted to
reach the North Pole, and thus crown the series of English discoveries by o=
ne
of the most illustrious attempts. To attain the Pole was the aim of his lif=
e.
After a few successful cruises in the Southern
seas, Hatteras endeavoured for the first time, in 1846, to go north by Baff=
in's
Sea; but he could not get beyond the seventy-fourth degree of latitude; he =
was
then commanding the sloop Halifax =
. His
crew suffered atrocious torments, and John Hatteras pushed his adventurous =
rashness
so far, that, afterwards, sailors were little tempted to re-commence similar
expeditions under such a chief.
However, in 1850 Hatteras succeeded in enrolli=
ng
on the schooner Farewell about twenty determined men, tempted
principally by the high prize offered for their audacity. It was upon that
occasion that Dr. Clawbonny entered into correspondence with John Hatteras,
whom he did not know, requesting to join the expedition, but happily for the
doctor the post was already filled up. The Farewell , following the track taken in =
1817
by the Neptune from Aberdeen, got up to the north of
Spitzbergen as far as the seventy-sixth degree of latitude. There the
expedition was compelled to winter. But the sufferings of the crew from the
intense cold were so great that not a single man saw England again, with the
exception of Hatteras himself, who was brought back to his own country by a
Danish whaler after a walk of more than two hundred miles across the ice.
The sensation produced by the return of this o=
ne
man was immense. Who in future would dare to follow Hatteras in his mad
attempts? However, he did not despair of beginning again. His father, the
brewer, died, and he became possessor of a nabob's fortune. Soon after a ge=
ographical
fact bitterly stirred up John Hatteras. A brig, the Advance , manned by seventeen men, equip=
ped by
a merchant named Grinnell, under the command of Dr. Kane, and sent in searc=
h of
Sir John Franklin, advanced in 1853 through Baffin's Sea and Smith's Strait,
beyond the eighty-second degree of boreal latitude, much nearer the Pole th=
an
any of his predecessors. Now, this vessel was American, Grinnell was Americ=
an,
and Kane was American. The Englishman's disdain for the Yankee will be easi=
ly
understood; in the heart of Hatteras it changed to hatred; he was resolved =
to
outdo his audacious competitor and reach the Pole itself.
For two years he had been living incognito in
Liverpool, passing himself off as a sailor; he recognised in Richard Shandon
the man he wanted; he sent him an offer by an anonymous letter, and one to =
Dr.
Clawbonny at the same time. The Fo=
rward was built, armed, and equipped. Hatteras=
took
great care to conceal his name, for had it been known he would not have fou=
nd a
single man to accompany him. He was determined not to take the command of t=
he
brig except in a moment of danger, and when his crew had gone too far to dr=
aw
back. He had in reserve, as we have seen, such offers of money to make to t=
he
men that not one of them would refuse to follow him to the other end of the
world; and, in fact, it was right to the other end of the world that he mea=
nt
to go. Circumstances had become critical, and John Hatteras had made himself
known. His dog, the faithful Dick, the companion of his voyages, was the fi=
rst
to recognise him. Luckily for the brave and unfortunately for the timid, it=
was
well and duly established that John Hatteras was the captain of the Forward .
The
appearance of this bold personage was appreciated in different ways by the
crew; part of them completely rallied round him, either from love of money =
or daring;
others submitted because they could not help themselves, reserving their ri=
ght
to protest later on; besides, resistance to such a man seemed, for the pres=
ent,
difficult. Each man went back to his post. The 20th of May fell on a Sunday=
, and
was consequently a day of rest for the crew. A council was held by the capt=
ain,
composed of the officers, Shandon, Wall, Johnson, and the doctor.
"Gentlemen," said the captain in that
voice at the same time soft and imperious which characterised him, "you
are aware that I intend to go as far as the Pole. I wish to know your opini=
on
about this enterprise. Shandon, what do you think about it?"
"It is not for me to think, captain,"
coldly replied Shandon; "I have only to obey."
Hatteras was not surprised at the answer.
"Richard Shandon," continued he, not
less coldly, "I beg you will say what you think about our chance of
success."
"Very well, captain," answered Shand=
on,
"facts are there, and answer for me; attempts of the same kind up till=
now
have always failed; I hope we shall be more fortunate."
"We shall be. What do you think,
gentlemen?"
"As far as I am concerned," replied =
the
doctor, "I consider your plan practicable, as it is certain that some =
day
navigators will attain the boreal Pole. I don't see why the honour should n=
ot
fall to our lot."
"There are many things in our favour,&quo=
t;
answered Hatteras; "our measures are taken in consequence, and we shall
profit by the experience of those who have gone before us. And thereupon,
Shandon, accept my thanks for the care you have taken in fitting out this s=
hip;
there are a few evil-disposed fellows amongst the crew that I shall have to
bring to reason, but on the whole I have only praises to give you."
Shandon bowed coldly. His position on the Forward , which he thought to command, w=
as a
false one. Hatteras understood this, and did not insist further.
"As to you, gentlemen," he continued,
turning to Wall and Johnson, "I could not have secured officers more
distinguished for courage and experience."
"Well, captain, I'm your man," answe=
red
Johnson, "and although your enterprise seems to me rather daring, you =
may
rely upon me till the end."
"And on me too," said James Wall.
"As to you, doctor, I know what you are
worth."
"You know more than I do, then," qui=
ckly
replied the doctor.
"Now, gentlemen," continued Hatteras,
"it is well you should learn upon what undeniable facts my pretension =
to
arrive at the Pole is founded. In 1817 the Neptune got up to the north of Spitzbergen, as f=
ar as
the eighty-second degree. In 1826 the celebrated Parry, after his third voy=
age
to the Polar Seas, started also from Spitzbergen Point, and by the aid of
sledge-boats went a hundred and fifty miles northward. In 1852 Captain
Inglefield penetrated into Smith's Inlet as far as seventy-eight degrees
thirty-five minutes latitude. All these vessels were English, and Englishme=
n,
our countrymen, commanded them." Here Hatteras paused. "I ought to
add," he continued, with a constrained look, and as though the words w=
ere unable
to leave his lips--"I must add that, in 1854, Kane, the American, comm=
anding
the brig Advance , went still high=
er,
and that his lieutenant, Morton, going across the ice-fields, hoisted the
United States standard on the other side of the eighty-second degree. This =
said,
I shall not return to the subject. Now what remains to be known is this, th=
at
the captains of the Neptune , the =
Enterprise , the Isabel , and the Advance ascertained that proceeding from the hig=
hest
latitudes there existed a Polar basin entirely free from ice."
"Free from ice!" exclaimed Shandon,
interrupting the captain, "that is impossible!"
"You will notice, Shandon," quietly
replied Hatteras, whose eye shone for an instant, "that I quote names =
and
facts as a proof. I may even add that during Captain Parry's station on the
border of Wellington Channel, in 1851, his lieutenant, Stewart, also found
himself in the presence of open sea, and this peculiarity was confirmed dur=
ing
Sir Edward Beecher's wintering in 1853, in Northumberland Bay, in 76 degree=
s 52
minutes N. latitude, and 99 degrees 20 minutes longitude. The reports are
incontestable, and it would be most unjust not to admit them."
"However, captain," continued Shando=
n,
"those reports are so contradictory."
"You are mistaken, Shandon," cried D=
r.
Clawbonny. "These reports do not contradict any scientific assertion, =
the
captain will allow me to tell you."
"Go on, doctor," answered Hatteras.<= o:p>
"Well, listen, Shandon; it evidently foll=
ows
from geographical facts, and from the study of isotherm lines, that the col=
dest
point of the globe is not at the Pole itself; like the magnetic point, it
deviates several degrees from the Pole. The calculations of Brewster, Bergh=
am, and
several other natural philosophers show us that in our hemisphere there are=
two
cold Poles; one is situated in Asia at 79 degrees 30 minutes N. latitude, a=
nd
by 120 degrees E. longitude, and the other in America at 78 degrees N.
latitude, and 97 degrees W. longitude. It is with the latter that we have to
do, and you see, Shandon, we have met with it at more than twelve degrees b=
elow
the Pole. Well, why should not the Polar Sea be as equally disengaged from =
ice
as the sixty-sixth parallel is in summer--that is to say, the south of Baff=
in's
Bay?"
"That's what I call well pleaded," r=
eplied
Johnson. "Mr. Clawbonny speaks upon these matters like a professional
man."
"It appears very probable," chimed in
James Wall.
"All guess-work," answered Shandon
obstinately.
"Well, Shandon," said Hatteras,
"let us take into consideration either case; either the sea is free fr=
om
ice or it is not so, and neither of these suppositions can hinder us from
attaining the Pole. If the sea is free the Forward will take us there without trouble; if i=
t is
frozen we will attempt the adventure upon our sledges. This, you will allow=
, is
not impracticable. When once our brig has attained the eighty-third degree =
we
shall only have six hundred miles to traverse before reaching the Pole.&quo=
t;
"And what are six hundred miles?"
quickly answered the doctor, "when it is known that a Cossack, Alexis
Markoff, went over the ice sea along the northern coast of the Russian Empi=
re,
in sledges drawn by dogs, for the space of eight hundred miles in twenty-fo=
ur
days?"
"Do you hear that, Shandon?" said
Hatteras; "can't Englishmen do as much as a Cossack?"
"Of course they can," cried the
impetuous doctor.
"Of course," added the boatswain.
"Well, Shandon?" said the captain.
"I can only repeat what I said before,
captain," said Shandon--"I will obey."
"Very good. And now," continued Hatt=
eras,
"let us consider our present situation. We are caught by the ice, and =
it
seems to me impossible, for this year at least, to get into Smith's Strait.
Well, here, then, this is what I propose."
Hatteras laid open upon the table one of the
excellent maps published in 1859 by the order of the Admiralty.
"Be kind enough to follow me. If Smith's
Strait is closed up from us, Lancaster Strait, on the west coast of Baffin's
Sea, is not. I think we ought to ascend that strait as far as Barrow Strait,
and from there sail to Beechey Island; the same track has been gone over a
hundred times by sailing vessels; consequently with a screw we can do it
easily. Once at Beechey Island we will go north as far as possible, by
Wellington Channel, up to the outlet of the creek which joins Wellington's =
and
Queen's Channels, at the very point where the open sea was perceived. It is=
now
only the 20th of May; in a month, if circumstances favour us, we shall have
attained that point, and from there we'll drive forward towards the Pole. W=
hat
do you think about it, gentlemen?"
"It is evidently the only track to
follow," replied Johnson.
"Very well, we will take it from to-morro=
w. I
shall let them rest to-day as it is Sunday. Shandon, you will take care that
religious service be attended to; it has a beneficial effect on the minds o=
f men,
and a sailor above all needs to place confidence in the Almighty."
"It shall be attended to, captain,"
answered Shandon, who went out with the lieutenant and the boatswain.
"Doctor!" said Hatteras, pointing
towards Shandon, "there's a man whose pride is wounded; I can no longer
rely upon him."
Early the following day the captain caused the
pirogue to be lowered in order to reconnoitre the icebergs in the vicinity,=
the
breadth of which did not exceed 200 yards. He remarked that through a slow =
pressure
of the ice the basin threatened to become narrower. It became urgent,
therefore, to make an aperture to prevent the ship being crushed in a vice =
of
the mountains. By the means employed by John Hatteras, it is easy to observe
that he was an energetic man.
He first had steps cut out in the walls of ice,
and by their means climbed to the summit of an iceberg. From that point he =
saw
that it was easy for him to cut out a road towards the south-west. By his o=
rders
a blasting furnace was hollowed nearly in the heart of the mountain. This w=
ork,
rapidly put into execution, was terminated by noon on Monday. Hatteras could
not rely on his eight or ten pound blasting cylinders, which would have had=
no
effect on such masses as those. They were only sufficient to shatter
ice-fields. He therefore had a thousand pounds of powder placed in the blas=
ting
furnace, of which the diffusive direction was carefully calculated. This mi=
ne
was provided with a long wick, bound in gutta-percha, the end of which was
outside. The gallery conducting to the mine was filled up with snow and lum=
ps
of ice, which the cold of the following night made as hard as granite. The
temperature, under the influence of an easterly wind, came down to twelve
degrees.
At seven the next morning the Forward was held under steam, ready to profit by=
the
smallest issue. Johnson was charged with setting fire to the wick, which,
according to calculation, would burn for half an hour before setting fire t=
o the
mine. Johnson had, therefore, plenty of time to regain the brig; ten minutes
after having executed Hatteras's order he was again at his post. The crew
remained on deck, for the weather was dry and bright; it had left off snowi=
ng.
Hatteras was on the poop, chronometer in hand,
counting the minutes; Shandon and the doctor were with him. At eight
thirty-five a dull explosion was heard, much less loud than any one would h=
ave
supposed. The outline of the mountains was changed all at once as if by an =
earthquake;
thick white smoke rose up to a considerable height in the sky, leaving long
crevices in the iceberg, the top part of which fell in pieces all round the=
Forward . But the path was not yet free;=
large
blocks of ice remained suspended above the pass on the adjacent mountains, =
and
there was every reason to fear that they would fall and close up the passag=
e.
Hatteras took in the situation at one glance.
"Wolsten!" cried he.
The gunsmith hastened up.
"Yes, captain?" cried he.
"Load the gun in the bow with a triple
charge," said Hatteras, "and wad it as hard as possible."
"Are we going to attack the mountain with
cannon-balls?" asked the doctor.
"No," answered Hatteras, "that
would be useless. No bullet, Wolsten, but a triple charge of powder. Look s=
harp!"
A few minutes after the gun was loaded.
"What does he mean to do without a
bullet?" muttered Shandon between his teeth.
"We shall soon see," answered the
doctor.
"Ready, captain!" called out Wolsten=
.
"All right!" replied Hatteras.
"Brunton!" he called out to the
engineer, "a few turns ahead."
Brunton opened the sliders, and the screw being
put in movement, the Forward neared the mined mountain.
"Aim at the pass!" cried the captain=
to
the gunsmith. The latter obeyed, and when the brig was only half a cable's
length from it, Hatteras called out:
"Fire!"
A formidable report followed his order, and the
blocks, shaken by the atmospheric commotion, were suddenly precipitated into
the sea; the disturbance amongst the strata of the air had been sufficient =
to
accomplish this.
"All steam on, Brunton! Straight for the
pass, Johnson!"
The latter was at the helm; the brig, driven a=
long
by her screw, which turned in the foaming waves, dashed into the middle of =
the
then opened pass; it was time, for scarcely had the Forward cleared the opening than her prison clos=
ed up
again behind her. It was a thrilling moment, and on board there was only one
stout and undisturbed heart--that of the captain. The crew, astonished at t=
he
manoeuvre, cried out:
"Hurrah for the captain!"
On
Wednesday, the 23rd of May, the Fo=
rward had again taken up her adventurous navig=
ation,
cleverly tacking amongst the packs and icebergs. Thanks to steam, that obed=
ient
force which so many of our Polar sea navigators have had to do without, she
appeared to be playing in the midst of the moving rocks. She seemed to
recognise the hand of an experienced master, and like a horse under an able
rider, she obeyed the thought of her captain. The temperature rose. At six =
o'clock
in the morning the thermometer marked twenty-six degrees, at six in the eve=
ning
twenty-nine degrees, and at midnight twenty-five degrees; the wind was ligh=
tly
blowing from the south-east.
On Thursday, towards three in the morning, the=
Forward was in sight of Possession Bay, on the c=
oast
of America. At the entrance to Lancaster Strait, shortly after, the crew ca=
ught
a glimpse of Burney Cape. A few Esquimaux pulled off towards the vessel, but
Hatteras did not take the trouble to wait for them. The Byam-Martin peaks, =
which
overlook Cape Liverpool, were sighted to the left, and soon disappeared in =
the
evening mists, which also prevented any observation being taken from Cape H=
ay.
This cape is so low that it gets confounded with the ice on the coast, a
circumstance which often renders the hydrographic determination of the Polar
seas extremely difficult.
Puffins, ducks, and white sea-gulls showed up =
in
very great numbers. The Forward was then in latitude 74 degrees 1 minute=
, and
in longitude 77 degrees 15 minutes. The snowy hoods of the two mountains, C=
atherine
and Elizabeth, rose up above the clouds.
On Friday, at six o'clock, Cape Warender was
passed on the right side of the strait, and on the left Admiralty Inlet, a =
bay
that has been little explored by navigators, who are generally in a hurry to
sail away west. The sea became rather rough, and the waves often swept the =
deck
of the brig, throwing up pieces of ice. The land on the north coast, with i=
ts
high table lands almost level, and which reverberated the sun's rays, offer=
ed a
very curious appearance.
Hatteras wanted to run along the north coast, =
in
order to reach Beechey Island and the entrance to Wellington Channel sooner;
but continual icebergs compelled him, to his great annoyance, to follow the
southern passes. That was why, on the 26th of May, the Forward was abreast of Cape York in a thick fog
interspersed with snow; a very high mountain, almost perpendicular, caused =
it
to be recognised. The weather cleared up a little, and the sun, towards noo=
n,
appeared for an instant, allowing a tolerably good observation to be taken;=
74 degrees
4 minutes latitude and 84 degrees 23 minutes longitude. The Forward was then at the extremity of Lancaster S=
trait.
Hatteras pointed out to the doctor on his map =
the
route already taken, and the one he meant to follow. The position of the br=
ig
at the time was very interesting.
"I should like to have been further
north," said he, "but no one can do the impossible; see, this is =
our
exact situation."
And the captain pricked his map at a short
distance from Cape York.
"We are in the centre of this four-road w=
ay,
open to every wind, fenced by the outlets of Lancaster Strait, Barrow Strai=
t,
Wellington Channel, and Regent's Passage; it is a point that all navigators=
in
these seas have been obliged to come to."
"Well," replied the doctor, "it
must have puzzled them greatly; four cross-roads with no sign-posts to tell
them which to take. How did Parry, Ross, and Franklin manage?"
"They did not manage at all, they were
managed; they had no choice, I can assure you; sometimes Barrow Strait was
closed to one of them, and the next year another found it open; sometimes t=
he
vessel was irresistibly drawn towards Regent's Passage, so that we have end=
ed by
becoming acquainted with these inextricable seas."
"What a singular country!" said the
doctor, examining the map. "It is all in pieces, and they seem to have=
no
logical connection. It seems as if the land in the vicinity of the North Po=
le
had been cut up like this on purpose to make access to it more difficult,
whilst that in the other hemisphere quietly terminates in tapered-out point=
s like
those of Cape Horn, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Indian Peninsula. Is it =
the
greater rapidity of the equator which has thus modified matters, whilst the
land at the extremities, yet fluid from the creation, has not been able to =
get
condensed or agglomerated together, for want of a sufficiently rapid
rotation?"
"That must be the case, for everything on
earth is logical, and 'nothing is that errs from law,' and God often allows=
men
to discover His laws; make use of His permission, doctor."
"Unfortunately, I shall not be able to ta=
ke
much advantage of it," said the doctor, "but the wind here is
something dreadful," added he, muffling himself up as well as he could=
.
"Yes, we are quite exposed to the north w=
ind,
and it is turning us out of our road."
"Anyhow it ought to drive the ice down so=
uth,
and level a clear road."
"It ought to do so, doctor, but the wind =
does
not always do what it ought. Look, that ice-bank seems impenetrable. Never
mind, we will try to reach Griffith Island, sail round Cornwallis Island, a=
nd
get into Queen's Channel without going by Wellington Channel. Nevertheless I
positively desire to touch at Beechey Island in order to renew my coal
provision."
"What do you mean?" asked the astoni=
shed
doctor.
"I mean that, according to orders from the
Admiralty, large provisions have been deposited on that island in order to
provide for future expeditions, and although Captain McClintock took some in
1859, I assure you that there will be some left for us."
"By-the-bye," said the doctor,
"these parts have been explored for the last fifteen years, and since =
the
day when the proof of the loss of Franklin was acquired, the Admiralty has
always kept five or six cruisers in these seas. If I am not mistaken, Griff=
ith
Island, which I see there on the map, almost in the middle of the cross-roa=
ds,
has become a general meeting-place for navigators."
"It is so, doctor; and Franklin's unfortu=
nate
expedition resulted in making known these distant countries to us."
"That is true, captain, for since 1845
expeditions have been very numerous. It was not until 1848 that we began to=
be
uneasy about the disappearance of the Erebus
and the Terror , Franklin's two vessels. It was =
then
that we saw the admiral's old friend, Dr. Richardson, at the age of seventy=
, go
to Canada, and ascend Coppermine River as far as the Polar Sea; and James R=
oss,
commanding the Enterprise and =
span>Investigation
, set out from Uppernawik in 1848 and arrived at Cape York, where we now ar=
e.
Every day he threw a tub containing papers into the sea, for the purpose of
making known his whereabouts. During the mists he caused the cannon to be
fired, and had sky-rockets sent up at night along with Bengal lights, and k=
ept under
sail continually. He wintered in Port Leopold from 1848 to 1849, where he t=
ook
possession of a great number of white foxes, and caused brass collars, upon
which was engraved the indication of the whereabouts of ships and the store
depots, to be riveted on their necks. Afterwards they were dispersed in all
directions; in the following spring he began to search the coasts of North
Somerset on sledges in the midst of dangers and privations from which almost
all his men fell ill or lame. He built up cairns in which he inclosed brass
cylinders with the necessary memoranda for rallying the lost expedition. Wh=
ile
he was away his lieutenant McClure explored the northern coasts of Barrow
Strait, but without result. James Ross had under his orders two officers wh=
o,
later on, were destined to become celebrities--McClure, who cleared the
North-West passage, and McClintock, who discovered the remains of Sir John
Franklin."
"Yes; they are now two good and brave Eng=
lish
captains. You know the history of these seas well, doctor, and you will ben=
efit
us by telling us about it. There is always something to be gained by hearing
about such daring attempts."
"Well, to finish all I know about James R=
oss:
he tried to reach Melville Island by a more westerly direction, but he near=
ly
lost his two vessels, for he was caught by the ice and driven back into
Baffin's Sea."
"Driven back?" repeated Hatteras,
contracting his brows; "forced back in spite of himself?"
"Yes, and without having discovered
anything," continued the doctor; "and ever since that year, 1850,
English vessels have never ceased to plough these seas, and a reward of twe=
nty
thousand pounds was offered to any one who might find the crews of the Erebus =
and
Terror . Captains Kellett and Moor=
e had
already, in 1848, attempted to get through Behring's Strait. In 1850 and 18=
51
Captain Austin wintered in Cornwallis Island; Captain Parry, on board the <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Assistance and the Resolute , explored Wellington Channel; =
John Ross,
the venerable hero of the magnetic pole, set out again with his yacht, the =
Felix , in search of his friend; the bri=
g Prince Albert went on a first cruise at the expense of=
Lady
Franklin; and, lastly, two American ships, sent out by Grinnell with Captain
Haven, were drifted out of Wellington Channel and thrown back into Lancaste=
r Strait.
It was during this year that McClintock, who was then Austin's lieutenant,
pushed on as far as Melville Island and Cape Dundas, the extreme points
attained by Parry in 1819; it was then that he found traces of Franklin's
wintering on Beechey Island in 1845."
"Yes," answered Hatteras, "thre=
e of
his sailors had been buried there--three men more fortunate than the
others!"
The doctor nodded in approval of Hatteras's
remark, and continued:
"During 1851 and 1852 the Prince Albert went on a second voyage under the French
lieutenant, Bellot; he wintered at Batty Bay, in Prince Regent Strait, expl=
ored
the south-west of Somerset, and reconnoitred the coast as far as Cape Walke=
r.
During that time the Enterprise and the Investigator returned to England and passed under the
command of Collinson and McClure for the purpose of rejoining Kellett and M=
oore
in Behring's Straits; whilst Collinson came back to winter at Hong-Kong,
McClure made the best of his way onward, and after being obliged to winter
three times--from 1850 to '51; from 1851 to '52; and from 1852 to '53--he
discovered the North-West passage without learning anything of Franklin's f=
ate.
During 1852 and '53 a new expedition composed of three sailing vessels, the=
Resolute , the Assistance , the North Star , and two steamers, the Pioneer and =
span>Intrepid
, set sail under the command of Sir Edward Belcher, with Captain Kellett un=
der
him; Sir Edward visited Wellington Channel, wintered in Northumberland Bay,=
and
went over the coast, whilst Kellett, pushing on to Bridport in Melville Isl=
and,
explored, without success, that part of the boreal land. It was at this time
that news was spread in England that two ships, abandoned in the midst of
icebergs, had been descried near the coast of New Scotland. Lady Franklin
immediately had prepared the little screw Isabelle , and Captain Inglefield, after
having steamed up Baffin's Bay as far as Victoria Point on the eightieth
parallel, came back to Beechey Island no more successful than his predecess=
ors.
At the beginning of 1855, Grinnell, an American, fitted up a fresh expediti=
on, and
Captain Kane tried to penetrate to the Pole----"
"But he didn't do it," cried Hatteras
violently; "and what he didn't do we will, with God's help!"
"I know, captain," answered the doct=
or,
"and I mention it because this expedition is of necessity connected wi=
th
the search for Franklin. But it had no result. I was almost forgetting to t=
ell you
that the Admiralty, considering Beechey Island as the general rendezvous of=
expeditions,
charged Captain Inglefield, who then commanded the steamer Phoenix , to transport provisions there =
in
1853; Inglefield set out with Lieutenant Bellot, and lost the brave officer=
who
for the second time had devoted his services to England; we can have more p=
recise
details upon this catastrophe, as our boatswain, Johnson, was witness to the
misfortune."
"Lieutenant Bellot was a brave
Frenchman," said Hatteras, "and his memory is honoured in
England."
"By that time," continued the doctor,
"Belcher's fleet began to come back little by little; not all of it, f=
or
Sir Edward had been obliged to abandon the Assistance in 1854, as McClure had done with the Investigator in 1853. In the meantime, Dr. Rae, in a =
letter
dated the 29th of July, 1854, and addressed from Repulse Bay, which he had =
succeeded
in reaching through America, sent word that the Esquimaux of King William's
Land were in possession of different objects taken from the wrecks of the <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Erebus and =
span>Terror
; there was then not the least doubt about the fate of the expedition; the =
Phoenix , the North Star , and Collinson's vessel then=
came
back to England, leaving the Arctic Seas completely abandoned by English sh=
ips.
But if the Government seemed to have lost all hope it was not so with Lady
Franklin, and with the remnants of her fortune she fitted out the Fox , commanded by McClintock, who set s=
ail in
1857, and wintered in the quarters where you made your apparition; he reach=
ed
Beechey Island on the 11th of August, 1858, wintered a second time in Bello=
t's Strait,
began his search again in February, 1859, and on the 6th of May found the
document which cleared away all doubt about the fate of the Erebus and the Terror , and returned to England at the =
end of
the year. That is all that has happened for fifteen years in these fateful
countries, and since the return of the =
span>Fox
not a single vessel has returned to
attempt success in the midst of these dangerous seas."
"Well," replied Hatteras, "we w=
ill
attempt it."
The w=
eather
cleared up towards evening, and land was clearly distinguished between Cape
Sepping and Cape Clarence, which runs east, then south, and is joined to the
coast on the west by a rather low neck of land. The sea at the entrance to
Regent Strait was free from ice, with the exception of an impenetrable
ice-bank, a little further than Port Leopold, which threatened to stop the =
Forward in her north-westerly course. Hatteras w=
as
greatly vexed, but he did not show it; he was obliged to have recourse to
petards in order to force an entrance to Port Leopold; he reached it on Sun=
day,
the 27th of May; the brig was solidly anchored to the enormous icebergs, wh=
ich were
as upright, hard, and solid as rocks.
The captain, followed by the doctor, Johnson, =
and
his dog Dick, immediately leaped upon the ice, and soon reached land. Dick
leaped with joy, for since he had recognised the captain he had become more=
sociable,
keeping his grudge against certain men of the crew for whom his master had =
no
more friendship than he. The port was not then blocked up with ice that the
east winds generally heaped up there; the earth, intersected with peaks,
offered at their summits graceful undulations of snow. The house and lantern
erected by James Ross were still in a tolerable state of preservation; but =
the
provisions seemed to have been ransacked by foxes and bears, the recent tra=
ces
of which were easily distinguished. Men, too, had had something to do with =
the
devastation, for a few remains of Esquimaux huts remained upon the shores of
the Bay. The six graves inclosing the remains of the six sailors of the
"There is that residence," he said to
his companions, "which James Ross himself called the Camp of Refuge; if
Franklin's expedition had reached this spot, it would have been saved. Ther=
e is
the engine which was abandoned here, and the stove at which the crew of the=
Prince Albert warmed themselves in 1851. Things have
remained just as they were, and any one would think that Captain Kennedy had
only left yesterday. Here is the long boat which sheltered him and his for =
a few
days, for this Kennedy, separated from his ship, was in reality saved by
Lieutenant Bellot, who braved the October temperature in order to go to his
assistance."
"I knew that brave and worthy officer,&qu=
ot;
said Johnson.
Whilst the doctor was examining with all an
antiquarian's enthusiasm the vestiges of previous winterings, Hatteras was
occupied in piling together the various provisions and articles of fuel, wh=
ich
were only to be found in very small quantities. The following day was emplo=
yed in
transporting them on board. The doctor, without going too far from the ship,
surveyed the country, and took sketches of the most remarkable points of vi=
ew.
The temperature rose by degrees, and the heaped-up snow began to melt. The
doctor made an almost complete collection of northern birds, such as gulls,
divers, eider-down ducks, which are very much like common ducks, with white
breasts and backs, blue bellies, the top of the head blue, and the remainde=
r of
the plumage white, shaded with green; several of them had already their bre=
asts
stripped of that beautiful down with which the male and female line their
nests. The doctor also perceived large seals taking breath on the surface of
the ice, but could not shoot one. In his excursions he discovered the high
water mark, a stone upon which the following signs are engraved:
(E. I.) =
1849,
and which indicate the passage of the Enterprise and =
span>Investigator
; he pushed forward as far as Cape Clarence to the spot where John and James
Ross, in 1833, waited with so much impatience for the breaking up of the ic=
e.
The land was strewn with skulls and bones of animals, and traces of Esquima=
ux habitations
could be still distinguished.
The doctor wanted to raise up a cairn on Port
Leopold, and deposit in it a note indicating the passage of the Forward , and the aim of the expedition.=
But
Hatteras would not hear of it; he did not want to leave traces behind of wh=
ich
a competitor might take advantage. In spite of his good motives the doctor =
was
forced to yield to the captain's will. Shandon blamed the captain's obstina=
cy,
which prevented any ships following the trace of the Forward in case of accident. Hatteras would not =
give
way. His lading was finished on Monday night, and he attempted once more to
gain the north by breaking open the ice-bank; but after dangerous efforts he
was forced to resign himself, and to go down Regent's Channel again; he wou=
ld
not stop at Port Leopold, which, open to-day, might be closed again to-morr=
ow by
an unexpected displacement of ice-fields, a very frequent phenomenon in the=
se
seas, and which navigators ought particularly to take into consideration.
If Hatteras did not allow his uneasiness to be
outwardly perceived, it did not prevent him feeling it inwardly. His desire=
was
to push northward, whilst, on the contrary, he found himself constrained to=
put
back southward. Where should he get to in that case? Should he be obliged to
put back to Victoria Harbour, in Boothia Gulf, where Sir John Ross wintered=
in
1833? Would he find Bellot Strait open at that epoch, and could he ascend P=
eel
Strait by rounding North Somerset? Or, again, should he, like his predecess=
ors,
find himself captured during several winters, and be compelled to exhaust h=
is strength
and provisions? These fears were fermenting in his brain; he must decide one
way or other. He heaved about, and struck out south. The width of Prince
Regent's Channel is about the same from Port Leopold to Adelaide Bay. The <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Forward , more favoured than the ships w=
hich
had preceded her, and of which the greater number had required more than a
month to descend the channel, even in a more favourable season, made her way
rapidly amongst the icebergs; it is true that other ships, with the excepti=
on
of the Fox , had no steam at their=
disposal,
and had to endure the caprices of an uncertain and often foul wind.
In general the crew showed little wish to push=
on
with the enterprising Hatteras; the men were only too glad to perceive that=
the
vessel was taking a southerly direction. Hatteras would have liked to go on=
regardless
of consequences.
The F=
orward
rushed along under the pressure of=
her
engines, the smoke from which twisted round the shining points of the icebe=
rgs;
the weather was constantly changing from dry cold to snowy fogs. The brig,
which drew little water, sailed along the west coast; Hatteras did not wish=
to
miss the entrance to Bellot Strait, as the only outlet to the Gulf of Booth=
ia
on the south was the strait, only partially known to the Fury and the Hecla ; if he missed the Bellot Strait, =
he
might be shut up without possibility of egress.
In the evening the Forward was in sight of Elwin Bay, known by its =
high perpendicular
rocks; on the Tuesday morning Batty Bay was sighted, where the Prince Albert anchored for its long wintering on the 1=
0th of
September, 1851. The doctor swept the whole coast with his telescope. It was
from this point that the expeditions radiated that established the geograph=
ical
configuration of North Somerset. The weather was clear, and the profound
ravines by which the bay is surrounded could be clearly distinguished.
The doctor and Johnson were perhaps the only
beings on board who took any interest in these deserted countries. Hatteras=
was
always intent upon his maps, and said little; his taciturnity increased as =
the
brig got more and more south; he often mounted the poop, and there with fol=
ded
arms, and eyes lost in vacancy, he stood for hours. His orders, when he gave
any, were curt and rough. Shandon kept a cold silence, and kept himself so =
much
aloof by degrees that at last he had no relations with Hatteras except those
exacted by the service; James Wall remained devoted to Shandon, and regulat=
ed
his conduct accordingly. The remainder of the crew waited for something to =
turn
up, ready to take any advantage in their own interest. There was no longer =
that
unity of thought and communion of ideas on board which are so necessary for=
the
accomplishment of anything great, and this Hatteras knew to his sorrow.
During the day two whales were perceived rushi=
ng
towards the south; a white bear was also seen, and was shot at without any
apparent success. The captain knew the value of an hour under the
circumstances, and would not allow the animal to be chased.
On Wednesday morning the extremity of Regent's
Channel was passed; the angle on the west coast was followed by a deep curv=
e in
the land. By consulting his map the doctor recognised the point of Somerset=
House,
or Fury Point.
"There," said he to his habitual
companion--"there is the very spot where the first English ship, sent =
into
these seas in 1815, was lost, during the third of Parry's voyages to the Po=
le;
the Fury was so damaged by the ice on her second
wintering, that her crew were obliged to desert her and return to England on
board her companion ship the Hecla=
."
"That shows the advantage of having a sec=
ond
ship," answered Johnson. "It is a precaution that Polar navigators
ought not to neglect, but Captain Hatteras wasn't the sort of man to trouble
himself with another ship."
"Do you think he is imprudent, Johnson?&q=
uot;
asked the doctor.
"I? I think nothing, Mr. Clawbonny. Do you
see those stakes over there with some rotten tent-rags still hanging to
them?"
"Yes; that's where Parry disembarked his
provisions from his ship, and, if I remember rightly, the roof of his tent =
was
a topsail."
"Everything must be greatly changed since
1825!"
"Not so much as any one might think. John
Ross owed the health and safety of his crew to that fragile habitation in 1=
829.
When the Prince Albert sent an expedition there in 1851, it was=
still
existing; Captain Kennedy had it repaired, nine years ago now. It would be =
interesting
to visit it, but Hatteras isn't in the humour to stop!"
"I daresay he is right, Mr. Clawbonny; if
time is money in England, here it is life, and a day's or even an hour's de=
lay
might make all the difference."
During the day of Thursday, the 1st of June, t=
he Forward cut across Creswell Bay; from Fury Point=
the
coast rose towards the north in perpendicular rocks three hundred feet high=
; it
began to get lower towards the south; some snow summits looked like neatly-=
cut
tables, whilst others were shaped like pyramids, and had other strange form=
s.
The weather grew milder during that day, but w=
as
not so clear; land was lost to sight, and the thermometer went up to thirty=
-two
degrees; seafowl fluttered about, the flocks of wild ducks were seen flying=
north;
the crew could divest themselves of some of their garments, and the influen=
ce
of the Arctic summer began to be felt. Towards evening the Forward doubled Cape Garry at a quarter of a mil=
e from
the shore, where the soundings gave from ten to twelve fathoms; from thence=
she
kept near the coast as far as Brentford Bay. It was under this latitude that
Bellot Strait was to be met with; a strait the existence of which Sir John =
Ross
did not even guess at during his expedition in 1828; his maps indicated an
uninterrupted coast-line, whose irregularities he noted with the utmost car=
e;
the entrance to the strait must therefore have been blocked up by ice at the
time. It was really discovered by Kennedy in April, 1852, and he gave it the
name of his lieutenant, Bellot, as "a just tribute," he said, &qu=
ot;to
the important services rendered to our expedition by the French officer.&qu=
ot;
Hatte=
ras
felt his anxiety increase as he neared the strait; the fate of his voyage
depended upon it; up till now he had done more than his predecessors, the m=
ost
fortunate of whom, McClintock, had taken fifteen months to reach this part =
of
the Polar Seas; but it was little or nothing if he did not succeed in clear=
ing
Bellot Strait; he could not retrace his steps, and would be blocked up till=
the
following year.
He trusted the care of examining the coast to =
no
one but himself; he mounted the crow's nest and passed several hours there
during the morning of Saturday. The crew perfectly understood the ship's po=
sition;
profound silence reigned on board; the engine slackened steam, and the Forward kept as near land as possible; the coast=
bristled
with icebergs, which the warmest summers do not melt; an experienced eye al=
one
could distinguish an opening between them. Hatteras compared his maps with =
the
land. As the sun showed himself for an instant towards noon, he caused Shan=
don
and Wall to take a pretty exact observation, which was shouted to him. All =
the
crew suffered the tortures of anxiety for half the day, but towards two o'c=
lock
these words were shouted from the top of the mizenmast:
"Veer to the west, all steam on."
The brig instantly obeyed; her prow was direct=
ed
towards the point indicated; the sea foamed under the screws, and the Forward , with all speed on, entered bet=
ween
two ice-streams. The road was found, Hatteras descended upon deck, and the
ice-master took his place.
"Well, captain," said the doctor,
"we are in the famous strait at last."
"Yes," answered Hatteras, lowering h=
is
voice; "but getting in isn't everything; we must get out too," an=
d so
saying he regained his cabin.
"He's right," said the doctor; "= ;we are here in a sort of mousetrap, with scarcely enough space for working the brig, and if we are forced to winter in the strait!... Well, we shan't be t= he first that have had to do it, and they got over it, and so shall we."<= o:p>
The doctor was not mistaken. It was in that ve=
ry
place, in a little sheltered harbour called Kennedy Harbour by McClintock
himself, that the Fox wintered in 1858. The high granite chain=
and
the steep cliffs of the two banks were clearly discernible.
Bellot Strait is seventeen miles long and a mi=
le
wide, and about six or seven fathoms deep. It lies between mountains whose
height is estimated at 1,600 feet. It separates North Somerset from Boothia=
Land.
It is easy to understand that there is not much
elbow-room for vessels in such a strait. The Forward advanced slowly, but it did advance; tem=
pests
are frequent in the strait, and the brig did not escape them; by Hatteras's
order all sails were furled; but, notwithstanding all precautions, the brig=
was
much knocked about; the waves dashed over her, and her smoke fled towards t=
he
east with astonishing rapidity; her course was not certain amongst the movi=
ng
ice; the barometer fell; it was difficult to stop on deck, and most of the =
men
stayed below to avoid useless suffering.
Hatteras, Johnson, and Shandon remained on the
poop in spite of the gales of snow and rain; as usual the doctor had asked
himself what would be the most disagreeable thing he could do, and answered
himself by going on deck at once; it was impossible to hear and difficult to
see one another, so that he kept his reflections to himself. Hatteras tried=
to
see through the fog; he calculated that they would be at the mouth of the
strait at six o'clock, but when the time came all issue seemed closed up; he
was obliged to wait and anchor the brig to an iceberg; but he stopped under
pressure all night.
The weather was frightful. The Forward threatened to break her chains at every
instant; it was feared that the iceberg to which they were anchored, torn a=
way
at its base under the violent west wind, would float away with the brig. The
officers were constantly on the look-out and under extreme apprehension; al=
ong
with the snow there fell a perfect hail of ice torn off from the surface of=
the
icebergs by the strength of the wind; it was like a shower of arrows bristl=
ing in
the atmosphere. The temperature rose singularly during this terrible night;=
the
thermometer marked fifty-seven degrees, and the doctor, to his great
astonishment, thought he saw flashes of lightning in the south, followed by=
the
roar of far-off thunder that seemed to corroborate the testimony of the wha=
ler
Scoresby, who observed a similar phenomenon above the sixty-fifth parallel.=
Captain
Parry was also witness to a similar meteorological wonder in 1821.
Towards five o'clock in the morning the weather
changed with astonishing rapidity; the temperature went down to freezing po=
int,
the wind turned north, and became calmer. The western opening to the strait=
was
in sight, but entirely obstructed. Hatteras looked eagerly at the coast, as=
king
himself if the passage really existed. However, the brig got under way, and
glided slowly amongst the ice-streams, whilst the icebergs pressed noisily
against her planks, the packs at that epoch were still from six to seven fe=
et
thick; they were obliged carefully to avoid their pressure, for if the brig=
had
resisted them she would have run the risk of being lifted up and turned ove=
r on
her side. At noon, for the first time, they could admire a magnificent solar
phenomenon, a halo with two parhelia; the doctor observed it, and took its
exact dimensions; the exterior bow was only visible over an extent of thirty
degrees on each side of its horizontal diameter; the two images of the sun =
were
remarkably clear; the colours of the luminous bows proceeded from inside to
outside, and were red, yellow, green, and very light blue--in short, white
light without any assignable exterior limit. The doctor remembered the
ingenious theory of Thomas Young about these meteors; this natural philosop=
her supposed
that certain clouds composed of prisms of ice are suspended in the atmosphe=
re;
the rays of the sun that fall on the prisms are decomposed at angles of six=
ty
and ninety degrees. Halos cannot, therefore, exist in a calm atmosphere. The
doctor thought this theory very probable. Sailors accustomed to the boreal =
seas
generally consider this phenomenon as the precursor of abundant snow. If th=
eir observation
was just, the position of the Forw=
ard became very difficult. Hatteras, therefo=
re,
resolved to go on fast; during the remainder of the day and following night=
he
did not take a minute's rest, sweeping the horizon with his telescope, taki=
ng
advantage of the least opening, and losing no occasion of getting out of the
strait.
But in the morning he was obliged to stop befo=
re
the insuperable ice-bank. The doctor joined him on the poop. Hatteras went =
with
him apart where they could talk without fear of being overheard.
"We are in for it," began Hatteras;
"it is impossible to go any further."
"Is there no means of getting out?"
asked the doctor.
"None. All the powder in the Forward would not make us gain half a mile!"=
;
"What shall we do, then?" said the
doctor.
"I don't know. This cursed year has been
unfavourable from the beginning."
"Well," answered the doctor, "i=
f we
must winter here, we must. One place is as good as another."
"But," said Hatteras, lowering his
voice, "we must not winter here, especially in the month of June.
Wintering is full of physical and moral danger. The crew would be unmanagea=
ble
during a long inaction in the midst of real suffering. I thought I should be
able to stop much nearer the Pole than this!"
"Luck would have it so, or Baffin's Bay w=
ouldn't
have been closed."
"It was open enough for that American!&qu=
ot;
cried Hatteras in a rage.
"Come, Hatteras," said the doctor,
interrupting him on purpose, "to-day is only the 5th of June; don't
despair; a passage may suddenly open up before us; you know that the ice ha=
s a
tendency to break up into several blocks, even in the calmest weather, as i=
f a
force of repulsion acted upon the different parts of it; we may find the se=
a free
at any minute."
"If that minute comes we shall take advan=
tage
of it. It is quite possible that, once out of Bellot Strait, we shall be ab=
le
to go north by Peel Strait or McClintock Channel, and then----"
"Captain," said James Wall, who had =
come
up while Hatteras was speaking, "the ice nearly carries off our
rudder."
"Well," answered Hatteras, "we =
must
risk it. We must be ready day and night. You must do all you can to protect=
it,
Mr. Wall, but I can't have it removed."
"But----" added Wall.
"That is my business," said Hatteras
severely, and Wall went back to his post.
"I would give five years of my life,"
said Hatteras, in a rage, "to be up north. I know no more dangerous
passage. To add to the difficulty, the compass is no guide at this distance
from the magnetic pole: the needle is constantly shifting its direction.&qu=
ot;
"I acknowledge," answered the doctor,
"that navigation is difficult, but we knew what we had to expect when =
we
began our enterprise, and we ought not to be surprised at it."
"Ah, doctor, my crew is no longer what it
was; the officers are spoiling the men. I could make them do what I want by
offering them a pecuniary reward, but I am not seconded by my officers, but
they shall pay dearly for it!"
"You are exaggerating, Hatteras."
"No, I am not. Do you think the crew is s=
orry
for the obstacles that I meet with? On the contrary, they hope they will ma=
ke
me abandon my projects. They do not complain now, and they won't as long as=
the
Forward is making for the south. The fools! They=
think
they are getting nearer England! But once let me go north and you'll see ho=
w they'll
change! I swear, though, that no living being will make me deviate from my =
line
of conduct. Only let me find a passage, that's all!"
One of the captain's wishes was fulfilled soon
enough. There was a sudden change during the evening; under some influence =
of
the wind, the current, or the temperature, the ice-fields were separated; t=
he Forward went along boldly, breaking up the ice w=
ith
her steel prow; she sailed along all night, and the next morning about six
cleared Bellot Strait. But that was all; the northern passage was completel=
y obstructed--to
the great disgust of Hatteras. However, he had sufficient strength of chara=
cter
to hide his disappointment, and as if the only passage open was the one he
preferred, he let the Forward sail down Franklin Strait again; not bei=
ng
able to get up Peel Strait, he resolved to go round Prince of Wales's Land =
to
get into McClintock Channel. But he felt he could not deceive Shandon and W=
all
as to the extent of his disappointment. The day of the 6th of June was unev=
entful;
the sky was full of snow, and the prognostics of the halo were fulfilled.
During thirty-six hours the Forward followed the windings of Boothia Land, u=
nable
to approach Prince of Wales's Land; the captain counted upon getting suppli=
es
at Beechey Island; he arrived on the Thursday at the extremity of Franklin
Strait, where he again found the road to the north blocked up. It was enoug=
h to
make him despair; he could not even retrace his steps; the icebergs pushed =
him
onwards, and he saw the passages close up behind him as if there never had =
existed
open sea where he had passed an hour before. The Forward was, therefore, not only prevented from =
going
northwards, but could not stop still an instant for fear of being caught, a=
nd
she fled before the ice as a ship flies before a storm.
On Friday, the 8th of June, they arrived near =
the
shore of Boothia, at the entrance to James Ross Strait, which they were obl=
iged
to avoid, as its only issue is on the west, near the American coasts.
Observations taken at noon from this point gav=
e 70
degrees 5 minutes 17 seconds latitude, and 96 degrees 46 minutes 45 seconds
longitude; when the doctor heard that he consulted his map, and saw they we=
re at
the magnetic pole, at the very place where James Ross, the nephew of Sir Jo=
hn,
had fixed it. The land was low near the coast, and at about a mile's distan=
ce
became slightly elevated, sixty feet only. The Forward's boiler wanted cleaning, and the captain =
caused
the brig to be anchored to an ice-field, and allowed the doctor and the boa=
tswain
to land. He himself cared for nothing but his pet project, and stayed in his
cabin, consulting his map of the Pole.
The doctor and his companion easily succeeded =
in
reaching land; the doctor took a compass to make experiments with. He wishe=
d to
try if James Ross's conclusions hold good. He easily discovered the limesto=
ne
heap raised by Ross; he ran to it; an opening allowed him to see, in the
interior, the tin case in which James Ross had placed the official report of
his discoveries. No living being seemed to have visited this desolate coast=
for
the last thirty years. In this spot a loadstone needle, suspended as delica=
tely
as possible, immediately moved into an almost vertical position under the
magnetic influence; if the centre of attraction was not immediately under t=
he needle,
it could only be at a trifling distance. The doctor made the experiment
carefully, and found that the imperfect instruments of James Ross had given=
his
vertical needle an inclination of 89 degrees 59 minutes, making the real
magnetic point at a minute's distance from the spot, but that his own at a
little distance gave him an inclination of 90 degrees.
"Here is the exact spot of the world's
magnetic pole," said the doctor, rapping the earth.
"Then," said the boatswain,
"there's no loadstone mountain, after all."
"Of course not; that mountain was only a
credulous hypothesis. As you see, there isn't the least mountain capable of
attracting ships, of attracting their iron anchor after anchor and nail aft=
er
nail, and you see it respects your shoes as much as any other land on the g=
lobe."
"Then how do you explain----"
"Nothing is explained, Johnson; we don't =
know
enough for that yet. But it is certain, exact, mathematical, that the magne=
tic
pole is in this very spot!"
"Ah, Mr. Clawbonny! how happy the captain
would be to say as much of the boreal pole!"
"He will some day, Johnson, you will
see."
"I hope he will," answered the
boatswain.
He and the doctor elevated a cairn on the exact
spot where the experiment had been made, and returned on board at five o'cl=
ock
in the evening.
The <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Forward succeeded in cutting straight across Jam=
es
Ross Strait, but not without difficulty; the crew were obliged to work the =
saws
and use petards, and they were worn out with fatigue. Happily the temperatu=
re
was bearable, and thirty degrees higher than that experienced by James Ross=
at
the same epoch. The thermometer marked thirty-four degrees.
On Saturday they doubled Cape Felix at the
northern extremity of King William's Land, one of the middle-sized isles of=
the
northern seas. The crew there experienced a strong and painful sensation, a=
nd
many a sad look was turned towards the island as they sailed by the coast. =
This
island had been the theatre of the most terrible tragedy of modern times. S=
ome
miles to the west the Erebus and the Terror had been lost for ever. The sailors knew=
about
the attempts made to find Admiral Franklin and the results, but they were
ignorant of the affecting details of the catastrophe. While the doctor was
following the progress of the ship on his map, several of them, Bell, Bolto=
n,
and Simpson, approached and entered into conversation with him. Their comra=
des,
animated by curiosity, soon followed them; while the brig flew along with
extreme rapidity, and the coast with its bays, capes, and promontories pass=
ed
before their eyes like a gigantic panorama.
Hatteras was marching up and down the poop with
quick steps. The doctor, on the deck, looked round, and saw himself surroun=
ded
by almost the whole crew. He saw how powerful a recital would be in such a
situation, and he continued the conversation begun with Johnson as follows:=
--
"You know how Franklin began, my friends;=
he
was a cabin-boy like Cook and Nelson; after having employed his youth in gr=
eat
maritime expeditions, he resolved in 1845 to launch out in search of the No=
rth-West
passage; he commanded the Erebus <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> and the Terror , two vessels, already famous, th=
at had
just made an Antarctic campaign under James Ross, in 1840. The Erebus , equipped by Franklin, carried a=
crew
of seventy men, officers and sailors, with Fitz-James as captain; Gore and =
Le
Vesconte, lieutenants; Des Voeux, Sargent, and Couch, boatswains; and Stanl=
ey
as surgeon. The Terror had sixty-eight men, Captain Crozier;
Lieutenants Little, Hodgson, and Irving; Horesby and Thomas were the
boatswains, and Peddie the surgeon. In the names on the map of the capes,
straits, points, and channels, you may read those of these unfortunate men,=
not
one of whom was destined ever again to see his native land. There were a
hundred and thirty-eight men in all! We know that Franklin's last letters w=
ere addressed
from Disko Island, and were dated July 12th, 1845. 'I hope,' he said, 'to g=
et
under way to-night for Lancaster Strait.' What happened after his departure
from Disko Bay? The captains of two whalers, the Prince of Wales and the Enterprise , perceived the two ships in
Melville Bay for the last time, and after that day nothing was heard of the=
m.
However, we can follow Franklin in his westerly course: he passed through
Lancaster and Barrow Straits, and arrived at Beechey Island, where he passed
the winter of 1845 and '46."
"But how do you know all this?" asked
Bell, the carpenter.
"By three tombs which Austin discovered on
that island in 1850. Three of Franklin's sailors were buried there, and by a
document which was found by Lieutenant Hobson, of the Fox , which bears the date of April 25th,
1848, we know that after their wintering the Erebus =
and
the Terror went up Wellington Strait as far as the =
seventy-seventh
parallel; but instead of continuing their route northwards, which was,
probably, not practicable, they returned south."
"And that was their ruin!" said a gr=
ave
voice. "Safety lay to the north."
Every one turned round. Hatteras, leaning on t=
he
rail of the poop, had just uttered that terrible observation.
"There is not a doubt," continued the
doctor, "that Franklin's intention was to get back to the American coa=
st;
but tempests stopped him, and on the 12th September, 1846, the two ships we=
re
seized by the ice, at a few miles from here, to the north-west of Cape Feli=
x; they
were dragged along N.N.W. to Victoria Point over there," said the doct=
or,
pointing to a part of the sea. "Now," he continued, "the shi=
ps
were not abandoned till the 22nd of April, 1848. What happened during these
nineteen months? What did the poor unfortunate men do? They, doubtless,
explored the surrounding land, attempting any chance of safety, for the adm=
iral
was an energetic man, and if he did not succeed----"
"Very likely his crew betrayed him,"
added Hatteras.
The sailors dared not raise their eyes; these
words pricked their conscience.
"To end my tale, the fatal document infor=
ms
us also that John Franklin succumbed to fatigue on the 11th of June, 1847.
Honour to his memory!" said the doctor, taking off his hat. His audien=
ce
imitated him in silence.
"What became of the poor fellows for the =
next
ten months after they had lost their chief? They remained on board their
vessels, and only resolved to abandon them in April, 1848; a hundred and fi=
ve
men out of a hundred and thirty-eight were still living; thirty-three were =
dead!
Then Captain Crozier and Captain Fitz-James raised a cairn on Victory Point,
and there deposited their last document. See, my friends, we are passing the
point now! You can still see the remains of the cairn placed on the extreme
point, reached by John Ross in 1831. There is Jane Franklin Cape. There is
Franklin Point. There is Le Vesconte Point. There is Erebus Bay, where the =
boat
made out of the debris of one of the vessels was found on a sle=
dge.
Silver spoons, provisions in abundance, chocolate, tea, and religious books=
were
found there too. The hundred and five survivors, under Captain Crozier, sta=
rted
for Great Fish River. Where did they get to? Did they succeed in reaching
Hudson's Bay? Did any survive? What became of them after this last
departure?"
"I will tell you what became of them,&quo=
t;
said John Hatteras in a firm voice. "Yes, they did try to reach Hudson=
's
Bay, and they split up into several parties! Yes, they did make for the sou=
th!
A letter from Dr. Rae in 1854 contained the information that in 1850 the
Esquimaux had met on King William's Land a detachment of forty men travelli=
ng on
the ice, and dragging a boat, thin, emaciated, worn out by fatigue and
suffering! Later on they discovered thirty corpses on the continent and fiv=
e on
a neighbouring island, some half-buried, some left without burial, some und=
er a
boat turned upside down, others under the remains of a tent; here an officer
with his telescope on his shoulder and a loaded gun at his side, further on=
a
boiler with the remnants of a horrible meal! When the Admiralty received th=
ese tidings
it begged the Hudson's Bay Company to send its most experienced agents to t=
he
scene. They descended Back River to its mouth. They visited the islands of
Montreal, Maconochie, and Ogle Point. But they discovered nothing. All the =
poor
wretches had died from misery, suffering, and hunger, whilst trying to prol=
ong
their existence by the dreadful resource of cannibalism. That is what becam=
e of
them on the southern route. Well! Do you still wish to march in their
footsteps?"
His trembling voice, his passionate gestures a=
nd
beaming face, produced an indescribable effect. The crew, excited by its
emotion before this fatal land, cried out with one voice: "To the nort=
h!
To the north!"
"Yes, to the north! Safety and glory lie = to the north. Heaven is for us! The wind is changing; the pass is free!"<= o:p>
So saying, Hatteras gave orders to turn the
vessel; the sailors went to work with alacrity; the ice streams got clear
little by little; the Forward , wi=
th all
steam on, made for McClintock Channel. Hatteras was right when he counted u=
pon
a more open sea; he followed up the supposed route taken by Franklin, saili=
ng
along the western coast of Prince of Wales's Land, then pretty well known,
whilst the opposite shore is still unknown. It was evident that the breakin=
g up
of the ice had taken place in the eastern locks, for this strait appeared
entirely free; the Forward made up for lost time; she fled along so
quickly that she passed Osborne Bay on the 14th of June, and the extreme po=
ints
attained by the expeditions of 1851. Icebergs were still numerous, but the =
sea
did not threaten to quit the keel of the Forward .
The c=
rew
seemed to have returned to its habits of discipline and obedience. There was
little fatiguing work to do, and they had a good deal of leisure. The tempe=
rature
kept above freezing point, and it seemed as if the thaw had removed the gre=
at
obstacles to navigation.
Dick, now sociable and familiar, had made great
friends with Dr. Clawbonny. But as in most friendships one friend has to gi=
ve
way to the other, it must be acknowledged it was not the dog. Dick did what=
he
liked with the doctor, who obeyed him as if he were the dog. He was amiable
with most of the sailors and officers on board, only by instinct, doubtless=
, he
shunned Shandon's society; he also kept up a grudge against Pen and Foker; =
he
vented his hatred of them by growling at their approach. But they dare not =
now
attack the captain's dog--his "familiar," as Clifton called him. =
On
the whole the crew had plucked up courage again and worked well.
"It seems to me," said James Wall one
day to Richard Shandon, "that our men took the captain's speech seriou=
sly;
they no longer seem to be doubtful of success."
"The more fools they!" answered Shan=
don.
"If they reflected, if they examined the situation, they would see tha=
t we
are going out of one imprudence into another."
"But," continued Wall, "the sea=
is
open now, and we are getting back into well-known tracks; aren't you
exaggerating a bit, Shandon?"
"No, I am not exaggerating; the dislike I
feel to Hatteras is not blinding me. Have you seen the coal-holes lately?&q=
uot;
"No," answered Wall.
"Well, then, go and examine them: you will
see how much there's left. He ought to have navigated under sail, and have =
kept
the engine for currents and contrary winds; he ought only to have used his =
coal
where he was obliged; who can tell where we shall be kept, and for how many=
years?
But Hatteras only thinks about getting north. Whether the wind is contrary =
or
not, he goes along at full steam, and if things go on as they are doing now=
, we
shall soon be in a pretty pickle."
"If what you say is true, it is very
serious."
"Yes, it is, because of the wintering. Wh=
at
shall we do without coal in a country where even the thermometer freezes?&q=
uot;
"But, if I am not mistaken, the captain
counts upon renewing his stock of coal at Beechey Island. It appears there =
is a
large provision there."
"And suppose we can't reach Beechey Islan=
d,
what will become of us then?"
"You are right, Shandon; Hatteras seems t=
o me
very imprudent; but why don't you expostulate with him on the subject?"=
;
"No," said Shandon, with ill-conceal=
ed
bitterness, "I won't say a word. It is nothing to do with me now. I sh=
all
wait to see what turns up; I shall obey orders, and not give my opinion whe=
re
it isn't wanted."
"Allow me to tell you that you are in the
wrong, Shandon; you have as much interest in setting yourself against the
captain's imprudence as we have."
"He wouldn't listen to me if I were to sp=
eak;
do you think he would?"
Wall dared not answer in the affirmative, and =
he
added--
"But perhaps he would listen to the
crew."
"The crew!" answered Shandon, shrugg=
ing
his shoulders; "you don't know the crew. The men know they are nearing=
the
72nd parallel, and that they will earn a thousand pounds for every degree a=
bove
that."
"The captain knew what he was doing when =
he
offered them that."
"Of course he did, and for the present he=
can
do what he likes with them."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that while they have nothing to d=
o,
and there is an open sea, they will go on right enough; but wait till
difficulty and danger come, and you will see how much they'll think about t=
he
money!"
"Then you don't think Hatteras will
succeed?"
"No, he will not; to succeed in such an
enterprise there must be a good understanding between him and his officers,=
and
that does not exist. Hatteras is a madman; all his past career proves it. W=
ell,
we shall see; perhaps circumstances will force them to give the command to a
less adventurous captain."
"Still," said Wall, shaking his head,
"he will always have on his side----"
"Dr. Clawbonny, a man who only cares for
science, and Johnson, a sailor who only cares to obey, and perhaps two more=
men
like Bell, the carpenter; four at the most, and we are eighteen on board! N=
o,
Wall, Hatteras has not got the confidence of his men, and he knows it, so he
bribes them; he profited cleverly by the Franklin affair, but that won't la=
st,
I tell you, and if he doesn't reach Beechey Island he's a lost man!"
"Suppose the crew should take it into its
head----"
"Don't tell the crew what I think,"
answered Shandon quickly; "the men will soon see for themselves. Besid=
es,
just now we must go north. Who knows if Hatteras won't find that way will b=
ring
us back sooner? At the end of McClintock Channel lies Melville Bay, and from
thence go the straits that lead to Baffin's Bay. Hatteras must take care! T=
he
way to the east is easier than the road to the north!"
Hatteras was not mistaken in his opinion that
Shandon would betray him if he could. Besides, Shandon was right in attribu=
ting
the contentment of the men to the hope of gain. Clifton had counted exactly=
how
much each man would have. Without reckoning the captain and the doctor, who
would not expect a share in the bounty-money, there remained sixteen men to=
divide
it amongst. If ever they succeeded in reaching the Pole, each man would have
1,125 pounds--that is to say, a fortune. It would cost the captain 18,000
pounds, but he could afford it. The thoughts of the money inflamed the mind=
s of
the crew, and they were now as anxious to go north as before they had been
eager to turn south. The Forward <=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> during the day of June 16th passed Cape =
Aworth.
Mount Rawlinson raised its white peaks towards the sky; the snow and fog ma=
de
it appear colossal, as they exaggerated its distance; the temperature still
kept some degrees above freezing point; improvised cascades and cataracts
showed themselves on the sides of the mountains, and avalanches roared down
with the noise of artillery discharges. The glaciers, spread out in long wh=
ite
sheets, projected an immense reverberation into space. Boreal nature, in it=
s struggle
with the frost, presented a splendid spectacle. The brig went very near the
coast; on some sheltered rocks rare heaths were to be seen, the pink flowers
lifting their heads timidly out of the snows, and some meagre lichens of a
reddish colour and the shoots of a dwarf willow.
At last, on the 19th of June, at the famous
seventy-third parallel, they doubled Cape Minto, which forms one of the
extremities of Ommaney Bay; the brig entered Melville Bay, surnamed by Bolt=
on
Money Bay; the merry sailors joked about the name, and made Dr. Clawbonny l=
augh
heartily. Notwithstanding a strong breeze from the northeast, the Forward made considerable progress, and on the 2=
3rd of
June she passed the 74th degree of latitude. She was in the midst of Melvil=
le Bay,
one of the most considerable seas in these regions. This sea was crossed for
the first time by Captain Parry in his great expedition of 1819, and it was
then that his crew earned the prize of 5,000 pounds promised by Act of
Parliament. Clifton remarked that there were two degrees from the 72nd to t=
he
74th; that already placed 125 pounds to his credit. But they told him that a
fortune was not worth much there, and that it was of no use being rich if he
could not drink his riches, and he had better wait till he could roll under=
a
Liverpool table before he rejoiced and rubbed his hands.
Melvi=
lle
Bay, though easily navigable, was not free from ice; ice-fields lay as far =
as
the utmost limits of the horizon; a few icebergs appeared here and there, b=
ut
they were immovable, as if anchored in the midst of the frozen fields. The =
Forward , with all steam on, followed th=
e wide
passes where it was easy to work her. The wind changed frequently from one
point of the compass to another. The variability of the wind in the Arctic =
Seas
is a remarkable fact; sometimes a dead calm is followed in a few minutes by=
a
violent tempest, as the Forward found to her cost on the 23rd of June in=
the
midst of the immense bay. The more constant winds blow from off the ice-ban=
k on
to the open sea, and are intensely cold. On that day the thermometer fell
several degrees; the wind veered round to the south, and violent gusts,
sweeping over the ice-fields, brought a thick snow along with them. Hatteras
immediately caused the sails that helped the screw to be furled, but not
quickly enough to prevent his little foresail being carried away in the
twinkling of an eye. Hatteras worked his ship with the greatest composure, =
and
did not leave the deck during the tempest; he was obliged to fly before the
weather and to turn westward. The wind raised up enormous waves, in the mid=
st
of which blocks of ice balanced themselves; these blocks were of all sizes =
and
shapes, and had been struck off the surrounding ice-fields; the brig was to=
ssed
about like a child's plaything, and morsels of the packs were thrown over h=
er
hull; at one instant she was lying perpendicularly along the side of a liqu=
id
mountain; her steel prow concentrated the light, and shone like a melting m=
etal
bar; at another she was down an abyss, plunging her head into whirlwinds of
snow, whilst her screws, out of the water, turned in space with a sinister =
noise,
striking the air with their paddles. Rain mixed with the snow and fell in
torrents.
The doctor could not miss such an occasion of
getting wet to the skin; he remained on deck, a prey to that emotional
admiration which a scientific man must necessarily feel during such a
spectacle. His nearest neighbour could not have heard him speak, so he said
nothing and watched; but whilst watching he was witness to an odd phenomeno=
n, peculiar
to hyperborean regions. The tempest was confined to a restricted area, and =
only
extended for about three or four miles; the wind that passes over ice-fields
loses much of its strength and cannot carry its violence far out; the doctor
perceived from time to time, through an opening in the tempest, a calm sky =
and
a quiet sea beyond some ice-fields. The <=
/span>Forward
would therefore only have to take
advantage of some channels left by the ice to find a peaceful navigation ag=
ain,
but she ran the risk of being thrown on to one of the moving banks which
followed the movement of the swell. However, in a few hours Hatteras succee=
ded
in getting his ship into a calm sea, whilst the violence of the hurricane s=
pent
itself at a few cables' length from the <=
/span>Forward
. Melville Bay no longer presented the same aspect; under the influence of =
the
winds and the waves a great number of icebergs, detached from the coast,
floated northward, running against one another in every direction. There we=
re
several hundreds of them, but the bay is very wide, and the brig easily avo=
ided
them. The spectacle of these floating masses was magnificent; they seemed t=
o be
having a grand race for it on the open sea. The doctor was getting quite
excited with watching them, when the harpooner, Simpson, came up and made h=
im
look at the changing tints in the sea; they varied from a deep blue to olive
green; long stripes stretched north and south in such decided lines that the
eye could follow each shade out of sight. Sometimes a transparent sheet of
water would follow a perfectly opaque sheet.
"Well, Mr. Clawbonny, what do you think of
that?" said Simpson.
"I am of the same opinion as the whaler
Scoresby on the nature of the different coloured waters; blue water has no
animalculae, and green water is full of them. Scoresby has made several
experiments on this subject, and I think he is right."
"Well, sir, I know something else about t=
he
colours in the sea, and if I were a whaler I should be precious glad to see
them."
"But I don't see any whales," answer=
ed
the doctor.
"You won't be long before you do, though,=
I
can tell you. A whaler is lucky when he meets with those green stripes under
this latitude."
"Why?" asked the doctor, who always
liked to get information from anybody who understood what they were talking
about.
"Because whales are always found in great
quantities in green water."
"What's the reason of that?"
"Because they find plenty of food in
them."
"Are you sure of that?"
"I've seen it a hundred times, at least, =
in
Baffin Sea; why shouldn't it be the same in Melville Bay? Besides, look the=
re,
Mr. Clawbonny," added Simpson, leaning over the barricading.
"Why any one would think it was the wake =
of a
ship!"
"It is an oily substance that the whale
leaves behind. The animal can't be far off!"
The atmosphere was impregnated with a strong o=
ily
odour, and the doctor attentively watched the surface of the water. The
prediction of the harpooner was soon accomplished. Foker called out from th=
e masthead--
"A whale alee!"
All looks turned to the direction indicated. A
small spout was perceived coming up out of the sea about a mile from the br=
ig.
"There she spouts!" cried Simpson, w=
ho
knew what that meant.
"She has disappeared!" answered the
doctor.
"Oh, we could find her again easily enoug=
h if
necessary!" said Simpson, with an accent of regret. To his great
astonishment, and although no one dared ask for it, Hatteras gave orders to=
man
the whaler. Johnson went aft to the stern, while Simpson, harpoon in hand,
stood in the bow. They could not prevent the doctor joining the expedition.=
The
sea was pretty calm. The whaler soon got off, and in ten minutes was a mile
from the brig. The whale had taken in another provision of air, and had plu=
nged
again; but she soon returned to the surface and spouted out that mixture of=
gas
and mucus that escapes from her air-holes.
"There! There!" said Simpson, pointi=
ng
to a spot about eight hundred yards from the boat. It was soon alongside the
animal, and as they had seen her from the brig too, she came nearer, keeping
little steam on. The enormous cetacean disappeared and reappeared as the wa=
ves rose
and fell, showing its black back like a rock in open sea. Whales do not swim
quickly unless they are pursued, and this one only rocked itself in the wav=
es.
The boat silently approached along the green water; its opacity prevented t=
he
animal seeing the enemy. It is always an agitating spectacle when a fragile
boat attacks one of these monsters; this one was about 130 feet long, and i=
t is
not rare, between the 72nd and the 80th degree, to meet with whales more th=
an
180 feet long. Ancient writers have described animals more than 700 feet lo=
ng, but
they drew upon their imagination for their facts. The boat soon neared the
whale; on a sign from Simpson the men rested on their oars, and brandishing=
his
harpoon, the experienced sailor threw it with all his strength; it went deep
into the thick covering of fat. The wounded whale struck the sea with its t=
ail
and plunged. The four oars were immediately raised perpendicularly; the cord
fastened to the harpoon, and attached to the bow, rolled rapidly out and
dragged the boat along, steered cleverly by Johnson.
The whale got away from the brig and made for =
the
moving icebergs; she kept on for more than half-an-hour; they were obliged =
to
wet the cord fastened to the harpoon to prevent it catching fire by rubbing=
against
the boat. When the whale seemed to be going along a little more slowly, the
cord was pulled in little by little and rolled up; the whale soon reappeare=
d on
the surface of the sea, which she beat with her formidable tail: veritable
waterspouts fell in a violent rain on to the boat. It was getting nearer.
Simpson had seized a long lance, and was preparing to give close battle to =
the
animal, when all at once the whale glided into a pass between two mountaino=
us icebergs.
The pursuit then became really dangerous.
"The devil!" said Johnson.
"Go ahead," cried Simpson; "we'=
ve
got her!"
"But we can't follow her into the
icebergs!" said Johnson, steering steadily.
"Yes we can!" cried Simpson.
"No, no!" cried some of the sailors.=
"Yes, yes!" said others.
During the discussion the whale had got between
two floating mountains which the swell was bringing close together. The boat
was being dragged into this dangerous part when Johnson rushed to the fore,=
an
axe in his hand, and cut the cord. He was just in time; the two mountains c=
ame
together with a tremendous crash, crushing the unfortunate animal.
"The whale's lost!" cried Simpson.
"But we are saved!" answered Johnson=
.
"Well," said the doctor, who had not
moved, "that was worth seeing!"
The crushing force of these ice-mountains is
enormous. The whale was victim to an accident that often happens in these s=
eas.
Scoresby relates that in the course of a single summer thirty whales perish=
ed in
the same way in Baffin's Sea; he saw a three-master flattened in a minute
between two immense walls of ice. Other vessels were split through, as if w=
ith
a lance, by pointed icicles a hundred feet long, meeting through the planks=
. A
few minutes afterwards the boat hailed the brig, and was soon in its accust=
omed
place on deck.
"It is a lesson for those who are imprude=
nt
enough to adventure into the channels amongst the ice!" said Shandon i=
n a
loud voice.
On th=
e 25th
of June the Forward arrived in sight of Cape Dundas at the
north-western extremity of Prince of Wales's Land. There the difficulty of
navigating amongst the ice grew greater. The sea is narrower there, and the
line made by Crozier, Young, Day, Lowther, and Garret Islands, like a chain=
of
forts before a roadstead, forced the ice-streams to accumulate in this stra=
it.
The brig took from the 25th to the 30th of June to make as much way as she
would have done in one day under any other circumstances; she stopped, retr=
aced
her steps, waiting for a favourable occasion so as not to miss Beechey Isla=
nd, using
a great deal of coal, as the fires were only moderated when she had to halt,
but were never put out, so that she might be under pressure day and night.
Hatteras knew the extent of his coal provision as well as Shandon, but as he
was certain of getting his provision renewed at Beechey Island he would not
lose a minute for the sake of economy; he had been much delayed by his forc=
ed
march southward, and although he had taken the precaution of leaving Englan=
d before
the month of April, he did not find himself more advanced than preceding
expeditions had been at the same epoch. On the 30th they sighted Cape Walke=
r at
the north-eastern extremity of Prince of Wales's Land; it was the extreme p=
oint
that Kennedy and Bellot perceived on the 3rd of May, 1852, after an excursi=
on
across the whole of North Somerset. Before that, in 1851, Captain Ommaney, =
of
the Austin expedition, had the good luck to revictual his detachments there.
This cape is very high, and remarkable for its reddish-brown colour; from
there, when the weather is clear, the view stretches as far as the entrance=
to
Wellington Channel. Towards evening they saw Cape Bellot, separated from Ca=
pe
Walker by McLeon Bay. Cape Bellot was so named in the presence of the young
French officer, for whom the English expedition gave three cheers. At this =
spot
the coast is made of yellowish limestone, presenting a very rugged outline;=
it is
defended by enormous icebergs which the north winds pile up there in a most
imposing way. It was soon lost to sight by the Forward as she opened a passage amongst the ice =
to get
to Beechey Island through Barrow Strait. Hatteras resolved to go straight o=
n,
and, so as not to be drifted further than the island, scarcely quitted his =
post
during the following days; he often went to the masthead to look out for the
most advantageous channels. All that pluck, skill, and genius could do he d=
id
while they were crossing the strait. Fortune did not favour him, for the se=
a is
generally more open at this epoch. But at last, by dint of sparing neither =
his
steam, his crew, nor himself, he attained his end.
On the 3rd of July, at 11 o'clock in the morni=
ng,
the ice-master signalled land to the north. After taking an observation
Hatteras recognised Beechey Island, that general meeting-place of Arctic na=
vigators.
Almost all ships that adventure in these seas stop there. Franklin wintered
there for the first time before getting into Wellington Strait, and Creswel=
l,
with Lieutenant McClure, after having cleared 170 miles on the ice, rejoined
the Phoenix and returned to England. The last ship w=
hich
anchored at Beechey Island before the Forward
was the Fox ; McClintock revictualled there the =
11th
of August, 1858, and repaired the habitations and magazines; only two years=
had
elapsed since then, and Hatteras knew all these details. The boatswain's he=
art
beat with emotion at the sight of this island; when he had visited it he was
quartermaster on board the Phoenix=
;
Hatteras questioned him about the coast line, the facilities for anchoring,=
how
far they could go inland, &c.; the weather was magnificent, and the
temperature kept at 57 degrees.
"Well, Johnson," said the captain,
"do you know where you are?"
"Yes, sir, that is Beechey Island; only y=
ou
must let us get further north--the coast is more easy of access."
"But where are the habitations and the
magazines?" said Hatteras.
"Oh, you can't see them till you land; th=
ey
are sheltered behind those little hills you see yonder."
"And is that where you transported a
considerable quantity of provisions?"
"Yes, sir; the Admiralty sent us here in
1853, under the command of Captain Inglefield, with the steamer Phoenix and a transport ship, the Breadalbane , loaded with provisions; we
brought enough with us to revictual a whole expedition."
"But the commander of the Fox took a lot of them in 1858," said H=
atteras.
"That doesn't matter, sir; there'll be pl=
enty
left for you; the cold preserves them wonderfully, and we shall find them as
fresh and in as good a state of preservation as the first day."
"What I want is coal," said Hatteras;
"I have enough provisions for several years."
"We left more than a thousand tons there,=
so
you can make your mind easy."
"Are we getting near?" said Hatteras,
who, telescope in hand, was watching the coast.
"You see that point?" continued John=
son.
"When we have doubled it we shall be very near where we drop anchor. It
was from that place that we started for England with Lieutenant Creswell and
the twelve invalids from the Inves=
tigator
. We were fortunate enough to bring back McClure's lieutenant, but the offi=
cer
Bellot, who accompanied us on board the <=
/span>Phoenix
, never saw his country again! It is a painful thing to think about. But,
captain, I think we ought to drop anchor here."
"Very well," answered Hatteras, and =
he gave
his orders in consequence. The For=
ward was in a little bay naturally sheltered =
on the
north, east, and south, and at about a cable's length from the coast.
"Mr. Wall," said Hatteras, "have
the long boat got ready to transport the coal on board. I shall land in the
pirogue with the doctor and the boatswain. Will you accompany us, Mr.
Shandon?"
"As you please," answered Shandon.
A few minutes later the doctor, armed as a
sportsman and a savant , took his =
place
in the pirogue along with his companions; in ten minutes they landed on a l=
ow
and rocky coast.
"Lead the way, Johnson," said Hatter=
as.
"You know it, I suppose?"
"Perfectly, sir; only there's a monument =
here
that I did not expect to find!"
"That!" cried the doctor; "I kn=
ow
what it is; let us go up to it; the stone itself will tell us."
The four men advanced, and the doctor said, af=
ter
taking off his hat--
"This, my friends, is a monument in memor=
y of
Franklin and his companions."
Lady Franklin had, in 1855, confided a black
marble tablet to Doctor Kane, and in 1858 she gave a second to McClintock t=
o be
raised on Beechey Island. McClintock accomplished this duty religiously, an=
d placed
the stone near a funeral monument erected to the memory of Bellot by Sir Jo=
hn
Barrow.
The tablet bore the following inscription:
"TO THE ME=
MORY
OF FRANKLIN, CR=
OZIER,
FITZ-JAMES, AND=
ALL
THEIR VALIANT BRETHREN OFFICERS AND FAITHFUL
COMPANIONS who suffered for the cause of science and for their country's gl=
ory.
"This stone is erected near the place whe=
re
they passed their first Arctic winter, and from whence they departed to con=
quer
obstacles or to die.
"It perpetuates the regret of their
countrymen and friends who admire them, and the anguish, conquered by Faith=
, of
her who lost in the chief of the expedition the most devoted and most
affectionate of husbands.
"It is thus that He led them to the supre=
me
haven where all men take their rest.
"1855=
."
This =
stone,
on a forlorn coast of these far-off regions, appealed mournfully to the hea=
rt;
the doctor, in presence of these touching regrets, felt his eyes fill with
tears. At the very same place which Franklin and his companions passed full=
of
energy and hope, there only remained a block of marble in remembrance! And
notwithstanding this sombre warning of destiny, the Forward was going to follow in the track of the =
Erebus and the Terror . Hatteras was the first to rouse
himself from the perilous contemplation, and quickly climbed a rather steep
hill, almost entirely bare of snow.
"Captain," said Johnson, following h=
im,
"we shall see the magazines from here."
Shandon and the doctor joined them on the summ=
it.
But from there the eye contemplated the vast plains, on which there remaine=
d no
vestige of a habitation.
"That is singular!" cried the boatsw=
ain.
"Well, and where are the magazines?"
said Hatteras quickly.
"I don't know--I don't see----"
stammered Johnson.
"You have mistaken the way," said the
doctor.
"It seemed to me that this was the very
place," continued Johnson.
"Well," said Hatteras, impatiently
"where are we to go now?"
"We had better go down, for I may be
mistaken. I may have forgotten the exact locality in seven years!"
"Especially when the country is so unifor=
mly
monotonous!" added the doctor.
"And yet----" murmured Johnson.
Shandon had not spoken a word. After walking f=
or a
few minutes, Johnson stopped.
"But no," he cried, "I am not
mistaken!"
"Well?" said Hatteras, looking round
him.
"Do you see that swell of the ground?&quo=
t;
asked the boatswain, pointing to a sort of mound with three distinct swells=
on
it.
"What do you conclude from that?" as=
ked
the doctor.
"Those are the three graves of Franklin's
sailors. I am sure now that I am not mistaken; the habitations ought to be
about a hundred feet from here, and if they are not, they----"
He dared not finish his sentence; Hatteras had
rushed forward, a prey to violent despair. There, where the wished-for stor=
es
on which he had counted ought to have been, there ruin, pillage and destruc=
tion
had been before him. Who had done it? Animals would only have attacked the
provisions, and there did not remain a single rag from the tent, a piece of
wood or iron, and, more terrible still, not a fragment of coal! It was evid=
ent
that the Esquimaux had learnt the value of these objects from their frequent
relations with Europeans; since the departure of the Fox they had fetched everything away, and ha=
d not
left a trace even of their passage. A slight coating of snow covered the
ground. Hatteras was confounded. The doctor looked and shook his head. Shan=
don
still said nothing, but an attentive observer would have noticed his lips c=
url
with a cruel smile. At this moment the men sent by Lieutenant Wall came up;
they soon saw the state of affairs. Shandon advanced towards the captain, a=
nd
said:
"Mr. Hatteras, we need not despair; happi=
ly
we are near the entrance to Barrow Strait, which will take us back to Baffi=
n's
Sea!"
"Mr. Shandon," answered Hatteras,
"happily we are near the entrance to Wellington Strait, and that will =
take
us north!"
"But how shall we get along, captain?&quo=
t;
"With the sails, sir. We have two months'
firing left, and that is enough for our wintering."
"But allow me to tell you----" added
Shandon.
"I will allow you to follow me on board my
ship, sir," answered Hatteras, and turning his back on his second, he
returned to the brig and shut himself up in his cabin. For the next two days
the wind was contrary, and the captain did not show up on deck. The doctor
profited by the forced sojourn to go over Beechey Island; he gathered some =
plants,
which the temperature, relatively high, allowed to grow here and there on t=
he
rocks that the snow had left, some heaths, a few lichens, a sort of yellow
ranunculus, a sort of plant something like sorrel, with wider leaves and mo=
re
veins, and some pretty vigorous saxifrages. He found the fauna of this coun=
try
much richer than the flora; he perceived long flocks of geese and cranes go=
ing
northward, partridges, eider ducks of a bluish black, sandpipers, a sort of=
wading
bird of the scolopax class, northern divers, plungers with very long bodies,
numerous ptarmites, a sort of bird very good to eat, dovekies with black
bodies, wings spotted with white, feet and beak red as coral; noisy bands of
kittywakes and fat loons with white breasts, represented the ornithology of=
the
island. The doctor was fortunate enough to kill a few grey hares, which had=
not
yet put on their white winter fur, and a blue fox which Dick ran down
skilfully. Some bears, evidently accustomed to dread the presence of men, w=
ould
not allow themselves to be got at, and the seals were extremely timid, doub=
tless
for the same reason as their enemies the bears. The class of articulated an=
imals
was represented by a single mosquito, which the doctor caught to his great
delight, though not till it had stung him. As a conchologist he was less
favoured, and only found a sort of mussel and some bivalve shells.
The
temperature during the days of the 3rd and 4th of July kept up to 57 degree=
s;
this was the highest thermometric point observed during the campaign. But on
Thursday, the 5th, the wind turned to the south-east, and was accompanied by
violent snow-storms. The thermometer fell during the preceding night to 23
degrees. Hatteras took no notice of the murmurs of the crew, and gave order=
s to
get under way. For the last thirteen days, from Cape Dundas, the Forward had not been able to gain one more degre=
e north,
so the party represented by Clifton was no longer satisfied, but wished lik=
e Hatteras
to get into Wellington Channel, and worked away with a will. The brig had s=
ome
difficulty in getting under sail; but Hatteras having set his mizensail, his
topsails, and his gallantsails during the night, advanced boldly in the mid=
st
of fields of ice which the current was drifting south. The crew were tired =
out
with this winding navigation, which kept them constantly at work at the sai=
ls. Wellington
Channel is not very wide; it is bounded by North Devon on the east and
Cornwallis Island on the west; this island was long believed to be a penins=
ula.
It was Sir John Franklin who first sailed round it in 1846, starting west, =
and
coming back to the same point to the north of the channel. The exploration =
of
Wellington Channel was made in 1851 by Captain Penny in the whalers Lady Franklin and =
span>Sophia
; one of his lieutenants, Stewart, reached Cape Beecher in latitude 76 degr=
ees
20 minutes, and discovered the open sea--that open sea which was Hatteras's
dream!
"What Stewart found I shall find," s=
aid
he to the doctor; "then I shall be able to set sail to the Pole."=
"But aren't you afraid that your
crew----"
"My crew!" said Hatteras severely. T=
hen
in a low tone--"Poor fellows!" murmured he, to the great astonish=
ment
of the doctor. It was the first expression of feeling he had heard the capt=
ain
deliver.
"No," he repeated with energy,
"they must follow me! They shall follow me!"
However, although the Forward had nothing to fear from the collision o=
f the
ice-streams, which were still pretty far apart, they made very little progr=
ess
northward, for contrary winds often forced them to stop. They passed Capes
Spencer and Innis slowly, and on Tuesday, the 10th, cleared 75 degrees to t=
he
great delight of Clifton. The Forw=
ard was then at the very place where the Ame=
rican
ships, the Rescue and the Advance , encountered such terrible dang=
ers. Doctor
Kane formed part of this expedition; towards the end of September, 1850, th=
ese
ships got caught in an ice-bank, and were forcibly driven into Lancaster
Strait. It was Shandon who related this catastrophe to James Wall before so=
me
of the brig's crew.
"The =
span>Advance
and the Rescue ," he said to them, "we=
re so
knocked about by the ice, that they were obliged to leave off fires on boar=
d; but
that did not prevent the temperature sinking 18 degrees below zero. During =
the
whole winter the unfortunate crews were kept prisoners in the ice-bank, rea=
dy
to abandon their ships at any moment; for three weeks they did not even cha=
nge
their clothes. They floated along in that dreadful situation for more than a
thousand miles, when at last they were thrown into the middle of Baffin's
Sea."
The effect of this speech upon a crew already
badly disposed can be well imagined. During this conversation Johnson was
talking to the doctor about an event that had taken place in those very
quarters; he asked the doctor to tell him when the brig was in latitude 75
degrees 30 minutes, and when they passed it he cried:
"Yes, it was just there!" in saying
which tears filled his eyes.
"You mean that Lieutenant Bellot died
there?" said the doctor.
"Yes, Mr. Clawbonny. He was as good and b=
rave
a fellow as ever lived! It was upon this very North Devon coast! It was to =
be,
I suppose, but if Captain Pullen had returned on board sooner it would not =
have
happened."
"What do you mean, Johnson?"
"Listen to me, Mr. Clawbonny, and you will
see on what a slight thread existence often hangs. You know that Lieutenant
Bellot went his first campaign in search of Franklin in 1850?"
"Yes, on the Prince Albert ."
"Well, when he got back to France he obta=
ined
permission to embark on board the =
Phoenix
under Captain Inglefield; I was a =
sailor
on board. We came with the Breadal=
bane to transport provisions to Beechey
Island!"
"Those provisions we, unfortunately, did =
not
find. Well?"
"We reached Beechey Island in the beginni=
ng
of August; on the 10th Captain Inglefield left the Phoenix to rejoin Captain Pullen, who had been
separated from his ship, the North=
Star ,
for a month. When he came back he thought of sending his Admiralty despatch=
es
to Sir Edward Belcher, who was wintering in Wellington Channel. A little wh=
ile
after the departure of our captain, Captain Pullen got back to his ship. Why
did he not arrive before the departure of Captain Inglefield? Lieutenant
Bellot, fearing that our captain would be long away, and knowing that the
Admiralty despatches ought to be sent at once, offered to take them himself=
. He
left the command of the two ships to Captain Pullen, and set out on the 12t=
h of
August with a sledge and an indiarubber boat. He took the boatswain of the =
North Star (Harvey) with him, and three sailors, Ma=
dden,
David Hook, and me. We supposed that Sir Edward Belcher was to be found in =
the neighbourhood
of Beecher Cape, to the north of the channel; we made for it with our sledge
along the eastern coast. The first day we encamped about three miles from C=
ape
Innis; the next day we stopped on a block of ice about three miles from Cape
Bowden. As land lay at about three miles' distance, Lieutenant Bellot resol=
ved
to go and encamp there during the night, which was as light as the day; he
tried to get to it in his indiarubber canoe; he was twice repulsed by a vio=
lent
breeze from the south-east; Harvey and Madden attempted the passage in their
turn, and were more fortunate; they took a cord with them, and established a
communication between the coast and the sledge; three objects were transpor=
ted
by means of the cord, but at the fourth attempt we felt our block of ice mo=
ve;
Mr. Bellot called out to his companions to drop the cord, and we were dragg=
ed
to a great distance from the coast. The wind blew from the south-east, and =
it was
snowing; but we were not in much danger, and the lieutenant might have come
back as we did."
Here Johnson stopped an instant to take a glan=
ce
at the fatal coast, and continued:
"After our companions were lost to sight =
we
tried to shelter ourselves under the tent of our sledge, but in vain; then,
with our knives, we began to cut out a house in the ice. Mr. Bellot helped =
us
for half an hour, and talked to us about the danger of our situation. I tol=
d him
I was not afraid. 'By God's help,' he answered, 'we shall not lose a hair of
our heads.' I asked him what o'clock it was, and he answered, 'About a
quarter-past six.' It was a quarter-past six in the morning of Thursday, Au=
gust
18th. Then Mr. Bellot tied up his books, and said he would go and see how t=
he
ice floated; he had only been gone four minutes when I went round the block=
of
ice to look for him; I saw his stick on the opposite side of a crevice, abo=
ut five
fathoms wide, where the ice was broken, but I could not see him anywhere. I
called out, but no one answered. The wind was blowing great guns. I looked =
all
round the block of ice, but found no trace of the poor lieutenant."
"What do you think had become of him?&quo=
t;
said the doctor, much moved.
"I think that when Mr. Bellot got out of
shelter the wind blew him into the crevice, and, as his greatcoat was butto=
ned
up he could not swim. Oh! Mr. Clawbonny, I never was more grieved in my lif=
e! I
could not believe it! He was a victim to duty, for it was in order to obey =
Captain
Pullen's instructions that he tried to get to land. He was a good fellow,
everybody liked him; even the Esquimaux, when they learnt his fate from Cap=
tain
Inglefield on his return from Pound Bay, cried while they wept, as I am doi=
ng
now, 'Poor Bellot! poor Bellot!'"
"But you and your companion, Johnson,&quo=
t;
said the doctor, "how did you manage to reach land?"
"Oh! we stayed twenty-four hours more on =
the
block of ice, without food or firing; but at last we met with an ice-field;=
we
jumped on to it, and with the help of an oar we fastened ourselves to an
iceberg that we could guide like a raft, and we got to land, but without ou=
r brave
officer."
By the time Johnson had finished his story the=
Forward had passed the fatal coast, and Johnson =
lost
sight of the place of the painful catastrophe. The next day they left Griff=
in
Bay to the starboard, and, two days after, Capes Grinnell and Helpmann; at
last, on the 14th of July, they doubled Osborn Point, and on the 15th the b=
rig anchored
in Baring Bay, at the extremity of the channel. Navigation had not been very
difficult; Hatteras met with a sea almost as free as that of which Belcher
profited to go and winter with the Pioneer
and the Assistance as far north as 77 degrees. It was in 18=
52 and
1853, during his first wintering, for he passed the winter of 1853 to 1854 =
in
Baring Bay, where the Forward was now at anchor. He suffered so much t=
hat he
was obliged to leave the Assistanc=
e in the midst of the ice. Shandon told all
these details to the already discontented sailors. Did Hatteras know how he=
was
betrayed by his first officer? It is impossible to say; if he did, he said
nothing about it.
At the top of Baring Bay there is a narrow cha=
nnel
which puts Wellington and Queen's Channel into communication with each othe=
r. There
the rafts of ice lie closely packed. Hatteras tried, in vain, to clear the
passes to the north of Hamilton Island; the wind was contrary; five precious
days were lost in useless efforts. The temperature still lowered, and, on t=
he
19th of July, fell to 26 degrees; it got higher the following day; but this
foretaste of winter made Hatteras afraid of waiting any longer. The wind se=
emed
to be going to keep in the west, and to stop the progress of the ship. Howe=
ver,
he was in a hurry to gain the point where Stewart had met with the open sea=
. On
the 19th he resolved to get into the Channel at any price; the wind blew ri=
ght
on the brig, which might, with her screw, have stood against it, had not
Hatteras been obliged to economise his fuel; on the other hand, the Channel=
was
too wide to allow the men to haul the brig along. Hatteras, not considering=
the
men's fatigue, resolved to have recourse to means often employed by whalers
under similar circumstances. The men took it in turns to row, so as to push=
the
brig on against the wind. The Forw=
ard advanced slowly up the Channel. The men =
were
worn out and murmured loudly. They went on in that manner till the 23rd of
July, when they reached Baring Island in Queen's Channel. The wind was still
against them. The doctor thought the health of the men much shaken, and
perceived the first symptoms of scurvy amongst them; he did all he could to
prevent the spread of the wretched malady, and distributed lime-juice to the
men.
Hatteras saw that he could no longer count upon
his crew; reasoning and kindness were ineffectual, so he resolved to employ=
severity
for the future; he suspected Shandon and Wall, though they dare not speak o=
ut
openly. Hatteras had the doctor, Johnson, Bell, and Simpson for him; they w=
ere
devoted to him body and soul; amongst the undecided were Foker, Bolton, Wol=
sten
the gunsmith, and Brunton the first engineer; and they might turn against t=
he
captain at any moment; as to Pen, Gripper, Clifton, and Warren, they were in
open revolt; they wished to persuade their comrades to force the captain to
return to England. Hatteras soon saw that he could not continue to work his=
ship
with such a crew. He remained twenty-four hours at Baring Island without ta=
king
a step forward. The weather grew cooler still, for winter begins to be felt=
in
July in these high latitudes. On the 24th the thermometer fell to 22 degree=
s.
Young ice formed during the night, and if snow fell it would soon be thick
enough to bear the weight of a man. The sea began already to have that dirty
colour which precedes the formation of the first crystals. Hatteras could n=
ot mistake
these alarming symptoms; if the channels got blocked up, he should be oblig=
ed
to winter there at a great distance from the point he had undertaken the vo=
yage
in order to reach, without having caught a glimpse of that open sea which h=
is
predecessors made out was so near. He resolved, then, to gain several degre=
es
further north, at whatever cost; seeing that he could not employ oars witho=
ut
the rowers were willing, nor sail in a contrary wind, he gave orders to put
steam on again.
At th=
is
unexpected command, the surprise was great on board the Forward .
"Light the fires!" exclaimed some.
"What with?" asked others.
"When we've only two months' coal in the
hold!" said Pen.
"What shall we warm ourselves with in the
winter?" asked Clifton.
"We shall be obliged to burn the brig dow=
n to
her water-line," answered Gripper.
"And stuff the stove with the masts,"
added Warren. Shandon looked at Wall. The stupefied engineers hesitated to =
go
down to the machine-room.
"Did you hear me?" cried the captain=
in
an irritated tone.
Brunton made for the hatchway, but before going
down he stopped.
"Don't go, Brunton!" called out a vo=
ice.
"Who spoke?" cried Hatteras.
"I did," said Pen, advancing towards=
the
captain.
"And what did you say?" asked Hatter=
as.
"I say," answered Pen with an
oath--"I say, we've had enough of it, and we won't go any further. You
shan't kill us with hunger and work in the winter, and they shan't light the
fires!"
"Mr. Shandon," answered Hatteras cal=
mly,
"have that man put in irons!"
"But, captain," replied Shandon,
"what the man says----"
"If you repeat what the man says,"
answered Hatteras, "I'll have you shut up in your cabin and guarded! S=
eize
that man! Do you hear?" Johnson, Bell, and Simpson advanced towards the
sailor, who was in a terrible passion.
"The first who touches me----" he sa=
id,
brandishing a handspike. Hatteras approached him.
"Pen," said he tranquilly, "if =
you
move, I shall blow out your brains!" So speaking, he cocked a pistol a=
nd
aimed it at the sailor. A murmur was heard.
"Not a word, men," said Hatteras,
"or that man falls dead!" Johnson and Bell disarmed Pen, who no
longer made any resistance, and placed him in the hold.
"Go, Brunton," said Hatteras. The
engineer, followed by Plover and Warren, went down to his post. Hatteras
returned to the poop.
"That Pen is a wretched fellow!" said
the doctor.
"No man has ever been nearer death!"
answered the captain, simply.
The steam was soon got up, the anchors were
weighed, and the Forward veered away east, cutting the young ice =
with
her steel prow. Between Baring Island and Beecher Point there are a
considerable quantity of islands in the midst of ice-fields; the streams cr=
owd
together in the little channels which cut up this part of the sea; they had=
a
tendency to agglomerate under the relatively low temperature; hummocks were
formed here and there, and these masses, already more compact, denser, and
closer together, would soon form an impenetrable mass. The Forward made its way with great difficulty amids=
t the snowstorms.
However, with the mobility that characterises the climate of these regions,=
the
sun appeared from time to time, the temperature went up several degrees,
obstacles melted as if by magic, and a fine sheet of water lay where iceber=
gs
bristled all the passes. The horizon glowed with those magnificent orange
shades which rest the eye, tired with the eternal white of the snow.
On the 26th of July the Forward passed Dundas Island, and veered afterwa=
rds
more to the north; but there Hatteras found himself opposite an ice-bank ei=
ght
or nine feet high, formed of little icebergs detached from the coast; he was
obliged to turn west. The uninterrupted cracking of the ice, added to the n=
oise
of the steamer, was like sighs or groans. At last the brig found a channel,=
and
advanced painfully along it; often an enormous iceberg hindered her course =
for
hours; the fog hindered the pilot's look-out; as long as he can see for a m=
ile
in front of him, he can easily avoid obstacles; but in the midst of the fog=
it
was often impossible to see a cable's length, and the swell was very strong.
Sometimes the clouds looked smooth and white as though they were reflection=
s of
the ice-banks; but there were entire days when the yellow rays of the sun c=
ould
not pierce the tenacious fog. Birds were still very numerous, and their cri=
es
were deafening; seals, lying idle on the floating ice, raised their heads, =
very
little frightened, and moved their long necks as the brig passed. Pieces fr=
om
the ship's sheathing were often rubbed off in her contact with the ice. At
last, after six days of slow navigation, Point Beecher was sighted to the n=
orth
on the 1st of August. Hatteras passed the last few hours at his masthead; t=
he
open sea that Stewart had perceived on May 30th, 1851, about latitude 76
degrees 20 minutes, could not be far off; but as far as the eye could reach=
, Hatteras
saw no indication of it. He came down without saying a word.
"Do you believe in an open sea?" ask=
ed
Shandon of the lieutenant.
"I am beginning not to," answered Wa=
ll.
"Wasn't I right to say the pretended
discovery was purely imagination? But they would not believe me, and even y=
ou
were against me, Wall."
"We shall believe in you for the future,
Shandon."
"Yes," said he, "when it's too
late," and so saying he went back to his cabin, where he had stopped
almost ever since his dispute with the captain. The wind veered round south
towards evening; Hatteras ordered the brig to be put under sail and the fir=
es
to be put out; the crew had to work very hard for the next few days; they w=
ere
more than a week getting to Barrow Point. The Forward had only made thirty miles in ten days. =
There
the wind turned north again, and the screw was set to work. Hatteras still
hoped to find an open sea beyond the 77th parallel, as Sir Edward Belcher h=
ad
done. Ought he to treat these accounts as apocryphal? or had the winter come
upon him earlier? On the 15th of August Mount Percy raised its peak, covered
with eternal snow, through the mist. The next day the sun set for the first
time, ending thus the long series of days with twenty-four hours in them. T=
he
men had ended by getting accustomed to the continual daylight, but it had n=
ever
made any difference to the animals; the Greenland dogs went to their rest at
their accustomed hour, and Dick slept as regularly every evening as though
darkness had covered the sky. Still, during the nights which followed the 1=
5th
of August, darkness was never profound; although the sun set, he still gave
sufficient light by refraction. On the 19th of August, after a pretty good
observation, they sighted Cape Franklin on the east coast and Cape Lady
Franklin on the west coast; the gratitude of the English people had given t=
hese
names to the two opposite points--probably the last reached by Franklin: the
name of the devoted wife, opposite to that of her husband, is a touching em=
blem
of the sympathy which always united them.
The doctor, by following Johnson's advice,
accustomed himself to support the low temperature; he almost always stayed =
on
deck braving the cold, the wind, and the snow. He got rather thinner, but h=
is constitution
did not suffer. Besides, he expected to be much worse off, and joyfully
prepared for the approaching winter.
"Look at those birds," he said to
Johnson one day; "they are emigrating south in flocks! They are shriek=
ing
out their good-byes!"
"Yes, Mr. Clawbonny, some instinct tells =
them
they must go, and they set out."
"There's more than one amongst us who wou=
ld
like to imitate them, I think."
"They are cowards, Mr. Clawbonny; those
animals have no provisions as we have, and are obliged to seek their food w=
here
it is to be found. But sailors, with a good ship under their feet, ought to=
go
to the world's end."
"You hope that Hatteras will succeed,
then?"
"He certainly will, Mr. Clawbonny."<= o:p>
"I am of the same opinion as you, Johnson,
and if he only wanted one faithful companion----"
"He'll have two!"
"Yes, Johnson," answered the doctor,
shaking hands with the brave sailor.
Prince Albert Land, which the Forward was then coasting, bears also the name of
Grinnell Land, and though Hatteras, from his hatred to the Yankees, would n=
ever
call it by its American name, it is the one it generally goes by. It owes i=
ts
double appellation to the following circumstances: At the same time that Pe=
nny,
an Englishman, gave it the name of Prince Albert, Lieutenant Haven, command=
er
of the Rescue , called it Grinnell=
Land
in honour of the American merchant who had fitted out the expedition from N=
ew
York at his own expense. Whilst the brig was coasting it, she experienced a
series of unheard-of difficulties, navigating sometimes under sail, sometim=
es
by steam. On the 18th of August they sighted Britannia Mountain, scarcely v=
isible
through the mist, and the Forward =
weighed anchor the next day in Northumbe=
rland
Bay. She was hemmed in on all sides.
Hatte=
ras,
after seeing to the anchoring of his ship, re-entered his cabin and examined
his map attentively. He found himself in latitude 76 degrees 57 minutes and
longitude 99 degrees 20 minutes--that is to say, at only three minutes from=
the
77th parallel. It was at this very spot that Sir Edward Belcher passed his
first winter with the Pioneer and the Assistance . It was thence that he organ=
ised
his sledge and boat excursions. He discovered Table Isle, North Cornwall, V=
ictoria
Archipelago, and Belcher Channel. He reached the 78th parallel, and saw that
the coast was depressed on the south-east. It seemed to go down to Jones's
Strait, the entrance to which lies in Baffin's Bay. But to the north-west, =
on
the contrary, says his report, an open sea lay as far as the eye could reac=
h.
Hatteras considered attentively the white part=
of
the map, which represented the Polar basin free from ice.
"After such testimony as that of Stewart,
Penny, and Belcher, I can't have a doubt about it," he said to himself.
"They saw it with their own eyes. But if the winter has already frozen=
it!
But no; they made their discoveries at intervals of several years. It exist=
s,
and I shall find it! I shall see it."
Hatteras went on to the poop. An intense fog
enveloped the Forward ; the masthe=
ad
could scarcely be distinguished from the deck. However, Hatteras called down
the ice-master from his crow's nest, and took his place. He wished to profi=
t by
the shortest clear interval to examine the north-western horizon. Shandon d=
id
not let the occasion slip for saying to the lieutenant:
"Well, Wall, where is the open sea?"=
"You were right, Shandon, and we have only
six weeks' coal in the hold."
"Perhaps the doctor will find us some
scientific fuel to warm us in the place of coal," answered Shandon.
"I have heard say you can turn fire to ice; perhaps he'll turn ice to
fire." And he entered his cabin, shrugging his shoulders. The next day=
was
the 20th of August, and the fog cleared away for several minutes. They saw
Hatteras look eagerly at the horizon, and then come down without speaking; =
but
it was easy to see that his hopes had again been crushed. The Forward weighed anchor, and took up her uncertain
march northward. As the Forward began to be weather-worn, the masts were
unreeved, for they could no longer rely on the variable wind, and the sails
were nearly useless in the winding channels. Large white marks appeared her=
e and
there on the sea like oil spots; they presaged an approaching frost; as soo=
n as
the breeze dropped the sea began to freeze immediately; but as soon as the =
wind
got up again, the young ice was broken up and dispersed. Towards evening the
thermometer went down to 17 degrees.
When the brig came to a closed-up pass she act=
ed
as a battering ram, and ran at full steam against the obstacle, which she s=
unk.
Sometimes they thought she was stopped for good; but an unexpected movement=
of
the streams opened her a new passage, and she took advantage of it boldly. =
When
the brig stopped, the steam which escaped from the safety-pipes was condens=
ed
by the cold air and fell in snow on to the deck. Another impediment came in=
the
way; the ice-blocks sometimes got entangled in the paddles, and they were so
hard that all the strength of the machine was not sufficient to break them;=
it
was then necessary to back the engine and send men to clear the screws with=
their
handspikes. All this delayed the brig; it lasted thirteen days. The Forward dragged herself painfully along Penny St=
rait;
the crew grumbled, but obeyed: the men saw now that it was impossible to go=
back.
Keeping north was less dangerous than retreating south. They were obliged to
think about wintering. The sailors talked together about their present
position, and one day they mentioned it to Richard Shandon, who, they knew,=
was
on their side. The second officer forgot his duty as an officer, and allowed
them to discuss the authority of the captain before him.
"You say, then, Mr. Shandon, that we can'=
t go
back now?" said Gripper.
"No, it's too late now," answered
Shandon.
"Then we must think about wintering,"
said another sailor.
"It's the only thing we can do. They woul=
dn't
believe me."
"Another time," said Pen, who had be=
en
released, "we shall believe you."
"But as I am not the master----" rep=
lied
Shandon.
"Who says you mayn't be?" answered P=
en.
"John Hatteras may go as far as he likes, but we aren't obliged to fol=
low
him."
"You all know what became of the crew that
did follow him in his first cruise to Baffin's Sea?" said Gripper.
"And the cruise of the Farewell under him that got lost in the Spitzberg=
en
seas!" said Clifton.
"He was the only man that came back,"
continued Gripper.
"He and his dog," answered Clifton.<= o:p>
"We won't die for his pleasure," add=
ed
Pen.
"Nor lose the bounty we've been at so much
trouble to earn," cried Clifton. "When we've passed the 78th
degree--and we aren't far off it, I know--that will make just the 375 pounds
each."
"But," answered Gripper, "shan'=
t we
lose it if we go back without the captain?"
"Not if we prove that we were obliged
to," answered Clifton.
"But it's the captain----"
"You never mind, Gripper," answered =
Pen;
"we'll have a captain and a good one--that Mr. Shandon knows. When one
commander goes mad, folks have done with him, and they take another; don't
they, Mr. Shandon?"
Shandon answered evasively that they could rec=
kon
upon him, but that they must wait to see what turned up. Difficulties were
getting thick round Hatteras, but he was as firm, calm, energetic, and
confident as ever. After all, he had done in five months what other navigat=
ors had
taken two or three years to do! He should be obliged to winter now, but the=
re
was nothing to frighten brave sailors in that. Sir John Ross and McClure had
passed three successive winters in the Arctic regions. What they had done he
could do too!
"If I had only been able to get up Smith
Strait at the north of Baffin's Sea, I should be at the Pole by now!" =
he
said to the doctor regretfully.
"Never mind, captain!" answered the
doctor, "we shall get at it by the 99th meridian instead of by the 75t=
h;
if all roads lead to Rome, it's more certain still that all meridians lead =
to
the Pole."
On the 31st of August the thermometer marked 13
degrees. The end of the navigable season was approaching; the Forward left Exmouth Island to the starboard, and
three days after passed Table Island in the middle of Belcher Channel. At an
earlier period it would perhaps have been possible to regain Baffin's Sea by
this channel, but it was not to be dreamt of then; this arm of the sea was
entirely barricaded by ice; ice-fields extended as far as the eye could rea=
ch, and
would do so for eight months longer. Happily they could still gain a few mi=
nutes
further north on the condition of breaking up the ice with huge clubs and
petards. Now the temperature was so low, any wind, even a contrary one, was
welcome, for in a calm the sea froze in a single night. The Forward could not winter in her present situatio=
n,
exposed to winds, icebergs, and the drift from the channel; a shelter was t=
he
first thing to find; Hatteras hoped to gain the coast of New Cornwall, and =
to
find above Albert Point a bay of refuge sufficiently sheltered. He therefore
pursued his course northward with perseverance. But on the 8th an impenetra=
ble
ice-bank lay in front of him, and the temperature was at 10 degrees. Hatter=
as
did all he could to force a passage, continually risking his ship and getti=
ng
out of danger by force of skill. He could be accused of imprudence, want of
reflection, folly, blindness, but he was a good sailor, and one of the best!
The situation of the Forward became really dangerous; the sea closed =
up
behind her, and in a few hours the ice got so hard that the men could run a=
long
it and tow the ship in all security.
Hatteras found he could not get round the
obstacle, so he resolved to attack it in front; he used his strongest blast=
ing
cylinders of eight to ten pounds of powder; they began by making a hole in =
the thick
of the ice, and filled it with snow, taking care to place the cylinder in a
horizontal position, so that a greater portion of the ice might be submitte=
d to
the explosion; lastly, they lighted the wick, which was protected by a
gutta-percha tube. They worked at the blasting, as they could not saw, for =
the
saws stuck immediately in the ice. Hatteras hoped to pass the next day. But
during the night a violent wind raged, and the sea rose under her crust of =
ice
as if shaken by some submarine commotion, and the terrified voice of the pi=
lot
was heard crying:
"Look out aft!"
Hatteras turned to the direction indicated, and
what he saw by the dim twilight was frightful. A high iceberg, driven back
north, was rushing on to the ship with the rapidity of an avalanche.
"All hands on deck!" cried the capta=
in.
The rolling mountain was hardly half a mile of=
f;
the blocks of ice were driven about like so many huge grains of sand; the
tempest raged with fury.
"There, Mr. Clawbonny," said Johnson=
to
the doctor, "we are in something like danger now."
"Yes," answered the doctor tranquill=
y,
"it looks frightful enough."
"It's an assault we shall have to
repulse," replied the boatswain.
"It looks like a troop of antediluvian
animals, those that were supposed to inhabit the Pole. They are trying which
shall get here first!"
"Well," added Johnson, "I hope =
we
shan't get one of their spikes into us!"
"It's a siege--let's run to the
ramparts!"
And they made haste aft, where the crew, armed
with poles, bars of iron, and handspikes, were getting ready to repulse the
formidable enemy. The avalanche came nearer, and got bigger by the addition=
of the
blocks of ice which it caught in its passage; Hatteras gave orders to fire =
the
cannon in the bow to break the threatening line. But it arrived and rushed =
on
to the brig; a great crackling noise was heard, and as it struck on the bri=
g's
starboard a part of her barricading was broken. Hatteras gave his men order=
s to
keep steady and prepare for the ice. It came along in blocks; some of them
weighing several hundredweight came over the ship's side; the smaller ones,
thrown up as high as the topsails, fell in little spikes, breaking the shro=
uds and
cutting the rigging. The ship was boarded by these innumerable enemies, whi=
ch
in a block would have crushed a hundred ships like the Forward . Some of the sailors were badly
wounded whilst trying to keep off the ice, and Bolton had his left shoulder
torn open. The noise was deafening. Dick barked with rage at this new kind =
of
enemy. The obscurity of the night came to add to the horror of the situatio=
n, but
did not hide the threatening blocks, their white surface reflected the last
gleams of light. Hatteras's orders were heard in the midst of the crew's
strange struggle with the icebergs. The ship giving way to the tremendous
pressure, bent to the larboard, and the extremity of her mainyard leaned li=
ke a
buttress against the iceberg and threatened to break her mast.
Hatteras saw the danger; it was a terrible mom=
ent;
the brig threatened to turn completely over, and the masting might be carri=
ed
away. An enormous block, as big as the steamer itself, came up alongside he=
r hull;
it rose higher and higher on the waves; it was already above the poop; it f=
ell
over the Forward . All was lost; i=
t was
now upright, higher than the gallant yards, and it shook on its foundation.=
A
cry of terror escaped the crew. Everyone fled to starboard. But at this mom=
ent
the steamer was lifted completely up, and for a little while she seemed to =
be
suspended in the air, and fell again on to the ice-blocks; then she rolled =
over
till her planks cracked again. After a minute, which appeared a century, she
found herself again in her natural element, having been turned over the
ice-bank that blocked her passage by the rising of the sea.
"She's cleared the ice-bank!" shouted
Johnson, who had rushed to the fore of the brig.
"Thank God!" answered Hatteras.
The brig was now in the midst of a pond of ice,
which hemmed her in on every side, and though her keel was in the water, sh=
e could
not move; she was immovable, but the ice-field moved for her.
"We are drifting, captain!" cried
Johnson.
"We must drift," answered Hatteras;
"we can't help ourselves."
When daylight came, it was seen that the brig =
was
drifting rapidly northward, along with a submarine current. The floating ma=
ss
carried the Forward along with it. In case of accident, when=
the
brig might be thrown on her side, or crushed by the pressure of the ice,
Hatteras had a quantity of provisions brought up on deck, along with materi=
als for
encamping, the clothes and blankets of the crew. Taking example from Captain
McClure under similar circumstances, he caused the brig to be surrounded by=
a
belt of hammocks, filled with air, so as to shield her from the thick of the
damage; the ice soon accumulated under a temperature of 7 degrees, and the =
ship
was surrounded by a wall of ice, above which her masts only were to be seen.
They navigated thus for seven days; Point Albert, the western extremity of =
New Cornwall,
was sighted on the 10th of September, but soon disappeared; from thence the
ice-field drifted east. Where would it take them to? Where should they stop?
Who could tell? The crew waited, and the men folded their arms. At last, on=
the
15th of September, about three o'clock in the afternoon, the ice-field,
stopped, probably, by collision with another field, gave a violent shake to=
the
brig, and stood still. Hatteras found himself out of sight of land in latit=
ude 78
degrees 15 minutes and longitude 95 degrees 35 minutes in the midst of the
unknown sea, where geographers have placed the Frozen Pole.
The
southern hemisphere is colder in parallel latitudes than the northern
hemisphere; but the temperature of the new continent is still 15 degrees be=
low
that of the other parts of the world; and in America the countries known un=
der
the name of the Frozen Pole are the most formidable. The average temperatur=
e of
the year is 2 degrees below zero. Scientific men, and Dr. Clawbonny amongst
them, explain the fact in the following way. According to them, the prevail=
ing
winds of the northern regions of America blow from the south-west; they come
from the Pacific Ocean with an equal and bearable temperature; but in order=
to
reach the Arctic Seas they have to cross the immense American territory,
covered with snow, they get cold by contact with it, and then cover the
hyperborean regions with their frigid violence. Hatteras found himself at t=
he
Frozen Pole beyond the countries seen by his predecessors; he, therefore,
expected a terrible winter on a ship lost in the midst of the ice with a cr=
ew
nearly in revolt. He resolved to face these dangers with his accustomed ene=
rgy.
He began by taking, with the help of Johnson's experience, all the measures=
necessary
for wintering. According to his calculations he had been dragged two hundred
and fifty miles beyond New Cornwall, the last country discovered; he was
clasped in an ice-field as securely as in a bed of granite, and no power on
earth could extricate him.
There no longer existed a drop of water in the
vast seas over which the Arctic winter reigned. Ice-fields extended as far =
as
the eye could reach, bristling with icebergs, and the Forward was sheltered by three of the highest on=
three
points of the compass; the south-east wind alone could reach her. If instea=
d of
icebergs there had been rocks, verdure instead of snow, and the sea in its
liquid state again, the brig would have been safely anchored in a pretty bay
sheltered from the worst winds. But in such a latitude it was a miserable s=
tate
of things. They were obliged to fasten the brig by means of her anchors, no=
twithstanding
her immovability; they were obliged to prepare for the submarine currents a=
nd
the breaking up of the ice. When Johnson heard where they were, he took the
greatest precautions in getting everything ready for wintering.
"It's the captain's usual luck," sai=
d he
to the doctor; "we've got nipped in the most disagreeable point of the
whole glove! Never mind; we'll get out of it!"
As to the doctor, he was delighted at the
situation. He would not have changed it for any other! A winter at the Froz=
en
Pole seemed to him desirable. The crew were set to work at the sails, which
were not taken down, and put into the hold, as the first people who wintere=
d in
these regions had thought prudent; they were folded up in their cases, and =
the
ice soon made them an impervious envelope. The crow's nest, too, remained in
its place, serving as a nautical observatory; the rigging alone was taken a=
way.
It became necessary to cut away the part of the field that surrounded the b=
rig,
which began to suffer from the pressure. It was a long and painful work. In=
a
few days the keel was cleared, and on examination was found to have suffered
little, thanks to the solidity of its construction, only its copper plating=
was
almost all torn off. When the ship was once liberated she rose at least nine
inches; the crew then bevelled the ice in the shape of the keel, and the fi=
eld
formed again under the brig, and offered sufficient opposition to pressure =
from
without. The doctor helped in all this work; he used the ice-knife skilfull=
y;
he incited the sailors by his happy disposition. He instructed himself and
others, and was delighted to find the ice under the ship.
"It's a very good precaution!" said =
he.
"We couldn't do without it, Mr.
Clawbonny," said Johnson. "Now we can raise a snow-wall as high as
the gunwale, and if we like we can make it ten feet thick, for we've plenty=
of
materials."
"That's an excellent idea," answered=
the
doctor. "Snow is a bad conductor of heat; it reflects it instead of
absorbing it, and the heat of the interior does not escape."
"That's true," said Johnson. "We
shall raise a fortification against the cold, and against animals too, if t=
hey
take it into their heads to pay us a visit; when the work is done it will
answer, I can tell you. We shall make two flights of steps in the snow, one
from the ship and the other from outside; when once we've cut out the steps=
we
shall pour water over them, and it will make them as hard as rock. We shall
have a royal staircase."
"It's a good thing that cold makes ice and
snow, and so gives us the means of protecting ourselves against it. I don't
know what we should do if it did not."
A roofing of tarred cloth was spread over the =
deck
and descended to the sides of the brig. It was thus sheltered from all outs=
ide impression,
and made a capital promenade; it was covered with two feet and a-half of sn=
ow,
which was beaten down till it became very hard, and above that they put a l=
ayer
of sand, completely macadamising it.
"With a few trees I should imagine myself=
in
Hyde Park," said the doctor, "or in one of the hanging gardens of
Babylon."
They made a hole at a short distance from the
brig; it was round, like a well; they broke the ice every morning. This well
was useful in case of fire or for the frequent baths ordered to keep the cr=
ew in
health. In order to spare their fuel, they drew the water from a greater de=
pth
by means of an apparatus invented by a Frenchman, Francois Arago. Generally,
when a ship is wintering, all the objects which encumber her are placed in
magazines on the coast, but it was impossible to do this in the midst of an
ice-field. Every precaution was taken against cold and damp; men have been
known to resist the cold and succumb to damp; therefore both had to be guar=
ded
against. The Forward had been built expressly for these regio=
ns,
and the common room was wisely arranged. They had made war on the corners, =
where
damp takes refuge at first. If it had been quite circular it would have done
better, but warmed by a vast stove and well ventilated, it was very
comfortable; the walls were lined with buckskins and not with woollen
materials, for wool condenses the vapours and impregnates the atmosphere wi=
th
damp. The partitions were taken down in the poop, and the officers had a la=
rge
comfortable room, warmed by a stove. Both this room and that of the crew ha=
d a
sort of antechamber, which prevented all direct communication with the
exterior, and prevented the heat going out; it also made the crew pass more
gradually from one temperature to another. They left their snow-covered gar=
ments
in these antechambers, and scraped their feet on scrapers put there on purp=
ose
to prevent any unhealthy element getting in.
Canvas hose let in the air necessary to make t=
he
stoves draw; other hose served for escape-pipes for the steam. Two condense=
rs
were fixed in the two rooms; they gathered the vapour instead of letting it
escape, and were emptied twice a week; sometimes they contained several bus=
hels
of ice. By means of the air-pipes the fires could be easily regulated, and =
it
was found that very little fuel was necessary to keep up a temperature of 50
degrees in the rooms. But Hatteras saw with grief that he had only enough c=
oal
left for two months' firing. A drying-room was prepared for the garments th=
at
were obliged to be washed, as they could not be hung in the air or they wou=
ld
have been frozen and spoiled. The delicate parts of the machine were taken =
to pieces
carefully, and the room where they were placed was closed up hermetically. =
The
rules for life on board were drawn up by Hatteras and hung up in the common
room. The men got up at six in the morning, and their hammocks were exposed=
to
the air three times a week; the floors of the two rooms were rubbed with wa=
rm
sand every morning; boiling tea was served out at every meal, and the food
varied as much as possible, according to the different days of the week; it
consisted of bread, flour, beef suet and raisins for puddings, sugar, cocoa=
, tea,
rice, lemon-juice, preserved meat, salted beef and pork, pickled cabbage and
other vegetables; the kitchen was outside the common rooms, and the men were
thus deprived of its heat, but cooking is a constant source of evaporation =
and
humidity.
The health of men depends a great deal on the =
food
they eat; under these high latitudes it is of great importance to consume as
much animal food as possible. The doctor presided at the drawing up of the =
bill
of fare.
"We must take example from the Esquimaux,=
"
said he; "they have received their lessons from nature, and are our
teachers here; although Arabians and Africans can live on a few dates and a
handful of rice, it is very different here, where we must eat a great deal =
and
often. The Esquimaux absorb as much as ten and fifteen pounds of oil in a d=
ay.
If you do not like oil, you must have recourse to things rich in sugar and =
fat.
In a word, you want carbon in the stove inside you as much as the stove the=
re
wants coal."
Every man was forced to take a bath in the
half-frozen water condensed from the fire. The doctor set the example; he d=
id
it at first as we do all disagreeable things that we feel obliged to do, bu=
t he
soon began to take extreme pleasure in it. When the men had to go out eithe=
r to
hunt or work they had to take great care not to get frost-bitten; and if by
accident it happened, they made haste to rub the part attacked with snow to
bring back the circulation of the blood. Besides being carefully clothed in
wool from head to foot, the men wore hoods of buckskin and sealskin trousers=
,
through which it is impossible for the wind to penetrate. All these
preparations took about three weeks, and the 10th of October came round wit=
hout
anything remarkable happening.
That =
day
the thermometer went down to 3 degrees below zero. The weather was pretty c=
alm,
and the cold without breeze was bearable. Hatteras profited by the clearnes=
s of
the atmosphere to reconnoitre the surrounding plains; he climbed one of the
highest icebergs to the north, and could see nothing, as far as his telesco=
pe
would let him, but ice-fields and icebergs. No land anywhere, but the image=
of
chaos in its saddest aspect. He came back on board trying to calculate the =
probable
duration of his captivity. The hunters, and amongst them the doctor, James
Wall, Simpson, Johnson, and Bell, did not fail to supply the ship with fresh
meat. Birds had disappeared; they were gone to less rigorous southern clima=
tes.
The ptarmigans, a sort of partridge, alone stay the winter in these latitud=
es;
they are easily killed, and their great number promised an abundant supply =
of
game. There were plenty of hares, foxes, wolves, ermine, and bears; there w=
ere
enough for any sportsman, English, French, or Norwegian; but they were
difficult to get at, and difficult to distinguish on the white plains from =
the
whiteness of their fur; when the intense cold comes their fur changes colou=
r,
and white is their winter colour. The doctor found that this change of fur =
is
not caused by the change of temperature, for it takes place in the month of
October, and is simply a precaution of Providence to guard them from the ri=
gour
of a boreal winter.
Seals were abundant in all their varieties, and
were particularly sought after by the hunters for the sake, not only of the=
ir
skins, but their fat, which is very warming; besides which, the liver of th=
ese
animals makes excellent fuel: hundreds of them were to be seen, and two or
three miles to the north of the brig the ice was literally perforated all o=
ver
with the holes these enormous amphibians make; only they smelt the hunters =
from
afar, and many were wounded that escaped by plunging under the ice. However=
, on
the 19th, Simpson managed to catch one at about a hundred yards from the sh=
ip;
he had taken the precaution to block up its hole of refuge so that it was at
the mercy of the hunters. It took several bullets to kill the animal, which
measured nine feet in length; its bulldog head, the sixteen teeth in its ja=
ws,
its large pectoral fins in the shape of pinions, and its little tail, furni=
shed
with another pair of fins, made it a good specimen of the family of dog-hou=
nd
fish. The doctor, wishing to preserve the head for his natural history
collection, and its skin for his future use, had them prepared by a rapid a=
nd
inexpensive process. He plunged the body of the animal into the hole in the
ice, and thousands of little prawns soon ate off all the flesh; in half a d=
ay
the work was accomplished, and the most skilful of the honourable corporati=
on
of Liverpool tanners could not have succeeded better.
As soon as the sun had passed the autumnal
equinox--that is to say, on the 23rd of September--winter may be said to be=
gin
in the Arctic regions. The sun disappears entirely on the 23rd of October,
lighting up with its oblique rays the summits of the frozen mountains. The =
doctor
wished him a traveller's farewell; he was not going to see him again till
February. But obscurity is not complete during this long absence of the sun;
the moon comes each month to take its place as well as she can; starlight is
very bright, and there is besides frequent aurora borealis, and a refraction
peculiar to the snowy horizons; besides, the sun at the very moment of his
greatest austral declination, the 21st of December, is still only 13 degrees
from the Polar horizon, so that there is twilight for a few hours; only fog=
s, mists,
and snowstorms often plunge these regions into complete obscurity. However,=
at
this epoch the weather was pretty favourable; the partridges and the hares =
were
the only animals that had a right to complain, for the sportsmen did not gi=
ve
them a moment's peace; they set several fox-traps, but the suspicious anima=
ls
did not let themselves be caught so easily; they would often come and eat t=
he snare
by scratching out the snow from under the trap; the doctor wished them at t=
he
devil, as he could not get them himself. On the 25th of October the thermom=
eter
marked more than 4 degrees below zero. A violent tempest set in; the air was
thick with snow, which prevented a ray of light reaching the Forward . During several hours they were=
very
uneasy about Bell and Simpson, who had gone too far whilst hunting; they did
not reach the ship till the next day, after having lain for a whole day in
their buckskins, whilst the tempest swept the air about them, and buried th=
em
under five feet of snow. They were nearly frozen, and the doctor had some
trouble to restore their circulation.
The tempest lasted a week without interruption=
. It
was impossible to stir out. In a single day the temperature varied fifteen =
and
twenty degrees. During their forced idleness each one lived to himself; som=
e slept,
others smoked, or talked in whispers, stopping when they saw the doctor or
Johnson approach; there was no moral union between the men; they only met f=
or
evening prayers, and on Sunday for Divine service. Clifton had counted that
once the 78th parallel cleared, his share in the bounty would amount to 375
pounds; he thought that enough, and his ambition did not go beyond. The oth=
ers
were of the same opinion, and only thought of enjoying the fortune acquired=
at such
a price. Hatteras was hardly ever seen. He neither took part in the hunting=
nor
other excursions. He felt no interest in the meteorological phenomena which
excited the doctor's admiration. He lived for one idea; it was comprehended=
in
three words--the North Pole. He was constantly looking forward to the moment
when the Forward , once more free,=
would
begin her adventurous voyage again.
In short, it was a melancholy life; the brig, =
made
for movement, seemed quite out of place as a stationary dwelling; her origi=
nal
form could not be distinguished amidst the ice and snow that covered her, a=
nd she
was anything but a lively spectacle. During these unoccupied hours the doct=
or
put his travelling notes in order--the notes from which this history is tak=
en;
he was never idle, and the evenness of his humour remained the same, only he
was very glad to see the tempest clearing off so as to allow him to set off
hunting once more. On the 3rd of November, at six in the morning, with a
temperature at 5 degrees below zero, he started, accompanied by Johnson and
Bell; the plains of ice were level; the snow, which covered the ground thic=
kly,
solidified by the frost, made the ground good for walking; a dry and keen c=
old
lightened the atmosphere; the moon shone in all her splendour, and threw an
astonishing light on all the asperities of the field; their footsteps left
marks on the snow, and the moon lighted up their edges, so that they looked
like a luminous track behind the hunters whose shadows fell on the ice with
astonishing outlines.
The doctor had taken his friend Dick with him;=
he
preferred him to the Greenland dogs to run down the game for a good reason;=
the
latter do not seem to have the scent of their brethren of more temperate cl=
imates.
Dick ran on and often pointed out the track of a bear, but in spite of his
skill the hunters had not even killed a hare after two hours' walking.
"Do you think the game has gone south
too?" asked the doctor, halting at the foot of a hummock.
"It looks like it, Mr. Clawbonny,"
answered the carpenter.
"I don't think so," answered Johnson;
"hares, foxes, and bears are accustomed to the climate; I believe the =
late
tempest is the cause of their disappearance; but with the south winds they'=
ll
soon come back. Ah! if you said reindeers or musk-oxen it would be a differ=
ent thing."
"But it appears those, too, are found in
troops in Melville Island," replied the doctor; "that is much fur=
ther
south, I grant you; when Parry wintered there he always had as much game as=
he
wanted."
"We are not so well off," said Bell;
"if we could only get plenty of bear's flesh I should not complain.&qu=
ot;
"Bears are very difficult to get at,"
answered the doctor; "it seems to me they want civilising."
"Bell talks about the bear's flesh, but we
want its fat more than its flesh or its skin," said Johnson.
"You are right, Johnson; you are always
thinking about the fuel."
"How can I help thinking about it? I know= if we are ever so careful of it we've only enough left for three weeks."<= o:p>
"Yes," replied the doctor, "tha=
t is
our greatest danger, for we are only at the beginning of November, and Febr=
uary
is the coldest month of the year in the Frozen Zone; however, if we can't g=
et
bear's grease we can rely on that of the seals."
"Not for long, Mr. Clawbonny," answe=
red
Johnson. "They'll soon desert us too; either through cold or fright,
they'll soon leave off coming on to the surface of the ice."
"Then we must get at the bears," said
the doctor; "they are the most useful animals in these countries: they
furnish food, clothes, light, and fuel. Do you hear, Dick?" continued =
he,
caressing his friend; "we must have a bear, so look out."
Dick, who was smelling the ice as the doctor
spoke, started off all at once, quick as an arrow. He barked loudly, and,
notwithstanding his distance, the sportsmen heard him distinctly. The extre=
me distance
to which sound is carried in these low temperatures is astonishing; it is o=
nly
equalled by the brilliancy of the constellations in the boreal sky.
The sportsmen, guided by Dick's barking, rushe=
d on
his traces; they had to run about a mile, and arrived quite out of breath, =
for
the lungs are rapidly suffocated in such an atmosphere. Dick was pointing at
about fifty paces from an enormous mass at the top of a mound of ice.
"We've got him," said the doctor, ta=
king
aim.
"And a fine one," added Bell, imitat=
ing
the doctor.
"It's a queer bear," said Johnson,
waiting to fire after his two companions.
Dick barked furiously. Bell advanced to within
twenty feet and fired, but the animal did not seem to be touched. Johnson
advanced in his turn, and after taking a careful aim, pulled the trigger.
"What," cried the doctor, "not
touched yet? Why, it's that cursed refraction. The bear is at least a thous=
and
paces off."
The three sportsmen ran rapidly towards the
animal, whom the firing had not disturbed; he seemed to be enormous, and
without calculating the dangers of the attack, they began to rejoice in the=
ir
conquest. Arrived within reasonable distance they fired again; the bear, mo=
rtally
wounded, gave a great jump and fell at the foot of the mound. Dick threw
himself upon it.
"That bear wasn't difficult to kill,"
said the doctor.
"Only three shots," added Bell in a =
tone
of disdain, "and he's down."
"It's very singular," said Johnson.<= o:p>
"Unless we arrived at the very moment whe=
n it
was dying of old age," said the doctor, laughing.
So speaking, the sportsmen reached the foot of=
the
mound, and, to their great stupefaction, they found Dick with his fangs in =
the
body of a white fox.
"Well, I never!" cried Bell.
"We kill a bear and a fox falls," ad=
ded
the doctor.
Johnson did not know what to say.
"Why!" said the doctor, with a roar =
of
laughter, "it's the refraction again!"
"What do you mean, Mr. Clawbonny?" a=
sked
the carpenter.
"Why, it deceived us about the size as it=
did
about the distance. It made us see a bear in a fox's skin."
"Well," answered Johnson, "now
we've got him, we'll eat him."
Johnson was going to lift the fox on to his
shoulders, when he cried like Bell--"Well, I never!"
"What is it?" asked the doctor.
"Look, Mr. Clawbonny--look what the anima=
l's
got on its neck; it's a collar, sure enough."
"A collar?" echoed the doctor, leani=
ng
over the animal. A half worn-out collar encircled the fox's neck, and the
doctor thought he saw something engraved on it; he took it off and examined=
it.
"That bear is more than twelve years old,=
my
friends," said the doctor; "it's one of James Ross's foxes, and t=
he
collar has been round its neck ever since 1848."
"Is it possible?" cried Bell.
"There isn't a doubt about it, and I'm so=
rry
we've shot the poor animal. During his wintering James Ross took a lot of w=
hite
foxes in his traps, and had brass collars put round their necks on which we=
re
engraved the whereabouts of his ships, the Enterprise and the Investigator , and the store magazines. =
He
hoped one of them might fall into the hands of some of the men belonging to
Franklin's expedition. The poor animal might have saved the lives of the sh=
ip's
crews, and it has fallen under our balls."
"Well, we won't eat him," said Johns=
on,
"especially as he's twelve years old. Anyway, we'll keep his skin for
curiosity sake." So saying he lifted the animal on his shoulders, and =
they
made their way to the ship, guided by the stars; still their expedition was=
not
quite fruitless: they bagged several brace of ptarmigans. An hour before th=
ey
reached the Forward , a phenomenon
occurred which excited the astonishment of the doctor; it was a very rain o=
f shooting
stars; they could be counted by thousands, like rockets in a display of fir=
eworks.
They paled the light of the moon, and the admirable spectacle lasted several
hours. A like meteor was observed at Greenland by the Moravian brothers in
1799. The doctor passed the whole night watching it, till it ceased, at sev=
en
in the morning, amidst the profound silence of the atmosphere.
It se=
emed
certain that no bears were to be had; several seals were killed during the =
days
of the 4th, 5th, and 6th of November; then the wind changed, and the
thermometer went up several degrees; but the snow-drifts began again with g=
reat
violence. It became impossible to leave the vessel, and the greatest precau=
tion
was needed to keep out the damp. At the end of the week there were several
bushels of ice in the condensers. The weather changed again on the 15th of =
November,
and the thermometer, under the influence of certain atmospherical condition=
s,
went down to 24 degrees below zero. It was the lowest temperature observed =
up
till then. This cold would have been bearable in a quiet atmosphere, but th=
ere
was a strong wind which seemed to fill the atmosphere with sharp blades. The
doctor was vexed at being kept prisoner, for the ground was covered with sn=
ow,
made hard by the wind, and was easy to walk upon; he wanted to attempt some
long excursion.
It is very difficult to work when it is so col=
d,
because of the shortness of breath it causes. A man can only do a quarter of
his accustomed work; iron implements become impossible to touch; if one is
taken up without precaution, it causes a pain as bad as a burn, and pieces =
of
skin are left on it. The crew, confined to the ship, were obliged to walk f=
or
two hours on the covered deck, where they were allowed to smoke, which was =
not
allowed in the common room. There, directly the fire got low, the ice invad=
ed
the walls and the joins in the flooring; every bolt, nail, or metal plate
became immediately covered with a layer of ice. The doctor was amazed at the
instantaneity of the phenomenon. The breath of the men condensed in the air,
and passing quickly from a fluid to a solid state, fell round them in snow.=
At
a few feet only from the stoves the cold was intense, and the men stood near
the fire in a compact group. The doctor advised them to accustom their skin=
to
the temperature, which would certainly get worse, and he himself set the
example; but most of them were too idle or too benumbed to follow his advic=
e,
and preferred remaining in the unhealthy heat. However, according to the
doctor, there was no danger in the abrupt changes of temperature in going f=
rom
the warm room into the cold. It is only dangerous for people in perspiratio=
n; but
the doctor's lessons were thrown away on the greater part of the crew.
As to Hatteras, he did not seem to feel the
influence of the temperature. He walked silently about at his ordinary pace.
Had the cold no empire over his strong constitution, or did he possess in a
supreme degree the natural heat he wished his sailors to have? Was he so ar=
med
in his one idea as to be insensible to exterior impressions? His men were
profoundly astonished at seeing him facing the 24 degrees below zero; he le=
ft
the ship for hours, and came back without his face betraying the slightest =
mark
of cold.
"He is a strange man," said the doct=
or
to Johnson; "he even astonishes me. He is one of the most powerful nat=
ures
I have ever studied in my life."
"The fact is," answered Johnson,
"that he comes and goes in the open air without clothing himself more
warmly than in the month of June."
"Oh! the question of clothes is not of mu=
ch
consequence," replied the doctor; "it is of no use clothing people
who do not produce heat naturally. It is the same as if we tried to warm a
piece of ice by wrapping it up in a blanket! Hatteras does not want that; h=
e is
constituted so, and I should not be surprised if being by his side were as =
good
as being beside a stove."
Johnson had the job of clearing the water-hole=
the
next day, and remarked that the ice was more than ten feet thick. The doctor
could observe magnificent aurora borealis almost every night; from four till
eight p.m. the sky became slightly coloured in the north; then this colouri=
ng
took the regular form of a pale yellow border, whose extremities seemed to
buttress on to the ice-field. Little by little the brilliant zone rose in t=
he
sky, following the magnetic meridian, and appeared striated with blackish
bands; jets of some luminous matter, augmenting and diminishing, shot out
lengthways; the meteor, arrived at its zenith, was often composed of several
bows, bathed in floods of red, yellow, or green light. It was a dazzling
spectacle. Soon the different curves all joined in one point, and formed bo=
real
crowns of a heavenly richness. At last the bows joined, the splendid aurora
faded, the intense rays melted into pale, vague, undetermined shades, and t=
he
marvellous phenomenon, feeble, and almost extinguished, fainted insensibly =
into
the dark southern clouds. Nothing can equal the wonders of such a spectacle
under the high latitudes less than eight degrees from the Pole; the aurora
borealis perceived in temperate regions gives no idea of them--not even a f=
eeble
one; it seems as if Providence wished to reserve its most astonishing marve=
ls
for these climates.
During the duration of the moon several images=
of
her are seen in the sky, increasing her brilliancy; often simple lunar halos
surround her, and she shines from the centre of her luminous circle with a =
splendid
intensity.
On the 26th of November there was a high tide,=
and
the water escaped with violence from the water-hole; the thick layer of ice=
was
shaken by the rising of the sea, and sinister crackings announced the subma=
rine
struggle; happily the ship kept firm in her bed, and her chains only were d=
isturbed.
Hatteras had had them fastened in anticipation of the event. The following =
days
were still colder; there was a penetrating fog, and the wind scattered the
piled-up snow; it became difficult to see whether the whirlwinds began in t=
he
air or on the ice-fields; confusion reigned.
The crew were occupied in different works on
board, the principal of which consisted in preparing the grease and oil
produced by the seals; they had become blocks of ice, which had to be broken
with axes into little bits, and ten barrels were thus preserved.
All sorts of vessels were useless, and the liq=
uid
they contained would only have broken them when the temperature changed. On=
the
28th the thermometer went down to 32 degrees below zero; there was only coa=
l enough
left for ten days, and everyone looked forward to its disappearance with dr=
ead.
Hatteras had the poop stove put out for economy's sake, and from that time
Shandon, the doctor, and he stayed in the common room. Hatteras was thus
brought into closer contact with the men, who threw ferocious and stupefied
looks at him. He heard their reproaches, their recriminations, and even the=
ir
threats, and he could not punish them. But he seemed to be deaf to everythi=
ng. He
did not claim the place nearest the fire, but stopped in a corner, his arms
folded, never speaking.
In spite of the doctor's recommendations, Pen =
and
his friends refused to take the least exercise; they passed whole days lean=
ing
against the stove or lying under the blankets of their hammocks. Their heal=
th soon
began to suffer; they could not bear up against the fatal influence of the
climate, and the terrible scurvy made its appearance on board. The doctor h=
ad,
however, begun, some time ago, to distribute limejuice and lime pastilles e=
very
morning; but these preservatives, generally so efficacious, had very little
effect on the malady, which soon presented the most horrible symptoms. The
sight of the poor fellows, whose nerves and muscles contracted with pain, w=
as
pitiable. Their legs swelled in an extraordinary fashion, and were covered =
with
large blackish blue spots; their bloody gums and ulcerated lips only gave
passage to inarticulate sounds; the vitiated blood no longer went to the
extremities.
Clifton was the first attacked; then Gripper,
Brunton, and Strong took to their hammocks. Those that the malady still spa=
red
could not lose sight of their sufferings; they were obliged to stay there, =
and it
was soon transformed into a hospital, for out of eighteen sailors of the Forward , thirteen were attacked in a few
days. Pen seemed destined to escape contagion; his vigorous nature preserved
him from it. Shandon felt the first symptoms, but they did not go further, =
and
exercise kept the two in pretty good health.
The doctor nursed the invalids with the greate=
st
care, and it made him miserable to see the sufferings he could not alleviat=
e.
He did all he could to keep his companions in good spirits; he talked to th=
em,
read to them, and told them tales, which his astonishing memory made it easy
for him to do. He was often interrupted by the complaints and groans of the
invalids, and he stopped his talk to become once more the attentive and dev=
oted
doctor. His health kept up well; he did not get thinner, and he used to say
that it was a good thing for him that he was dressed like a seal or a whale,
who, thanks to its thick layer of fat, easily supports the Arctic atmospher=
e.
Hatteras felt nothing, either physically or morally. Even the sufferings of=
his
crew did not seem to touch him. Perhaps it was because he would not let his
face betray his emotions; but an attentive observer would have remarked tha=
t a
man's heart beat beneath the iron envelope. The doctor analysed him, studied
him, but did not succeed in classifying so strange an organisation, a
temperament so supernatural. The thermometer lowered again; the walk on deck
was deserted; the Esquimaux dogs alone frequented it, howling lamentably.
There was always one man on guard near the sto=
ve
to keep up the fire; it was important not to let it go out. As soon as the =
fire
got lower, the cold glided into the room; ice covered the walls, and the
humidity, rapidly condensed, fell in snow on the unfortunate inhabitants of=
the
brig. It was in the midst of these unutterable tortures that the 8th of
December was reached. That morning the doctor went as usual to consult the
exterior thermometer. He found the mercury completely frozen.
"Forty-four degrees below zero!" he
cried with terror. And that day they threw the last lump of coal into the
stove.
There=
was
then a movement of despair. The thought of death, and death from cold, appe=
ared
in all its horror; the last piece of coal burnt away as quickly as the rest,
and the temperature of the room lowered sensibly. But Johnson went to fetch
some lumps of the new fuel which the marine animals had furnished him with,=
and
he stuffed it into the stove; he added some oakum, impregnated with frozen =
oil,
and soon obtained enough heat. The smell of the grease was abominable, but =
how
could they get rid of it? They were obliged to get used to it. Johnson agre=
ed
that his expedient left much to wish for, and would have no success in a
Liverpool house.
"However," added he, "the smell=
may
have one good result."
"What's that?" asked the carpenter.<= o:p>
"It will attract the bears; they are very
fond of the stink."
"And what do we want with bears?" ad=
ded
Bell.
"You know, Bell, we can't depend on the
seals; they've disappeared for a good while to come; if the bears don't com=
e to
be turned into fuel too, I don't know what will become of us."
"There would be only one thing left; but I
don't see how----"
"The captain would never consent; but per=
haps
we shall be obliged."
Johnson shook his head sadly, and fell into a
silent reverie, which Bell did not interrupt. He knew that their stock of
grease would not last more than a week with the strictest economy.
The boatswain was not mistaken. Several bears,
attracted by the fetid exhalations, were signalled to the windward; the hea=
lthy
men gave chase to them, but they are extraordinarily quick, and did not all=
ow themselves
to be approached, and the most skilful shots could not touch them. The ship=
's
crew was seriously menaced with death from cold; it was impossible to resist
such a temperature more than forty-eight hours, and every one feared the en=
d of
the fuel. The dreaded moment arrived at three o'clock p.m. on the 20th of
December. The fire went out; the sailors looked at each other with haggard
eyes. Hatteras remained immovable in his corner. The doctor as usual marche=
d up
and down in agitation; he was at his wits' end. The temperature of the room
fell suddenly to 7 degrees below zero. But if the doctor did not know what =
to
do, some of the others did. Shandon, calm and resolute, and Pen with anger =
in
his eyes, and two or three of their comrades, who could still walk, went up=
to
Hatteras.
"Captain!" said Shandon.
Hatteras, absorbed in thought, did not hear hi=
m.
"Captain!" repeated Shandon, touching
his hand.
Hatteras drew himself up.
"What is it?" he said.
"Our fire is out!"
"What then?" answered Hatteras.
"If you mean to kill us with cold, you had
better say so," said Shandon ironically.
"I mean," said Hatteras gravely,
"to require every man to do his duty to the end."
"There's something higher than duty,
captain--there's the right to one's own preservation. I repeat that the fir=
e is
out, and if it is not relighted, not one of us will be alive in two days.&q=
uot;
"I have no fuel," answered Hatteras,
with a hollow voice.
"Very well," cried Pen violently,
"if you have no fuel, we must take it where we can!"
Hatteras grew pale with anger.
"Where?" said he.
"On board," answered the sailor
insolently.
"On board!" echoed the captain, his
fists closed, his eyes sparkling.
He had seized an axe, and he now raised it over
Pen's head.
"Wretch!" he cried.
The doctor rushed between the captain and Pen;=
the
axe fell to the ground, its sharp edge sinking into the flooring. Johnson,
Bell, and Simpson were grouped round Hatteras, and appeared determined to g=
ive him
their support. But lamentable and plaintive voices came from the beds.
"Some fire! Give us some fire!" cried
the poor fellows.
Hatteras made an effort, and said calmly:
"If we destroy the brig, how shall we get
back to England?"
"We might burn some of the rigging and the
gunwale, sir," said Johnson.
"Besides, we should still have the boats
left," answered Shandon; "and we could build a smaller vessel with
the remains of the old one!"
"Never!" answered Hatteras.
"But----" began several sailors, rai=
sing
their voices.
"We have a great quantity of spirits of
wine," answered Hatteras; "burn that to the last drop."
"Ah, we didn't think of that!" said
Johnson, with affected cheerfulness, and by the help of large wicks steeped=
in
spirits he succeeded in raising the temperature a few degrees.
During the days that followed this melancholy
scene the wind went round to the south, and the thermometer went up. Some of
the men could leave the vessel during the least damp part of the day; but
ophthalmia and scurvy kept the greater number on board; besides, neither
fishing nor hunting was practicable. But it was only a short respite from t=
he
dreadful cold, and on the 25th, after an unexpected change in the wind, the
mercury again froze; they were then obliged to have recourse to the spirits=
of
wine thermometer, which never freezes. The doctor found, to his horror, tha=
t it
marked 66 degrees below zero; men had never been able to support such a
temperature. The ice spread itself in long tarnished mirrors on the floor; a
thick fog invaded the common room; the damp fell in thick snow; they could =
no
longer see one another; the extremities became blue as the heat of the body=
left
them; a circle of iron seemed to be clasping their heads, and made them nea=
rly
delirious. A still more fearful symptom was that their tongues could no lon=
ger
articulate a word.
From the day they had threatened to burn his s=
hip,
Hatteras paced the deck for hours. He was guarding his treasures; the wood =
of
the ship was his own flesh, and whoever cut a piece off cut off one of his
limbs. He was armed, and mounted guard, insensible to the cold, the snow, a=
nd
the ice, which stiffened his garments and enveloped him in granite armour. =
His
faithful Dick accompanied him, and seemed to understand why he was there.
However, on Christmas Day he went down to the
common room. The doctor, taking advantage of what energy he had left, went
straight to him, and said--
"Hatteras, we shall all die if we get no
fuel."
"Never!" said Hatteras, knowing what=
was
coming.
"We must," said the doctor gently.
"Never!" repeated Hatteras with more
emphasis still. "I will never consent! They can disobey me if they
like!"
Johnson and Bell took advantage of the
half-permission, and rushed on deck. Hatteras heard the wood crack under the
axe. He wept. What a Christmas Day for Englishmen was that on board the
On the 1st of January, 1861, the doctor made a
discovery. It was not quite so cold, and he had resumed his interrupted
studies; he was reading Sir Edward Belcher's account of his expedition to t=
he
Polar Seas; all at once a passage struck him; he read it again and again. It
was where Sir Edward Belcher relates that after reaching the extremity of
Queen's Channel he had discovered important traces of the passage and resid=
ence
of men. "They were," said he, "very superior habitations to
those which might be attributed to the wandering Esquimaux. The walls had
foundations, the floors of the interior had been covered with a thick layer=
of
fine gravel, and were paved. Reindeer, seal, and walrus bones were seen in
great quantities. We found some co=
al. "
At the last words the doctor was struck with an idea; he carried the book to
Hatteras and showed him the passage.
"They could not have found coal on this
deserted coast," said Hatteras; "it is not possible!"
"Why should we doubt what Belcher says? He
would not have recorded such a fact unless he had been certain and had seen=
it
with his own eyes."
"And what then, doctor?"
"We aren't a hundred miles from the coast
where Belcher saw the coal, and what is a hundred miles' excursion? Nothing.
Longer ones than that have often been made across the ice."
"We will go," said Hatteras.
Johnson was immediately told of their resoluti=
on,
of which he strongly approved; he told his companions about it: some were g=
lad,
others indifferent.
"Coal on these coasts!" said Wall,
stretched on his bed of pain.
"Let them go," answered Shandon
mysteriously.
But before Hatteras began his preparations for=
the
journey, he wished to be exactly certain of the Forward's position. He was obliged to be mathemati=
cally
accurate as to her whereabouts, because of finding her again. His task was =
very
difficult; he went upon deck and took at different moments several lunar
distances and the meridian heights of the principal stars. These observatio=
ns
were hard to make, for the glass and mirrors of the instrument were covered
with ice from Hatteras's breath; he burnt his eyelashes more than once by t=
ouching
the brass of the glasses. However, he obtained exact bases for his
calculations, and came down to make them in the room. When his work was ove=
r,
he raised his head in astonishment, took his map, pricked it, and looked at=
the
doctor.
"What is it?" asked the latter.
"In what latitude were we at the beginnin=
g of
our wintering?"
"We were in latitude 78 degrees 15 minute=
s,
by longitude 95 degrees 35 minutes; exactly at the Frozen Pole."
"Well," said Hatteras, in a low tone,
"our ice-field has been drifting! We are two degrees farther north and
farther west, and three hundred miles at least from your store of coal!&quo=
t;
"And those poor fellows don't know,"
said the doctor.
"Hush!" said Hatteras, putting his
finger on his lips.
Hatte=
ras
would not inform his crew of their situation, for if they had known that th=
ey
had been dragged farther north they would very likely have given themselves=
up
to the madness of despair. The captain had hidden his own emotions at his
discovery. It was his first happy moment during the long months passed in
struggling with the elements. He was a hundred and fifty miles farther nort=
h,
scarcely eight degrees from the Pole! But he hid his delight so profoundly =
that
even the doctor did not suspect it; he wondered at seeing an unwonted brill=
iancy
in the captain's eyes; but that was all, and he never once thought of the r=
eason.
The F=
orward
, by getting nearer the Pole, had got farther away from the coal repository
observed by Sir Edward Belcher; instead of one hundred, it lay at two hundr=
ed
and fifty miles farther south. However, after a short discussion about it
between Hatteras and Clawbonny, the journey was persisted in. If Belcher had
written the truth--and there was no reason for doubting his veracity--they
should find things exactly in the same state as he had left them, for no new
expedition had gone to these extreme continents since 1853. There were few =
or no
Esquimaux to be met with in that latitude. They could not be disappointed on
the coast of New Cornwall as they had been on Beechey Island. The low
temperature preserves the objects abandoned to its influence for any length=
of
time. All probabilities were therefore in favour of this excursion across t=
he
ice. It was calculated that the expedition would take, at the most, forty d=
ays,
and Johnson's preparations were made in consequence.
The sledge was his first care; it was in the
Greenland style, thirty-five inches wide and twenty-four feet long. The
Esquimaux often make them more than fifty feet long. This one was made of l=
ong planks,
bent up front and back, and kept bent like a bow by two thick cords; the fo=
rm
thus given to it gave it increased resistance to shocks; it ran easily on t=
he
ice, but when the snow was soft on the ground it was put upon a frame; to m=
ake
it glide more easily it was rubbed, Esquimaux fashion, with sulphur and sno=
w.
Six dogs drew it; notwithstanding their leanness these animals did not appe=
ar
to suffer from the cold; their buckskin harness was in good condition, and =
they
could draw a weight of two thousand pounds without fatigue. The materials f=
or
encampment consisted of a tent, should the construction of a snow-house be
impossible, a large piece of mackintosh to spread over the snow, to prevent=
it
melting in contact with the human body, and lastly, several blankets and
buffalo-skins. They took the halkett boat too.
The provisions consisted of five cases of
pemmican, weighing about four hundred and fifty pounds; they counted one po=
und
of pemmican for each man and each dog; there were seven dogs including Dick,
and four men. They also took twelve gallons of spirits of wine--that is to =
say,
about one hundred fifty pounds weight--a sufficient quantity of tea and
biscuit, a portable kitchen with plenty of wicks, oakum, powder, ammunition,
and two double-barrelled guns. They also used Captain Parry's invention of
indiarubber belts, in which the warmth of the body and the movement of walk=
ing
keeps coffee, tea, and water in a liquid state. Johnson was very careful ab=
out
the snow-shoes; they are a sort of wooden patten, fastened on with leather
straps; when the ground was quite hard and frozen they could be replaced by=
buckskin
moccasins; each traveller had two pairs of both.
These preparations were important, for any det=
ail
omitted might occasion the loss of an expedition; they took four whole days.
Each day at noon Hatteras took care to set the position of his ship; they h=
ad
ceased to drift; he was obliged to be certain in order to get back. He next=
set
about choosing the men he should take with him; some of them were not fit
either to take or leave, but the captain decided to take none but sure comp=
anions,
as the common safety depended upon the success of the excursion. Shandon wa=
s,
therefore, excluded, which he did not seem to regret. James Wall was ill in
bed. The state of the sick got no worse, however, and as the only thing to =
do
for them was to rub them with lime-juice, and give them doses of it, the do=
ctor
was not obliged to stop, and he made one of the travellers. Johnson very mu=
ch
wished to accompany the captain in his perilous enterprise, but Hatteras to=
ok
him aside, and said, in an affectionate tone:
"Johnson, I have confidence in you alone.=
You
are the only officer in whose hands I can leave my ship. I must know that y=
ou
are there to overlook Shandon and the others. They are kept prisoners here =
by the
winter, but I believe them capable of anything. You will be furnished with =
my
formal instructions, which, in case of need, will give you the command. You
will take my place entirely. Our absence will last four or five weeks at the
most. I shall not be anxious, knowing you are where I cannot be. You must h=
ave
wood, Johnson, I know, but, as far as possible, spare my poor ship. Do you
understand me, Johnson?"
"Yes, sir," answered the old sailor,
"I'll stop if you wish."
"Thank you," said Hatteras, shaking =
his
boatswain's hand; "and if we don't come back, wait for the next
breaking-up time, and try to push forward towards the Pole. But if the othe=
rs
won't go, don't mind us, and take the Forward
back to England."
"Are those your last commands, captain?&q=
uot;
"Yes, my express commands," answered
Hatteras.
"Very well, sir, they shall be carried
out," said Johnson simply.
The doctor regretted his friend, but he thought
Hatteras had acted wisely in leaving him. Their other two travelling compan=
ions
were Bell the carpenter and Simpson. The former was in good health, brave a=
nd
devoted, and was the right man to render service during the encampments on =
the
snow; Simpson was not so sure, but he accepted a share in the expedition, a=
nd
his hunting and fishing capabilities might be of the greatest use. The expe=
dition
consisted, therefore, of four men, Hatteras, Clawbonny, Bell, and Simpson, =
and
seven dogs. The provisions had been calculated in consequence. During the f=
irst
days of January the temperature kept at an average of 33 degrees below zero.
Hatteras was very anxious for the weather to change; he often consulted the
barometer, but it is of little use in such high latitudes. A clear sky in t=
hese
regions does not always bring cold, and the snow does not make the temperat=
ure
rise; the barometer is uncertain; it goes down with the north and east wind=
s;
low, it brought fine weather; high, snow or rain. Its indications could not,
therefore, be relied upon.
At last, on January 5th, the mercury rose to 18
degrees below zero, and Hatteras resolved to start the next day; he could n=
ot
bear to see his ship burnt piece by piece before his eyes; all the poop had=
gone
into the stove. On the 6th, then, in the midst of whirlwinds of snow, the o=
rder
for departure was given. The doctor gave his last orders about the sick; Be=
ll and
Simpson shook hands silently with their companions. Hatteras wished to say =
his
good-byes aloud, but he saw himself surrounded by evil looks and thought he=
saw
Shandon smile ironically. He was silent, and perhaps hesitated for an insta=
nt about
leaving the Forward , but it was t=
oo
late to turn back; the loaded sledge, with the dogs harnessed to it, awaited
him on the ice-field. Bell started the first; the others followed.
Johnson accompanied the travellers for a quart=
er
of a mile, then Hatteras begged him to return on board, and the old sailor =
went
back after making a long farewell gesture. At that moment Hatteras turned a
last look towards the brig, and saw the extremity of her masts disappear in=
the
dark clouds of the sky.
The l=
ittle
troop descended towards the south-east. Simpson drove the sledge. Dick help=
ed
him with zeal, and did not seem astonished at the new occupation of his
companions. Hatteras and the doctor walked behind, whilst Bell went on in
front, sounding the ice with his iron-tipped stick. The rising of the
thermometer indicated approaching snow; it soon fell in thick flakes, and m=
ade
the journey difficult for the travellers; it made them deviate from the
straight line, and obliged them to walk slower; but, on an average, they ma=
de three
miles an hour. The surface of the ice was unequal, and the sledge was often=
in
danger of being overturned, but by great care it was kept upright.
Hatteras and his companions were clothed in sk=
ins
more useful than elegant. Their heads and faces were covered with hoods, th=
eir
mouths, eyes, and noses alone coming into contact with the air. If they had=
not
been exposed the breath would have frozen their coverings, and they would h=
ave
been obliged to take them off with the help of an axe--an awkward way of
undressing. The interminable plain kept on with fatiguing monotony; iceberg=
s of
uniform aspect and hummocks whose irregularity ended by seeming always the
same; blocks cast in the same mould, and icebergs between which tortuous va=
lleys
wound. The travellers spoke little, and marched on, compass in hand. It is =
painful
to open one's mouth in such an atmosphere; sharp icicles form immediately
between one's lips, and the breath is not warm enough to melt them. Bell's
steps were marked in the soft ground, and they followed them attentively,
certain of being able to go where he had been before.
Numerous traces of bears and foxes crossed the=
ir
path, but not an animal was seen that day. It would have been dangerous and
useless to hunt them, as the sledge was sufficiently freighted. Generally in
this sort of excursion travellers leave provision-stores along their route;
they place them in hiding-places of snow, out of reach of animals; unload
during the journey, and take up the provisions on their return. But Hatteras
could not venture to do this on moveable ice-fields, and the uncertainty of=
the
route made the return the same way exceedingly problematic. At noon Hatteras
caused his little troop to halt under shelter of an ice-wall. Their breakfa=
st
consisted of pemmican and boiling tea; the latter beverage comforted the co=
ld wayfarers.
They set out again after an hour's rest. The first day they walked about tw=
enty
miles, and in the evening both men and dogs were exhausted. However, notwit=
hstanding
their fatigue, they were obliged to construct a snow-house in which to pass=
the
night. It took about an hour and a half to build. Bell showed himself very
skilful. The ice-blocks were cut out and placed above one another in the fo=
rm of
a dome; a large block at the top made the vault. Snow served for mortar and
filled up the chinks. It soon hardened and made a single block of the entire
structure. It was reached by a narrow opening, through which the doctor
squeezed himself painfully, and the others followed him. The supper was rap=
idly
prepared with spirits of wine. The interior temperature of the snow-house w=
as
bearable, as the wind which raged outside could not penetrate. When their
repast, which was always the same, was over, they began to think of sleep. =
A mackintosh
was spread over the floor and kept them from the damp. Their stockings and
shoes were dried by the portable grate, and then three of the travellers
wrapped themselves up in their blankets, leaving the fourth to keep watch; =
he
watched over the common safety, and prevented the opening getting blocked u=
p,
for if it did they would be buried alive.
Dick shared the snow-house; the other dogs
remained outside, and after their supper they squatted down in the snow, wh=
ich
made them a blanket. The men were tired out with their day's walk, and soon
slept. The doctor took his turn on guard at three o'clock in the morning. T=
here
was a tempest during the night, the gusts of which thickened the walls of t=
he
snow-house. The next day, at six o'clock, they set out again on their
monotonous march. The temperature lowered several degrees, and hardened the
ground so that walking was easier. They often met with mounds or cairns
something like the Esquimaux hiding-places. The doctor had one demolished, =
and
found nothing but a block of ice.
"What did you expect, Clawbonny?" sa=
id
Hatteras. "Are we not the first men who have set foot here?"
"It's very likely we are, but who
knows?" answered the doctor.
"I do not want to lose my time in useless
search," continued the captain; "I want to be quick back to my sh=
ip,
even if we don't find the fuel."
"I believe we are certain of doing
that," said the doctor.
"I often wish I had not left the Forward ," said Hatteras; "a c=
aptain's
place is on board."
"Johnson is there."
"Yes; but--well, we must make haste, that=
's
all."
The procession marched along rapidly; Simpson
excited the dogs by calling to them; in consequence of a phosphorescent
phenomenon they seemed to be running on a ground in flames, and the sledges
seemed to raise a dust of sparks. The doctor went on in front to examine the
state of the snow, but all at once he disappeared. Bell, who was nearest to
him, ran up.
"Well, Mr. Clawbonny," he called out=
in
anxiety, "where are you?"
"Doctor!" called the captain.
"Here, in a hole," answered a reassu=
ring
voice; "throw me a cord, and I shall soon be on the surface of the glo=
be
again."
They threw a cord to the doctor, who was at the
bottom of a hole about ten feet deep; he fastened it round his waist, and h=
is
companions hauled him up with difficulty.
"Are you hurt?" asked Hatteras.
"Not a bit," answered the doctor,
shaking his kind face, all covered with snow.
"But how did you tumble down there?"=
"Oh, it was the refraction's fault,"=
he
answered laughing. "I thought I was stepping across about a foot's
distance, and I fell into a hole ten feet deep! I never shall get used to i=
t.
It will teach us to sound every step before we advance. Ears hear and eyes =
see
all topsy-turvy in this enchanted spot."
"Can you go on?" asked the captain.<= o:p>
"Oh, yes; the little fall has done me more
good than harm."
In the evening the travellers had marched
twenty-five miles; they were worn out, but it did not prevent the doctor
climbing up an iceberg while the snow-house was being built. The full moon
shone with extraordinary brilliancy in the clearest sky; the stars were sin=
gularly
bright; from the top of the iceberg the view stretched over an immense plai=
n,
bristling with icebergs; they were of all sizes and shapes, and made the fi=
eld look
like a vast cemetery, in which twenty generations slept the sleep of death.
Notwithstanding the cold, the doctor remained a long time in contemplation =
of
the spectacle, and his companions had much trouble to get him away; but they
were obliged to think of rest; the snow-hut was ready; the four companions =
burrowed
into it like moles, and soon slept the sleep of the just.
The next day and the following ones passed wit=
hout
any particular incident; the journey was easy or difficult according to the
weather; when it was cold and clear they wore their moccasins and advanced =
rapidly,
when damp and penetrating, their snow-shoes, and made little way. They reac=
hed
thus the 15th of January; the moon was in her last quarter, and was only
visible for a short time; the sun, though still hidden below the horizon, g=
ave
six hours of a sort of twilight, not sufficient to see the way by; they were
obliged to stake it out according to the direction given by the compass. Be=
ll
led the way; Hatteras marched in a straight line behind him; then Simpson a=
nd
the doctor, taking it in turns, so as only to see Hatteras, and keep in a
straight line. But notwithstanding all their precautions, they deviated
sometimes thirty or forty degrees; they were then obliged to stake it out
again. On Sunday, the 15th of January, Hatteras considered he had made a
hundred miles to the south; the morning was consecrated to the mending of
different articles of clothing and encampment; divine service was not
forgotten. They set out again at noon; the temperature was cold, the
thermometer marked only 32 degrees below zero in a very clear atmosphere.
All at once, without warning of any kind, a va=
pour
rose from the ground in a complete state of congelation, reaching a height =
of
about ninety feet, and remaining stationary; they could not see a foot befo=
re
them; it clung to their clothing, and bristled it with ice. Our travellers,=
surprised
by the frost-rime, had all the same idea--that of getting near one another.
They called out, "Bell!" "Simpson!" "This way, doc=
tor!"
"Where are you, captain?" But no answers were heard; the vapour d=
id
not conduct sound. They all fired as a sign of rallying. But if the sound of
the voice appeared too weak, the detonation of the firearms was too strong,=
for
it was echoed in all directions, and produced a confused rumble without
appreciable direction. Each acted then according to his instincts. Hatteras
stopped, folded his arms, and waited. Simpson contented himself with stoppi=
ng
his sledge. Bell retraced his steps, feeling the traces with his hands. The
doctor ran hither and thither, bumping against the icebergs, falling down, =
getting
up, and losing himself more and more. At the end of five minutes he said:
"I can't go on like this! What a queer
climate! It changes too suddenly, and the icicles are cutting my face. Capt=
ain!
I say, captain!"
But he obtained no answer; he discharged his g=
un,
and notwithstanding his thick gloves, burnt his hand with the trigger. Duri=
ng
this operation he thought he saw a confused mass moving at a few steps from
him.
"At last!" said he. "Hatteras!
Bell! Simpson! Is it you? Answer, do!"
A hollow growl was the only answer.
"Whatever is that?" thought the doct=
or.
The mass approached, and its outline was more distinctly seen. "Why, i=
t's
a bear!" thought the terrified doctor. It was a bear, lost too in the
frost-rime, passing within a few steps of the men of whose existence it was
ignorant. The doctor saw its enormous paws beating the air, and did not lik=
e the
situation. He jumped back and the mass disappeared like a phantom. The doct=
or
felt the ground rising under his feet; climbing on all-fours he got to the =
top
of a block, then another, feeling the end with his stick. "It's an
iceberg!" he said to himself: "if I get to the top I shall be
saved." So saying he climbed to a height of about eighty feet; his head
was higher than the frozen fog, of which he could clearly see the top. As he
looked round he saw the heads of his three companions emerging from the den=
se
fluid.
"Hatteras!"
"Doctor!"
"Bell!"
"Simpson!"
The four names were all shouted at the same ti=
me;
the sky, lightened by a magnificent halo, threw pale rays which coloured the
frost-rime like clouds, and the summits of the icebergs seemed to emerge fr=
om liquid
silver. The travellers found themselves circumscribed by a circle less than=
a
hundred feet in diameter. Thanks to the purity of the upper layers of air, =
they
could hear each other distinctly, and could talk from the top of their
icebergs. After the first shots they had all thought the best thing they co=
uld
do was to climb.
"The sledge!" cried the captain.
"It's eighty feet below us," answered
Simpson.
"In what condition?"
"In good condition."
"What about the bear?" asked the doc=
tor.
"What bear?" asked Bell.
"The bear that nearly broke my head,"
answered the doctor.
"If there is a bear we must go down,"
said Hatteras.
"If we do we shall get lost again," =
said
the doctor.
"And our dogs?" said Hatteras.
At this moment Dick's bark was heard through t=
he
fog.
"That's Dick," said Hatteras;
"there's something up; I shall go down."
Growls and barks were heard in a fearful choru=
s.
In the fog it sounded like an immense humming in a wadded room. Some strugg=
le
was evidently going on.
"Dick! Dick!" cried the captain,
re-entering the frost-rime.
"Wait a minute, Hatteras; I believe the f=
og
is clearing off," called out the doctor. So it was, but lowering like =
the
waters of a pond that is being emptied; it seemed to enter the ground from
whence it sprang; the shining summits of the icebergs grew above it; others=
, submerged
till then, came out like new islands; by an optical illusion the travellers
seemed to be mounting with their icebergs above the fog. Soon the top of the
sledge appeared, then the dogs, then about thirty other animals, then enorm=
ous
moving masses, and Dick jumping about in and out of the fog.
"Foxes!" cried Bell.
"Bears!" shouted the doctor.
"Five!"
"Our dogs! Our provisions!" cried
Simpson. A band of foxes and bears had attacked the sledge, and were making
havoc with the provisions. The instinct of pillage made them agree; the dogs
barked furiously, but the herd took no notice, and the scene of destruction=
was
lamentable.
"Fire!" cried the captain, dischargi=
ng
his gun. His companions imitated him. Upon hearing the quadruple detonation=
the
bears raised their heads, and with a comical growl gave the signal for
departure; they went faster than a horse could gallop, and, followed by the
herd of foxes, soon disappeared amongst the northern icebergs.
The f=
rost-rime
had lasted about three-quarters of an hour; quite long enough for the bears=
and
foxes to make away with a considerable quantity of provisions which they
attacked all the more greedily, arriving, as they did, when the animals were
perishing with hunger from the long winter. They had torn open the covering=
of
the sledge with their enormous paws; the cases of pemmican were open, and h=
alf-empty;
the biscuit-bags pillaged, the provisions of tea spilt over the snow, a bar=
rel
of spirits of wine broken up, and its precious contents run out; the camping
materials lying all about. The wild animals had done their work.
"The devils have done for us!" said
Bell.
"What shall we do now?" said Simpson=
.
"Let us first see how much we've lost,&qu=
ot;
said the doctor; "we can talk after."
Hatteras said nothing, but began picking up the
scattered objects. They picked up all the pemmican and biscuit that was sti=
ll
eatable. The loss of so much spirits of wine was deplorable, as without it =
it
was impossible to get any hot drinks--no tea nor coffee.
The doctor made an inventory of the provisions
that were left, and found that the animals had eaten two hundred pounds of
pemmican and a hundred and fifty pounds of biscuit; if the travellers conti=
nued
their journey they would be obliged to put themselves on half-rations. They
deliberated about what was to be done under the circumstances. Should they
return to the brig and begin their expedition again? But how could they res=
olve
to lose the hundred and fifty miles already cleared? and coming back without
the fuel, how would they be received by the crew? and which of them would b=
egin
the excursion again? It was evident that the best thing to do was to go on,
even at the price of the worst privations. The doctor, Hatteras, and Bell w=
ere
for going on, but Simpson wanted to go back; his health had severely suffer=
ed from
the fatigues of the journey, and he grew visibly weaker; but at last, seein=
g he
was alone in his opinion, he took his place at the head of the sledge, and =
the
little caravan continued its route. During the three following days, from t=
he
15th to the 17th of January, the monotonous incidents of the journey took p=
lace
again. They went on more slowly; the travellers were soon tired; their legs
ached with fatigue, and the dogs drew with difficulty. Their insufficient f=
ood told
upon them. The weather changed with its usual quickness, going suddenly from
intense cold to damp and penetrating fogs.
On the 18th of January the aspect of the ice-f=
ield
changed all at once. A great number of peaks, like pyramids, ending in a sh=
arp
point at a great elevation, showed themselves on the horizon. The soil in c=
ertain
places was seen through the layer of snow; it seemed to consist of schist a=
nd
quartz, with some appearance of calcareous rock. At last the travellers had
reached terra firma , and, accordi=
ng to
their estimation, the continent must be New Cornwall. The doctor was deligh=
ted
to tread on solid ground once more; the travellers had only a hundred more
miles to go before reaching Belcher Cape; but the trouble of walking increa=
sed
on this rocky soil, full of inequalities, crevices, and precipices; they we=
re
obliged to plunge into the interior of the land and climb the high cliffs on
the coast, across narrow gorges, in which the snow was piled up to a height=
of
thirty or forty feet. The travellers soon had cause to regret the levels th=
ey
had left, on which the sledge rolled so easily. Now they were obliged to dr=
ag
it with all their strength. The dogs were worn out, and had to be helped; t=
he men
harnessed themselves along with them, and wore themselves out too. They were
often obliged to unload the provisions in order to get over a steep hill, w=
hose
frozen surface gave no hold. Some passages ten feet long took hours to clea=
r.
During the first day they only made about five miles on that land, so well =
named
Cornwall. The next day the sledge attained the upper part of the cliffs; the
travellers were too exhausted to construct their snow-house, and were oblig=
ed
to pass the night under the tent, enveloped in their buffalo-skins, and dry=
ing
their stockings by placing them on their chests. The consequences of such a
state of things may be readily imagined; during the night the thermometer w=
ent down
to 44 degrees below zero, and the mercury froze.
The health of Simpson became alarming; an obstinate cold, violent rheumatism, and intolerable pain forced him to lie = down on the sledge, which he could no longer guide. Bell took his place; he was = not well, but was obliged not to give in. The doctor also felt the influence of= his terrible winter excursion, but he did not utter a complaint; he marched on = in front, leaning on his stick; he lighted the way; he helped in everything. Hatteras, impassive, impenetrable, insensible, in as good health as the fir= st day, with his iron constitution, followed the sledge in silence. On the 20t= h of January the weather was so bad that the least effort caused immediate prost= ration; but the difficulties of the ground became so great that Hatteras and Bell harnessed themselves along with the dogs; the front of the sledge was broke= n by an unexpected shock, and they were forced to stop and mend it. Such delays occurred several times a day. The travellers were journeying along a deep ravine up to their waists in snow, and perspiring, notwithstanding the viol= ent cold. No one spoke. All at once Bell looked at the doctor in alarm, picked = up a handful of snow, and began to rub his companion's face with all his might.<= o:p>
"What the deuce, Bell?" said the doc=
tor,
struggling.
But Bell went on rubbing.
"Are you mad? You've filled my eyes, nose,
and mouth with snow. What is it?"
"Why," answered Bell, "if you've
got a nose left, you owe it to me."
"A nose?" said the doctor, putting h=
is
hand to his face.
"Yes, Mr. Clawbonny, you were quite frost=
bitten;
your nose was quite white when I looked at you, and without my bit of rubbi=
ng
you would be minus nose."
"Thanks, Bell," said the doctor;
"I'll do the same for you in case of need."
"I hope you will, Mr. Clawbonny, and I on=
ly
wish we had nothing worse to look forward to!"
"You mean Simpson! Poor fellow, he is
suffering dreadfully!"
"Do you fear for him?" asked Hatteras
quickly.
"Yes, captain," answered the doctor.=
"What do you fear?"
"A violent attack of scurvy. His legs swe=
ll
already, and his gums are attacked; the poor fellow is lying under his blan=
kets
on the sledge, and every shock increases his pain. I pity him, but I can't =
do
anything for him!"
"Poor Simpson!" said Bell.
"Perhaps we had better stop a day or
two," said the doctor.
"Stop!" cried Hatteras, "when t=
he
lives of eighteen men depend upon our return! You know we have only enough
provisions left for twenty days."
Neither the doctor nor Bell could answer that,=
and
the sledge went on its way. In the evening they stopped at the foot of an
ice-hill, out of which Bell soon cut a cavern; the travellers took refuge i=
n it,
and the doctor passed the night in nursing Simpson; he was a prey to the
scurvy, and constant groans issued from his terrified lips.
"Ah, Mr. Clawbonny, I shall never get over
it. I wish I was dead already."
"Take courage, my poor fellow!" answ=
ered
the doctor, with pity in his tone, and he answered Simpson's complaints by
incessant attention. Though half-dead with fatigue, he employed a part of t=
he
night in making the sick man a soothing draught, and rubbed him with
lime-juice. Unfortunately it had little effect, and did not prevent the
terrible malady spreading. The next day they were obliged to lift the poor =
fellow
on to the sledge, although he begged and prayed them to leave him to die in
peace, and begin their painful march again.
The freezing mists wet the three men to the sk=
in;
the snow and sleet beat in their faces; they did the work of beasts of burd=
en,
and had not even sufficient food. Dick ran hither and thither, discovering =
by
instinct the best route to follow. During the morning of the 23rd of Januar=
y,
when it was nearly dark, for the new moon had not yet made her appearance, =
Dick
ran on first; he was lost to sight for several hours. Hatteras became anxio=
us,
as there were many bear-marks on the ground; he was considering what had be=
tter
be done, when a loud barking was heard in front. The little procession move=
d on
quicker, and soon came upon the faithful animal in the depth of a ravine. D=
ick
was set as if he had been petrified in front of a sort of cairn, made of
limestone, and covered with a cement of ice.
"This time," said the doctor,
disengaging himself from the traces, "it's really a cairn; we can't be
mistaken."
"What does it matter to us?" said Ha=
tteras.
"Why, if it is a cairn, it may inclose
something that would be useful to us--some provisions perhaps."
"As if Europeans had ever been here!"
said Hatteras, shrugging his shoulders.
"But if not Europeans, it may be that the
Esquimaux have hidden some product of their hunting here. They are accustom=
ed
to doing it, I think."
"Well, look if you like, Clawbonny, but I
don't think it is worth your while."
Clawbonny and Bell, armed with their pickaxes = made for the cairn. Dick kept on barking furiously. The cairn was soon demolishe= d, and the doctor took out a damp paper. Hatteras took the document and read:<= o:p>
"Altam..., Porpoise , Dec... 13th, 1860, 12.. degre=
es
long... 8.. degrees 35 minutes lat..."
"The =
span>Porpoise
!" said the doctor.
"I don't know any ship of that name
frequenting these seas," said Hatteras.
"It is evident," continued the docto=
r,
"that some sailors, or perhaps some shipwrecked fellows, have passed h=
ere
within the last two months."
"That's certain," said Bell.
"What shall we do?" asked the doctor=
.
"Continue our route," said Hatteras
coldly. "I don't know anything about the Porpoise , but I do know that the Forward is waiting for our return."
CHAPT=
ER
XXXI
THE DEATH OF SIMPSON
The
travellers went on their weary way, each thinking of the discovery they had
just made. Hatteras frowned with uneasiness.
"What can the Porpoise be?" he asked himself. "Is it a
ship? and if so, what was it doing so near the Pole?"
At this thought he shivered, but not from the
cold. The doctor and Bell only thought of the result their discovery might =
have
for others or for themselves. But the difficulties and obstacles in their w=
ay soon
made them oblivious to everything but their own preservation.
Simpson's condition grew worse; the doctor saw
that death was near. He could do nothing, and was suffering cruelly on his =
own
account from a painful ophthalmia which might bring on blindness if neglect=
ed. The
twilight gave them enough light to hurt the eyes when reflected by the snow=
; it
was difficult to guard against the reflection, for the spectacle-glasses got
covered with a layer of opaque ice which obstructed the view, and when so m=
uch
care was necessary for the dangers of the route, it was important to see
clearly; however, the doctor and Bell took it in turns to cover their eyes =
or
to guide the sledge. The soil was volcanic, and by its inequalities made it
very difficult to draw the sledge, the frame of which was getting worn out.
Another difficulty was the effect of the uniform brilliancy of the snow; the
ground seemed to fall beneath the feet of the travellers, and they experien=
ced
the same sensation as that of the rolling of a ship; they could not get
accustomed to it, and it made them sleepy, and they often walked on half in=
a
dream. Then some unexpected shock, fall, or obstacle would wake them up from
their inertia, which afterwards took possession of them again.
On the 25th of January they began to descend, =
and
their dangers increased. The least slip might send them down a precipice, a=
nd
there they would have been infallibly lost. Towards evening an extremely vi=
olent
tempest swept the snow-clad summits; they were obliged to lie down on the
ground, and the temperature was so low that they were in danger of being fr=
ozen
to death. Bell, with the help of Hatteras, built a snow-house, in which the
poor fellows took shelter; there they partook of a little pemmican and warm
tea; there were only a few gallons of spirits of wine left, and they were
obliged to use them to quench their thirst, as they could not take snow in =
its
natural state; it must be melted. In temperate countries, where the tempera=
ture
scarcely falls below freezing point, it is not injurious; but above the Pol=
ar
circle it gets so cold that it cannot be touched more than a red-hot iron;
there is such a difference of temperature that its absorption produces
suffocation. The Esquimaux would rather suffer the greatest torments than s=
lake
their thirst with snow.
The doctor took his turn to watch at three o'c=
lock
in the morning, when the tempest was at its height; he was leaning in a cor=
ner
of the snow-house, when a lamentable groan from Simpson drew his attention;=
he
rose to go to him, and struck his head against the roof; without thinking of
the accident he began to rub Simpson's swollen limbs; after about a quarter=
of
an hour he got up again, and bumped his head again, although he was kneeling
then.
"That's very queer," he said to hims=
elf.
He lifted his hand above his head, and felt th=
at
the roof was lowering.
"Good God!" he cried; "Hatteras=
! Bell!"
His cries awoke his companions, who got up
quickly, and bumped themselves too; the darkness was thick.
"The roof is falling in!" cried the
doctor.
They all rushed out, dragging Simpson with the=
m;
they had no sooner left their dangerous retreat, than it fell in with a gre=
at
noise. The poor fellows were obliged to take refuge under the tent covering=
, which
was soon covered with a thick layer of snow, which, as a bad conductor,
prevented the travellers being frozen alive. The tempest continued all thro=
ugh
the night. When Bell harnessed the dogs the next morning he found that some=
of
them had begun to eat their leather harness, and that two of them were very
ill, and could not go much further. However, the caravan set out again; the=
re
only remained sixty miles to go. On the 26th, Bell, who went on in front,
called out suddenly to his companions. They ran up to him, and he pointed t=
o a
gun leaning against an iceberg.
"A gun!" cried the doctor.
Hatteras took it; it was loaded and in good
condition.
"The men from the Porpoise can't be far off," said the doctor.=
Hatteras remarked that the gun was of American
manufacture, and his hands crisped the frozen barrel. He gave orders to
continue the march, and they kept on down the mountain slope. Simpson seemed
deprived of all feeling; he had no longer the strength to complain. The tem=
pest
kept on, and the sledge proceeded more and more slowly; they scarcely made a
few miles in twenty-four hours, and in spite of the strictest economy, the
provisions rapidly diminished; but as long as they had enough for the return
journey, Hatteras kept on.
On the 27th they found a sextant half-buried in
the snow, then a leather bottle; the latter contained brandy, or rather a l=
ump
of ice, with a ball of snow in the middle, which represented the spirit; it=
could
not be used. It was evident that they were following in the steps of some p=
oor
shipwrecked fellows who, like them, had taken the only practicable route. T=
he
doctor looked carefully round for other cairns, but in vain. Sad thoughts c=
ame
into his mind; he could not help thinking that it would be a good thing not=
to
meet with their predecessors; what could he and his companions do for them?
They wanted help themselves; their clothes were in rags, and they had not e=
nough
to eat. If their predecessors were numerous they would all die of hunger.
Hatteras seemed to wish to avoid them, and could he be blamed? But these men
might be their fellow-countrymen, and, however slight might be the chance of
saving them, ought they not to try it? He asked Bell what he thought about =
it,
but the poor fellow's heart was hardened by his own suffering, and he did n=
ot
answer. Clawbonny dared not question Hatteras, so he left it to Providence.=
In the evening of the 27th, Simpson appeared t=
o be
at the last extremity; his limbs were already stiff and frozen; his difficu=
lt breathing
formed a sort of mist round his head, and convulsive movements announced th=
at
his last hour was come. The expression of his face was terrible, desperate,=
and
he threw looks of powerless anger towards the captain. He accused him silen=
tly,
and Hatteras avoided him and became more taciturn and wrapped up in himself
than ever. The following night was frightful; the tempest redoubled in viol=
ence;
the tent was thrown down three times, and the snowdrifts buried the poor
fellows, blinded them, froze them, and wounded them with the sharp icicles
struck off the surrounding icebergs. The dogs howled lamentably. Simpson lay
exposed to the cruel atmosphere. Bell succeeded in getting up the tent agai=
n,
which, though it did not protect them from the cold, kept out the snow. But=
a
more violent gust blew it down a fourth time, and dragged it along in its f=
ury.
"Oh, we can't bear it any longer!" c=
ried
Bell.
"Courage, man, courage!" answered the
doctor, clinging to him in order to prevent themselves rolling down a ravin=
e.
Simpson's death-rattle was heard. All at once, with a last effort, he raised
himself up and shook his fist at Hatteras, who was looking at him fixedly, =
then
gave a fearful cry, and fell back dead in the midst of his unfinished threa=
t.
"He is dead!" cried the doctor.
"Dead!" repeated Bell.
Hatteras advanced towards the corpse, but was
driven back by a gust of wind.
Poor Simpson was the first victim to the murde=
rous
climate, the first to pay with his life the unreasonable obstinacy of the
captain. The dead man had called Hatteras an assassin, but he did not bend
beneath the accusation. A single tear escaped from his eyes and froze on hi=
s pale
cheek. The doctor and Bell looked at him with a sort of terror. Leaning on =
his
stick, he looked like the genius of the North, upright in the midst of the
whirlwind, and frightful in his immobility.
He remained standing thus till the first dawn =
of
twilight, bold, tenacious, indomitable, and seemed to defy the tempest that
roared round him.
The w=
ind
went down about six in the morning, and turning suddenly north cleared the
clouds from the sky; the thermometer marked 33 degrees below zero. The first
rays of the sun reached the horizon which they would gild a few days later.
Hatteras came up to his two dejected companions, and said to them, in a low,
sad voice:
"We are still more than sixty miles from =
the
spot indicated by Sir Edward Belcher. We have just enough provisions to all=
ow
us to get back to the brig. If we go on any further we shall meet with cert=
ain death,
and that will do good to no one. We had better retrace our steps."
"That is a sensible resolution,
Hatteras," answered the doctor; "I would have followed you as far=
as
you led us, but our health gets daily weaker; we can scarcely put one foot
before the other; we ought to go back."
"Is that your opinion too, Bell?" as=
ked
Hatteras.
"Yes, captain," answered the carpent=
er.
"Very well," said Hatteras; "we
will take two days' rest. We want it. The sledge wants mending. I think we =
had
better build ourselves a snow-house, and try to regain a little strength.&q=
uot;
After this was settled, our three men set to w=
ork
with vigour. Bell took the necessary precautions to assure the solidity of =
the construction,
and they soon had a good shelter at the bottom of the ravine where the last
halt had taken place. It had cost Hatteras a great effort to interrupt his
journey. All their trouble and pain lost! A useless excursion, which one man
had paid for with his life. What would become of the crew now that all hope=
of
coal was over? What would Shandon think? Notwithstanding all these painful
thoughts, he felt it impossible to go on any further. They began their prep=
arations
for the return journey at once. The sledge was mended; it had now only two
hundred pounds weight to carry. They mended their clothes, worn-out, torn,
soaked with snow, and hardened by the frost; new moccasins and snow-shoes
replaced those that were worn out. This work took the whole day of the 29th=
and
the morning of the 30th; the three travellers rested and comforted themselv=
es
as well as they could.
During the thirty-six hours passed in the
snow-house and on the icebergs of the ravine, the doctor had noticed that
Dick's conduct was very strange; he crept smelling about a sort of rising in
the ground made by several layers of ice; he kept wagging his tail with imp=
atience,
and trying to draw the attention of his master to the spot. The doctor thou=
ght
that the dog's uneasiness might be caused by the presence of Simpson's body,
which he and his companions had not yet had time to bury. He resolved to pu=
t it
off no longer, especially as they intended starting early the next morning.
Bell and the doctor took their pickaxes and directed their steps towards the
lowest part of the ravine; the mound indicated by Dick seemed to be a good =
spot
to place the corpse in; they were obliged to bury it deep to keep it from t=
he
bears. They began by removing the layer of soft snow, and then attacked the
ice. At the third blow of his pickaxe the doctor broke some hard obstacle; =
he
took out the pieces and saw that it was a glass bottle; Bell discovered a s=
mall
biscuit-sack with a few crumbs at the bottom.
"Whatever does this mean?" said the
doctor.
"I can't think," answered Bell,
suspending his work.
They called Hatteras, who came immediately. Di=
ck
barked loudly, and began scratching at the ice.
"Perhaps we have found a
provision-store," said the doctor.
"It is possible," said Bell.
"Go on," said Hatteras.
Some remains of food were drawn out, and a cas=
e a
quarter full of pemmican.
"If it is a hiding-place," said
Hatteras, "the bears have been before us. See, the provisions are not
intact."
"I am afraid so," answered the docto=
r;
"for----"
He was interrupted by a cry from Bell, who had
come upon a man's leg, stiffened and frozen.
"A corpse," cried the doctor.
"It is a tomb," answered Hatteras.
When the corpse was disinterred it turned out =
to
be that of a sailor, about thirty years old, perfectly preserved. He wore t=
he
clothes of an Arctic navigator. The doctor could not tell how long he had b=
een dead.
But after this corpse, Bell discovered a second, that of a man of fifty,
bearing the mark of the suffering that had killed him on his face.
"These are not buried bodies," cried=
the
doctor, "the poor fellows were surprised by death just as we find
them."
"You are right, Mr. Clawbonny," answ=
ered
Bell.
"Go on! go on!" said Hatteras.
Bell obeyed tremblingly; for who knew how many
human bodies the mound contained?
"These men have been the victims of the s= ame accident that almost happened to us," said the doctor. "Their snow-house tumbled in. Let us see if any one of them is still alive."<= o:p>
The place was soon cleared, and Bell dug out a
third body, that of a man of forty, who had not the cadaverous look of the
others. The doctor examined him and thought he recognised some symptoms of =
existence.
"He is alive!" he cried.
Bell and he carried the body into the snow-hou=
se
whilst Hatteras, unmoved, contemplated their late habitation. The doctor
stripped the resuscitated man and found no trace of a wound on him. He and =
Bell
rubbed him vigorously with oakum steeped in spirits of wine, and they saw s=
igns
of returning consciousness; but the unfortunate man was in a state of compl=
ete
prostration, and could not speak a word. His tongue stuck to his palate as =
if
frozen. The doctor searched his pockets, but they were empty. He left Bell =
to
continue the friction, and rejoined Hatteras. The captain had been down into
the depths of the snow-house, and had searched about carefully. He came up
holding a half-burnt fragment of a letter. These words were on it:
...
tamont ... orpoise ... w York.
"Altamont!" cried the doctor, of the
ship Porpoise , of New York."=
"An American," said Hatteras.
"I'll save him," said the doctor,
"and then we shall know all about it."
He went back to Altamont whilst Hatteras remai=
ned
pensive. Thanks to his attentions, the doctor succeeded in recalling the un=
fortunate
man to life, but not to feeling; he neither saw, heard, nor spoke, but he
lived. The next day Hatteras said to the doctor:
"We must start at once."
"Yes. The sledge is not loaded; we'll put=
the
poor fellow on it and take him to the brig."
"Very well; but we must bury these bodies
first."
The two unknown sailors were placed under the
ruins of the snow-house again, and Simpson's corpse took Altamont's place. =
The
three travellers buried their companion, and at seven o'clock in the mornin=
g they
set out again. Two of the Greenland dogs were dead, and Dick offered himsel=
f in
their place. He pulled with energy.
During the next twenty days the travellers
experienced the same incidents as before. But as it was in the month of
February they did not meet with the same difficulty from the ice. It was
horribly cold, but there was not much wind. The sun reappeared for the first
time on the 31st of January, and every day he stopped longer above the hori=
zon.
Bell and the doctor were almost blinded and half-lame; the carpenter was
obliged to walk upon crutches. Altamont still lived, but he was in a state =
of
complete insensibility. The doctor took great care of him, although he want=
ed
attention himself; he was getting ill with fatigue. Hatteras thought of not=
hing
but his ship. What state should he find it in?
On the 24th of February he stopped all of a
sudden. A red light appeared about 300 paces in front, and a column of black
smoke went up to the sky.
"Look at that smoke! my ship is
burning," said he with a beating heart.
"We are three miles off yet," said B=
ell;
"it can't be the Forward .&qu=
ot;
"Yes it is," said the doctor; "=
the
mirage makes it seem nearer."
The three men, leaving the sledge to the care =
of
Dick, ran on, and in an hour's time were in sight of the ship. She was burn=
ing
in the midst of the ice, which melted around her. A hundred steps farther a=
man
met them, wringing his hands before the <=
/span>Forward
in flames. It was Johnson. Hattera=
s ran
to him.
"My ship! My ship!" cried he.
"Is that you, captain? Oh, don't come any
nearer," said Johnson.
"What is it?" said Hatteras.
"The wretches left forty-eight hours ago,
after setting fire to the ship."
"Curse them!" cried Hatteras.
A loud explosion was then heard; the ground
trembled; the icebergs fell upon the ice-field; a column of smoke went up i=
nto
the clouds, and the Forward blew up. The doctor and Bell reached Hat=
teras,
who out of the depths of despair cried:
"The cowards have fled! The strong will
succeed! Johnson and Bell, you are courageous. Doctor, you have science. I =
have
faith. To the North Pole! To the North Pole!"
His companions heard these energetic words, and
they did them good; but it was a terrible situation for these four men, alo=
ne,
under the 80th degree of latitude, in the midst of the Polar Regions!
END O=
F PART
I OF THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS