THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE RESOLUTE.
[I had some opportunities, which no other writer for the press had, Ibelieve, of examining the Resolute on her return from that weird voyagewhich is the most remarkable in the history of the navies of the world.And, as I know of no other printed record of the whole of that voyagethan this, which was published in the Boston Daily Advertiser of June11, 1856, I reprint it here. Readers should remember that the Englishgovernment abandoned all claim on the vessel; that the Americangovernment then bought her of the salvors, refitted her completely, andsent her to England as a present to the Queen. The Queen visited theship, and accepted the present in person. The Resolute has never sincebeen to sea. I do not load the page with authorities; but I studied theoriginal reports of the Arctic expeditions carefully in preparing thepaper, and I believe it to be accurate throughout.
The voyage from New London to England, when she was thus returned, isstrictly her last voyage. But when this article was printed its name wascorrect.]
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It was in early spring in 1852, early on the morning of the 21st ofApril, that the stout English discovery ship Resolute, manned by a largecrew, commanded by a most manly man, Henry Kellett, left her mooringsin the great river Thames, a little below the old town of London, wastaken in tow by a fussy steam-tug, and proudly started as one of a fineEnglish squadron in the great search of the nations for the lost SirJohn Franklin. It was late in the year 1855, on the 24th of December,that the same ship, weather-worn, scantily rigged, without her lightermasts, all in the trim of a vessel which has had a hard fight with wind,water, ice, and time, made the light-house of _New_ London,--waited forday and came round to anchor in the other river Thames, of _New_England. Not one man of the English crew was on board. The gallantCaptain Kellett was not there; but in his place an American master, whohad shown, in his way, equal gallantry. The sixty or seventy men withwhom she sailed were all in their homes more than a year ago. The elevenmen with whom she returned had had to double parts, and to work hard tomake good the places of the sixty. And between the day when theEnglishmen left her, and the day the Americans found her, she had spentfifteen months and more alone. She was girt in by the ice of the Arcticseas. No man knows where she went, what narrow scapes she passedthrough, how low her thermometers marked cold;--it is a bit of herhistory which was never written. Nor what befell her little tender, the"Intrepid," which was left in her neighborhood, "ready for occupation,"just as she was left. No man will ever tell of the nip that proved toomuch for her,--of the opening of her seams, and her disappearancebeneath the ice. But here is the hardy Resolute, which, on the 15th ofMay, 1854, her brave commander left, as he was ordered, "ready foroccupation,"--which the brave Captain Buddington found September 10,1855, more than a thousand miles from there, and pronounced still "readyfor occupation";--and of what can be known of her history from OldLondon to New London, from Old England's Thames to New England's Thames,we will try to tell the story; as it is written in the letters of herold officers and told by the lips of her new rescuers.
For Arctic work, if ships are to go into every nook and lane of ice thatwill yield at all to wind and steam, they must be as nearlyindestructible as man can make them. For Arctic work, therefore, and fordiscovery work, ships built of the _teak_ wood of Malabar and Java areconsidered most precisely fitted. Ships built of teak are said to bewholly indestructible by time. To this we owe the fact, which nowbecomes part of a strange coincidence, that one of the old CaptainCook's ships which went round the world with him has been, till within afew years, a whaling among the American whalers, revisiting, as afamiliar thing, the shores which she was first to discover. The Englishadmiralty, eager to fit out for Arctic service a ship of the best buildthey could find, bought the two teak-built ships Baboo and Ptarmigan in1850,--sent them to their own dock-yards to be refitted, and the Baboobecame the Assistance,--the Ptarmigan became the Resolute, of theirsquadrons of Arctic discovery.
Does the reader know that in the desolation of the Arctic shores thePtarmigan is the bird most often found? It is the Arctic grouse orpartridge,[O] and often have the ptarmigans of Melville Island furnishedsport and even dinners to the hungry officers of the "Resolute," whollyunconscious that she had ever been their god-child, and had thrown offtheir name only to take that which she now wears.
Early in May, 1850, just at the time we now know that brave Sir JohnFranklin and the remnant of his crew were dying of starvation at themouth of Back's River, the "Resolute" sailed first for the Arctic seas,the flag-ship of Commodore Austin, with whose little squadron our own DeHaven and his men had such pleasant intercourse near Beechey Island. Inthe course of that expedition she wintered off Cornwallis Island,--andin autumn of the next year returned to England.
Whenever a squadron or a man or an army returns to England, unless inthe extreme and exceptional case of complete victory over obstacleinvincible, there is always dissatisfaction. This is the English way.And so there was dissatisfaction when Captain Austin returned with hisships and men. There was also still a lingering hope that some trace ofFranklin might yet be found, perhaps some of his party. Yet more, therewere two of the searching ships which had entered the Polar seas fromBehring's Straits on the west, the "Enterprise" and "Investigator,"which might need relief before they came through or returned. Arcticsearch became a passion by this time, and at once a new squadron wasfitted out to take the seas in the spring of 1852. This squadronconsisted of the "Assistance" and "Resolute" again, which had beenrefitted since their return, of the "Intrepid" and "Pioneer," twosteamships used as tenders to the "Assistance" and "Resolute"respectively, and of the "North Star," which had also been in thoseregions, and now went as a storeship to the rest of the squadron. To thecommand of the whole Sir Edward Belcher was appointed, an officer whohad served in some of the earlier Arctic expeditions. Officers and menvolunteered in full numbers for the service, and these five vesselstherefore carried out a body of men who brought more experience of theNorthern seas together than any expedition which had ever visited them.
Of these, Captain Henry Kellett had command of the "Resolute," and wassecond in seniority to Sir Edward Belcher, who made the "Assistance" theflag-ship. It shows what sort of man he was, to say that for more thanten years he spent only part of one in England, and was the rest of thetime in an antipodean hemisphere or a hyperborean zone. Before brave SirJohn Franklin sailed, Captain Kellett was in the Pacific. Just as he wasto return home, he was ordered into the Arctic seas to search for SirJohn. Three years successively, in his ship the "Herald," he passedinside Behring's Straits, and far into the Arctic Ocean. He discovered"Herald Island," the farthest land known there. He was one of the lastmen to see McClure in the "Investigator" before she entered the Polarseas from the northwest. He sent three of his men on board that ship tomeet them all again, as will be seen, in strange surroundings. Aftermore than seven years of this Pacific and Arctic life, he returned toEngland, in May or June, 1851, and in the next winter volunteered to trythe eastern approach to the same Arctic seas in our ship, the"Resolute." Some of his old officers sailed with him.
We know nothing of Captain Kellett but what his own letters, despatches,and instructions show, as they are now printed in enormous parliamentaryblue-books, and what the despatches and letters of his officers and ofhis commander show. But these papers present the picture of a vigorous,hearty man, kind to his crew and a great favorite with them, brave inwhatever trial, always considerate, generous to his officers, reposingconfidence in their integrity; a man, in short, of whom the world willbe apt to hear more. His commander, Sir Edward Belcher, tried by thesame standard, appears a brave and ready man, apt to talk of himself,not very considerate of his inferiors, confident in his own opinion; inshort, a man with whom one would not care to spend three Arctic winters.With him, as we trace the "Resolute's" fortunes, we shall have much todo. Of Captain Kellett we shall see something all along till the daywhen he sadly left her, as bidden by Sir Edward Belcher, "
ready foroccupation."
With such a captain, and with sixty-odd men, the "Resolute" cast off hermoorings in the gray of the morning on the 21st of April, 1852, to go insearch of Sir John Franklin. The brave Sir John had died two yearsbefore, but no one knew that, nor whispered it. The river steam-tug"Monkey" took her in tow, other steamers took the "Assistance" and the"North Star"; the "Intrepid" and "Pioneer" got up their own steam, andto the cheers of the little company gathered at Greenhithe to see themoff, they went down the Thames. At the Nore, the steamship "Desperate"took the "Resolute" in charge, Sir Edward Belcher made the signal"Orkneys" as the place of rendezvous, and in four days she was there, inStromness outer harbor. Here there was a little shifting of provisionsand coal-bags, those of the men who could get on shore squandered theirspending-money, and then, on the 28th of April, she and hers bade goodby to British soil. And, though they have welcomed it again long since,she has not seen it from then till now.
The "Desperate" steamer took her in tow, she sent her own tow-lines tothe "North Star," and for three days in this procession of so wild andweird a name, they three forged on westward toward Greenland,--a trainwhich would have startled any old Viking had he fallen in with it, witha fresh gale blowing all the time and "a nasty sea." On the fourth dayall the tow-lines broke or were cast off however, Neptune and the windsclaimed their own, and the "Resolute" tried her own resources. Thetowing steamers were sent home in a few days more, and the squadron leftto itself.
We have too much to tell in this short article to be able to dwell onthe details of her visits to the hospitable Danes of Greenland, or ofher passage through the ice of Baffin's Bay. But here is one incident,which, as the event has proved, is part of a singular coincidence. Onthe 6th of July all the squadron, tangled in the ice, joined a fleet ofwhalers beset in it, by a temporary opening between the gigantic masses.Caught at the head of a bight in the ice, with the "Assistance" and the"Pioneer," the "Resolute" was, for the emergency, docked there, and, bythe ice closing behind her, was, for a while, detained. Meanwhile therest of the fleet, whalers and discovery ships, passed on by a littlelane of water, the American whaler "McLellan" leading. This "McLellan"was one of the ships of the spirited New London merchants, Messrs.Perkins & Smith, another of whose vessels has now found the "Resolute"and befriended her in her need in those seas. The "McLellan" was theirpioneer vessel there.
The "North Star" of the English squadron followed the "McLellan." Along train stretched out behind. Whalers and government ships, as theyhappened to fall into line,--a long three quarters of a mile. It waslovely weather, and, though the long lane closed up so that they couldneither go back nor forward,--nobody apprehended injury till it wasannounced on the morning of the 7th that the poor "McLellan" was nippedin the ice and her crew were deserting her. Sir Edward Belcher was thenin condition to befriend her, sent his carpenters to examine her,--put afew charges of powder into the ice to relieve the pressure uponher,--and by the end of the day it was agreed that her injuries could berepaired, and her crew went on board again. But there is no saying whatice will do next. The next morning there was a fresh wind, the"McLellan" was caught again, and the water poured into her, a steadystream. She drifted about unmanageable, now into one ship, now intoanother, and the English whalemen began to pour on board, to helpthemselves to such plunder as they chose. At the Captain's request, SirEdward Belcher put an end to this, sent sentries on board, and workingparties, to clear her as far as might be, and keep account of what herstores were and where they went to. In a day or two more she sank to thewater's edge and a friendly charge or two of powder put her out of theway of harm to the rest of the fleet. After such a week spent togetherit will easily be understood that the New London whalemen did not feelstrangers on board one of Sir Edward's vessels when they found her"ready for occupation" three years and more afterwards.
In this tussle with the ice, the "Resolute" was nipped once or twice,but she has known harder nips than that since. As July wore away, shemade her way across Baffin's Bay, and on the 10th of August made BeecheyIsland,--known now as the head-quarters for years of the searchingsquadrons, because, as it happened, the place where the last traces ofFranklin's ships were found,--the wintering place of his first winter.But Captain Kellett was on what is called the "western search," and heonly stayed at Beechey Island to complete his provisions from thestoreships, and in the few days which this took, to see for himself thesad memorials of Franklin's party,--and then the "Resolute" and"Intrepid" were away, through Barrow's Straits,--on the track whichParry ran along with such success thirty-three years before,--and whichno one had followed with as good fortune as he, until now.
On the 15th of August Captain Kellett was off; bade good by to the partyat Beechey Island, and was to try his fortune in independent command. Hehad not the best of luck at starting. The reader must remember that onegreat object of these Arctic expeditions was to leave provisions forstarving men. For such a purpose, and for travelling parties of his ownover the ice, Captain Kellett was to leave a depot at Assistance Bay,some thirty miles only from Beechey Island. In nearing for that purposethe "Resolute" grounded, was left with but seven feet of water, the icethrew her over on her starboard bilge, and she was almost lost. Notquite lost, however, or we should not be telling her story. At midnightshe was got off, leaving sixty feet of her false keel behind. CaptainKellett forged on in her,--left a depot here and another there,--and atthe end of the short Arctic summer had come as far westward as SirEdward Parry came. Here is the most westerly point the reader will findon most maps far north in America,--the Melville Island of CaptainParry. Captain Kellett's associate, Captain McClintock of the"Intrepid," had commanded the only party which had been here sinceParry. In 1851 he came over from Austin's squadron with a sledge party.So confident is every one there that nobody has visited those partsunless he was sent, that McClintock encouraged his men one day bytelling them that if they got on well, they should have an old cartParry had left thirty-odd years before, to make a fire of. Sure enough;they came to the place, and there was the wreck of the cart just asParry left it. They even found the ruts the old cart left in the groundas if they had not been left a week. Captain Kellett came into harbor,and with great spirit he and his officers began to prepare for theextended searching parties of the next spring. The "Resolute" and hertender came to anchor off Dealy Island, and there she spent the nexteleven months of her life, with great news around her in that time.
There is not much time for travelling in autumn. The days grow veryshort and very cold. But what, days there were were spent in sending outcarts and sledges with depots of provisions, which the parties of thenext spring could use. Different officers were already assigned todifferent lines of search in spring. On their journeys they would begone three months and more, with a party of some eight men,--dragging asled very like a Yankee wood-sled with their instruments and provisions,over ice and snow. To extend those searches as much as possible, and toprepare the men for that work when it should come, advanced depots werenow sent forward in the autumn, under the charge of the gentlemen whowould have to use them in the spring.
One of these parties, the "South line of Melville Island" party, wasunder a spirited young officer Mr. Mecham, who had tried such service inthe last expedition. He had two of "her Majesty's sledges," "TheDiscovery" and "The Fearless," a depot of twenty days' provision to beused in the spring, and enough for twenty-five days' present use. Allthe sledges had little flags, made by some young lady friends of SirEdward Belcher's. Mr. Mecham's bore an armed hand and sword on a whiteground, with the motto, "_Per mare, per terram, per glaciem_" Over mud,land, snow, and ice they carried their depot, and were nearly back,when, on the 12th of October, 1852, Mr. Mecham made the great discoveryof the expedition.
On the shore of Melville Island, above Winter Harbor, is a greatsandstone boulder, ten feet high, seven or eight broad, and twenty andmore long, which is known to all those who have anything to do withthose regions as "Parry's sandstone," for it stood near Parry'so
bservatory the winter he spent here, and Mr. Fisher, his surgeon, cuton a flat face of it this inscription:--
HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S SHIPS HECLA AND GRIPER, COMMANDED BY W.E. PARRY AND MR. LIDDON, WINTERED IN THE ADJACENT HARBOR 1819-20. A. FISHER, SCULPT.
It was a sort of God Terminus put up to mark the end of that expedition,as the Danish gentlemen tell us our Dighton rock is the last point ofThorfinn's expedition to these parts. Nobody came to read Mr. Fisher'sinscription for thirty years and more,--a little Arctic hare took up herhome under the great rock, and saw the face of man for the first timewhen, on the 5th of June, 1851, Mr. McClintock, on his first expeditionthis way, had stopped to see whether possibly any of Franklin's men hadever visited it. He found no signs of them, had not so much time as Mr.Fisher for stone-cutting, but carved the figures 1851 on the stone, andleft it and the hare. To this stone, on his way back to the "Resolute,"Mr. Mecham came again (as we said) on the 12th of October, one memorableTuesday morning, having been bidden to leave a record there. He went onin advance of his party, meaning to cut 1852 on the stone. On top of itwas a small cairn of stones built by Mr. McClintock the year before.Mecham examined this, and to his surprise a copper cylinder rolled outfrom under a spirit tin. "On opening it, I drew out a roll folded in abladder, which, being frozen, broke and crumbled. From its dilapidatedappearance, I thought at the moment it must be some record of Sir EdwardParry, and, fearing I might damage it, laid it down with the intentionof lighting the fire to thaw it. My curiosity, however, overcame myprudence, and on opening it carefully with my knife, I came to a roll ofcartridge paper with the impression fresh upon the seals. Myastonishment may be conceived on finding it contained an account of theproceedings of H.M. ship 'Investigator' since parting company with the"Herald" [Captain Kellett's old ship] in August, 1850, in Behring'sStraits. Also a chart which disclosed to view not only the long-soughtNorthwest Passage, but the completion of the survey of Banks andWollaston lands. Opened and indorsed Commander McClintock's despatch;found it contained the following additions:--
"'Opened and copied by his old friend and messmate upon this date, April 28, 1852. ROBERT McCLURE
"'Party all well and return to Investigator to-day.'"
A great discovery indeed to flash across one in a minute. The"Investigator" had not been heard from for more than two years. Here wasnews of her not yet six months old. The Northwest Passage had beendreamed of for three centuries and more. Here was news of itsdiscovery,--news that had been known to Captain McClure for two years.McClure and McClintock were lieutenants together in the "Enterprise"when she was sent after Sir John Franklin in 1848, and wintered togetherat Port Leopold the next winter. Now, from different hemispheres, theyhad come so near meeting at this old block of sandstone. Mr. Mecham badehis mate build a new cairn, to put the record of the story in, andhurried on to the "Resolute" with his great news,--news of almosteverybody but Sir John Franklin. Strangely enough, the other expedition,Captain Collinson's, had had a party in that neighborhood, between theother two, under Mr. Parks; but it was his extreme point possible, andhe could not reach the Sandstone, though he saw the ruts of McClure'ssleigh. This was not known till long afterwards.
The "Investigator," as it appeared from this despatch of CaptainMcClure's, had been frozen up in the Bay of Mercy of Banks Land: BanksLand having been for thirty years at once an Ultima Thule and TerraIncognita, put down on the maps where Captain Parry saw it across thirtymiles of ice and water in 1819. Perhaps she was still in that same bay:these old friends wintering there, while the "Resolute" and "Intrepid"were lying under Dealy Island, and only one hundred and seventy milesbetween. It must have been tantalizing to all parties to wait the winterthrough, and not even get a message across. But until winter made it toocold and dark to travel, the ice in the strait was so broken up that itwas impossible to attempt to traverse it, even with a light boat, forthe lanes of water. So the different autumn parties came in, the last onthe last of October, and the officers and men entered on their winter'swork and play, to push off the winter days as quickly as they could.
The winter was very severe; and it proved that, as the "Resolute" lay,they were a good deal exposed to the wind. But they kept themselvesbusy,--exercised freely,--found game quite abundant within reasonabledistances on shore, whenever the light served,--kept schools forthe men,--delivered scientific lectures to whoever wouldlisten,--established the theatre for which the ship had been provided athome,--and gave juggler's exhibitions by way of variety. The recentsystem of travelling in the fall and spring cuts in materially to thelength of the Arctic winters as Ross, Parry, and Back used to experienceit, and it was only from the 1st of November to the 10th of March thatthey were left to their own resources. Late in October one of the"Resolute's" men died, and in December one of the "Intrepid's," but,excepting these cases, they had little sickness, for weeks no one onthe sick-list; indeed, Captain Kellett says cheerfully that asufficiency of good provisions, with plenty of work in the open air,will insure good health in that climate.
As early in the spring as he dared risk a travelling party, namely, onthe 10th of March, 1853, he sent what they all called a forlorn hopeacross to the Bay of Mercy, to find any traces of the "Investigator";for they scarcely ventured to hope that she was still there. This startwas earlier by thirty-five days than the early parties had started onthe preceding expedition. But it was every way essential that, ifCaptain McClure had wintered in the Bay of Mercy, the messenger shouldreach him before he sent off any or all his men, in travelling parties,in the spring. The little forlorn hope consisted of ten men under thecommand of Lieutenant Pirn, an officer who had been with Captain Kellettin the "Herald" on the Pacific side, had spent a winter in the "Plover"up Behring's Straits, and had been one of the last men whom the"Investigator" had seen before they put into the Arctic Ocean, todiscover, as it proved, the Northwest Passage.
Here we must stop a moment, to tell what one of these sledge parties isby whose efforts so much has been added to our knowledge of Arcticgeography, in journeys which could never have been achieved in ships orboats. In the work of the "Resolute's" parties, in this spring of 1852,Commander McClintock travelled 1,325 miles with his sledge, andLieutenant Mecham 1,163 miles with his, through regions before whollyunexplored. The sledge, as we have said, is in general contour notunlike a Yankee wood-sled, about eleven feet long. The runners arecurved at each end. The sled is fitted with a light canvas trough, soadjusted that, in case of necessity, all the stores, &c., can be ferriedover any narrow lane of water in the ice. There are packed on this sleda tent for eight or ten men, five or six pikes, one or more of which Isfitted as an ice-chisel; two large buffalo-skins, a water-tightfloor-cloth, which contrives
"a double debt to pay, A floor by night, the sledge's sail by day"
(and it must be remembered that "day" and "night" in those regions arevery equivocal terms). There are, besides, a cooking-apparatus, of whichthe fire is made in spirit or tallow lamps, one or two guns, a pick andshovel, instruments for observation, pannikins, spoons, and a littlemagazine of such necessaries, with the extra clothing of the party. Thenthe provision, the supply of which measures the length of theexpedition, consists of about a pound of bread and a pound of pemmicanper man per day, six ounces of pork, and a little preserved potato, rum,lime-juice, tea, chocolate, sugar, tobacco, or other such creaturecomforts. The sled is fitted with two drag-ropes, at which the men haul.The officer goes ahead to find the best way among hummocks of ice ormasses of snow. Sometimes on a smooth floe, before the wind, thefloor-cloth is set for a sail, and she runs off merrily, perhaps withseveral of the crew on board, and the rest running to keep up. Butsometimes over broken ice it is a constant task to get her on at all.You hear, "One, two, three, _haul_" all day long, as she is worked outof one ice "cradle-hole" over a hummock into another. Different partiesselect different hours for travelling. Captain Kellett finallyconsidered that the best division of time, when, as
usual, they hadconstant daylight, was to start at four in the afternoon, travel tillten P.M., _breakfast_ then, tent and rest four hours; travel four more,tent, dine, and sleep nine hours. This secured sleep, when the sun wasthe highest and most trying to the eyes. The distances accomplished withthis equipment are truly surprising. Each man, of course, is dressed aswarmly as flannel, woollen cloth, leather, and seal-skin will dress him.For such long journeying, the study of boots becomes a science, and ourauthorities are full of discussions as to canvas or woollen, or carpetor leather boots, of strings and of buckles. When the time "to tent"comes, the pikes are fitted for tent-poles, and the tent set up, itsdoor to leeward, on the ice or snow. The floor-cloth is laid for thecarpet. At an hour fixed, all talking must stop. There is just roomenough for the party to lie side by side on the floor-cloth. Each mangets into a long felt bag, made of heavy felting literally nearly halfan inch thick. He brings this up wholly over his head, and buttonshimself in. He has a little hole in it to breathe through. Over thefelt is sometimes a brown holland bag, meant to keep out moisture. Theofficer lies farthest in the tent,--as being next the wind, the point ofhardship and so of honor. The cook for the day lies next the doorway, asbeing first to be called. Side by side the others lie between. Over themall Mackintosh blankets with the buffalo-robes are drawn, by what powerthis deponent sayeth not, not knowing. No watch is kept, for there islittle danger of intrusion. Once a whole party was startled by a whitebear smelling at them, who waked one of their dogs, and a droll timethey had of it, springing to their arms while enveloped in their sacks.But we remember no other instance where a sentinel was needed. Andoccasionally in the journals the officer notes that he overslept in themorning, and did not "call the cook" early enough. What a passion issleep, to be sure, that one should oversleep with such comforts roundhim!
Some thirty or forty parties, thus equipped, set out from the "Resolute"while she was under Captain Kellett's charge, on various expeditions. Asthe journey of Lieutenant Pim to the "Investigator" at Banks Land wasthat on which turned the great victory of her voyage, we will let thatstand as a specimen of all. None of the others, however, were undertakenat so early a period of the year, and, on the other hand, several otherswere much longer,--some of them, as has been said, occupying threemonths and more.
Lieutenant Pim had been appointed in the autumn to the "Banks Landsearch," and had carried out his depots of provisions when the otherofficers took theirs. Captain McClure's chart and despatch made it nolonger necessary to have that coast surveyed, but made it all the morenecessary to have some one go and see if he was still there. The chanceswere against this, as a whole summer had intervened since he was heardfrom. Lieutenant Pim proposed, however, to travel all round Banks Land,which is an island about the size and shape of Ireland, in search ofhim, Collinson, Franklin, or anybody. Captain Kellett, however, told himnot to attempt this with his force, but to return to the ship by theroute he went. First he was to go to the Bay of Mercy; if the"Investigator" was gone, he was to follow any traces of her, and, ifpossible, communicate with her or her consort, the "Enterprise."
Lieutenant Pim started with a sledge and seven men, and a dog-sledgewith two under Dr. Domville, the surgeon, who was to bring back theearliest news from the Bay of Mercy to the captain. There was a reliefsledge to go part way and return. For the intense cold of this earlyseason they had even more careful arrangements than those we havedescribed. Their tent was doubled. They had extra Mackintoshes, andwhatever else could be devised. They had bad luck at starting,--brokedown one sledge and had to send back for another; had bad weather, andmust encamp, once for three days. "Fortunately," says the lieutenant ofthis encampment, "the temperature arose from fifty-one below zero tothirty-six below, and there remained," while the drift accumulated tosuch a degree around the tents, that within them the thermometer wasonly twenty below, and, when they cooked, rose to zero. A pleasant timeof it they must have had there on the ice, for those three days, intheir bags smoking and sleeping! No wonder that on the fourth day theyfound they moved slowly, so cramped and benumbed were they. This morninga new sledge came to them from the ship; they got out of their bags,packed, and got under way again. They were still running along shore,but soon sent back the relief party which had brought the new sled, andin a few days more set out to cross the strait, some twenty-five tothirty miles wide, which, when it is open, as no man has ever seen it,is one of the Northwest Passages discovered by these expeditions.
Horrible work it was! Foggy and dark, so they could not choose the road,and, as it happened, lit on the very worst mass of broken ice in thechannel. Just as they entered on it, one black raven must needs appear."Bad luck," said the men. And when Mr. Pim shot a musk-ox, their first,and the wounded creature got away, "So much for the raven," they croakedagain. Only three miles the first day, four miles the second day, twoand a half the third, and half a mile the fourth; this was all theygained by most laborious hauling over the broken ice, dragging onesledge at a time, and sometimes carrying forward the stores separatelyand going back for the sledges. Two days more gave them eight milesmore, but on the seventh day on this narrow strait, the dragging being alittle better, the great sledge slipped off a smooth hummock, broke onerunner to smash, and "there they were."
If the two officers had a little bit of a "tiff" out there on the ice,with the thermometer at eighteen below, only a little dog-sledge to getthem anywhere, their ship a hundred miles off, fourteen days' travel asthey had come, nobody ever knew it; they kept their secret from us, itis nobody's business, and it is not to be wondered at. Certainly theydid not agree. The Doctor, whose sled, the "James Fitzjames," was stillsound, thought they had best leave the stores and all go back; but theLieutenant, who had the command, did not like to give it up, so he tookthe dogs and the "James Fitzjames" and its two men and went on, leavingthe Doctor on the floe, but giving him directions to go back to landwith the wounded sledge and wait for him to return. And the Doctor didit, like a spirited fellow, travelling back and forth for what he couldnot take in one journey, as the man did in the story who had a peck ofcorn, a goose, and a wolf to get across the river. Over ice, overhummock the Lieutenant went on his way with his dogs, not a bear nor aseal nor a hare nor a wolf to feed them with: preserved meats, whichhad been put up with dainty care for men and women, all he had for theravenous, tasteless creatures, who would have been more pleased withblubber, came to Banks Land at last, but no game there; awful drifts;shut up in the tent for a whole day, and he himself so sick he couldscarcely stand! There were but three of them in all; and the captain ofthe sledge not unnaturally asked poor Pim, when he was at the worst,"What shall I do, sir, if you die?" Not a very comforting question!
He did not die. He got a few hours' sleep, felt better and startedagain, but had the discouragement of finding such tokens of an openstrait the last year that he felt sure that the ship he was going tolook for would be gone. One morning, he had been off for game for thedogs unsuccessfully, and, when he came back to his men, learned thatthey had seen seventeen deer. After them goes Pim; finds them to be_three hares_, magnified by fog and mirage, and their long earsanswering for horns. This same day they got upon the Bay of Mercy. Noship in sight! Right across it goes the Lieutenant to look for records;when, at two in the afternoon, Robert Hoile sees something black up thebay. Through the glass the Lieutenant makes it out to be a ship. Theychange their direction at once. Over the ice towards her! He leaves thesledge at three and goes on. How far it seems! At four he can see peoplewalking about, and a pile of stones and flag-staff on the beach. Keepon, Pim; shall one never get there? At five he is within a hundredyards of her, and no one has seen him. But just then the very personssee him who ought to! Pim beckons, waves his arms as the Esquimaux do insign of friendship. Captain McClure and his lieutenant Haswell are"taking their exercise," the chief business of those winters, and atlast see him! Pim is black as Erebus from the smoke of cooking in thelittle tent. McClure owns, not to surprise only, but to a twinge ofdismay. "I paused in my adv
ance," says he, "doubting who or what itcould be, a denizen of this or the other world." But this only lasts amoment. Pim speaks. Brave man that he can. How his voice must havechoked, as if he were in a dream. "I am Lieutenant Pim, late of'Herald.' Captain Kellett is at Melville Island." Well-chosen words,Pim, to be sent in advance over the hundred yards of floe! Nothing aboutthe "Resolute,"--that would have confused them. But "Pim," "Herald," and"Kellett" were among the last signs of England they had seen,--all thiswas intelligible. An excellent little speech, which the brave man hadbeen getting ready, perhaps, as one does a telegraphic despatch, for thehours that he had been walking over the floe to her. Then such shakinghands, such a greeting. Poor McClure could not speak at first. One ofthe men at work got the news on board; and up through the hatches pouredeverybody, sick and well, to see the black stranger, and to hear hisnews from England. It was nearly three years since they had seen anycivilized man but themselves.
The 28th of July, three years before, Commander McClure had sent hislast despatch to the Admiralty. He had then prophesied just what inthree years he had almost accomplished. In the winter of 1850 he haddiscovered the Northwest Passage. He had come round into one branch ofit, Banks Straits, in the next summer; had gladly taken refuge on theBay of Mercy in a gale; and his ship had never left it since. Let it besaid, in passing, that most likely she is there now. In his lastdespatches he had told the Admiralty not to be anxious about him if hedid not arrive home before the autumn of 1854. As it proved, that autumnhe did come with all his men, except those whom he had sent home before,and those who had died. When Pim found them, all the crew but thirtywere under orders for marching, some to Baffin's Bay, some to theMackenzie River, on their return to England. McClure was going to staywith the rest, and come home with the ship, if they could; if not, bysledges to Port Leopold, and so by a steam-launch which he had seen leftthere for Franklin in 1849. But the arrival of Mr. Pim put an end to allthese plans. We have his long despatch to the Admiralty explaining them,finished only the day before Pim arrived. It gives the history of histhree years' exile from the world,--an exile crowded full of effectivework,--in a record which gives a noble picture of the man. The Queenhas made him Sir Robert Le Mesurier McClure since, in honor of his greatdiscovery.
Banks Land, or Baring Island, the two names belong to the same island,on the shores of which McClure and his men had spent most of these twoyears or more, is an island on which they were first of civilized men toland. For people who are not very particular, the measurement of itwhich we gave before, namely, that it is about the size and shape ofIreland, is precise enough. There is high land in the interior probably,as the winds from in shore are cold. The crew found coal and dwarfwillow which they could burn; lemmings, ptarmigan, hares, reindeer, andmusk-oxen, which they could eat.
"Farewell to the land where I often have wended My way o'er its mountains and valleys of snow; Farewell to the rocks and the hills I've ascended, The bleak arctic homes of the buck and the doe; Farewell to the deep glens where oft has resounded The snow-bunting's song, as she carolled her lay To hillside and plain, by the green sorrel bounded, Till struck by the blast of a cold winter's day."
There is a bit of description of Banks Land, from the anthology of thatcountry, which, so far as we know, consists of two poems by a seamannamed Nelson, one of Captain McClure's crew. The highest temperatureever observed on this "gem of the sea" was 53 deg. in midsummer. The lowestwas 65 deg. below zero in January, 1853; that day the thermometer did notrise to 60 deg. below, that month was never warmer than 16 deg. below, and theaverage of the month was 43 deg. below. A pleasant climate to spend threeyears in!
One day for talk was all that could be allowed, after Mr. Pim's amazingappearance. On the 8th of April, he and his dogs, and Captain McClureand a party, were ready to return to our friend the "Resolute." Theypicked up Dr. Domville on the way; he had got the broken sledge mended,and killed five musk-oxen, against they came along. He went on in thedog-sledge to tell the news, but McClure and his men kept pace withthem; and he and Dr. Domville had the telling of the news together.
It was decided that the "Investigator" should be abandoned, and the"Intrepid" and "Resolute" made room for her men. Glad greeting they gavethem too, as British seamen can give. More than half the crews were awaywhen the "Investigator's" parties came in, but by July everybody hadreturned. They had found islands where the charts had guessed there wassea, and sea where they had guessed there was land; had changedpeninsulas into islands and islands into peninsulas. Away off beyond theseventy eighth parallel, Mr. McClintock had christened the farthest dotof land "Ireland's Eye," as if his native island were peering off intothe unknown there;--a great island, which will be our farthest now, foryears to come, had been named "Prince Patrick's Land," in honor of thebaby prince who was the youngest when they left home. Will he not betempted, when he is a man, to take a crew, like another Madoc, and, asyounger sons of queens should, go and settle upon this temptinggod-child? They had heard from Sir Edward Belcher's part of thesquadron; they had heard from England; had heard of everything but SirJohn Franklin. They had even found an ale-bottle of Captain Collinson'sexpedition,--but not a stick nor straw to show where Franklin or his menhad lived or died. Two officers of the "Investigator" were sent home toEngland this summer by a ship from Beechey Island, the head-quarters;and thus we heard, in October, 1853, of the discovery of the NorthwestPassage.
After their crews were on board again, and the "Investigator's" sixtystowed away also, the "Resolute" and "Intrepid" had a dreary summer ofit. The ice would not break up. They had hunting-parties on shore andraces on the floe; but the captain could not send the "Investigators"home as he wanted to, in his steam tender. All his plans were made, andmade on a manly scale,--if only the ice would open. He built astorehouse on the island for Collinson's people, or for you, reader, andus, if we should happen there, and stored it well, and left thisrecord:--
"This is a house which I have named the 'Sailor's Home,' under the especial patronage of my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
"_Here_ royal sailors and marines are fed, clothed, and receive double pay for inhabiting it."
In that house is a little of everything, and a good deal of victuals anddrink; but nobody has been there since the last of the "Resolute's" mencame away.
At last, the 17th of August, a day of foot-racing and jumping in bagsand wrestling, all hands present, as at a sort of "Isthmian games,"ended with a gale, a cracking up of ice, and the "Investigators" thoughtthey were on their way home, and Kellett thought he was to have a monthof summer yet. But no; "there is nothing certain in this navigation fromone hour to the next." The "Resolute" and "Intrepid" were never reallyfree of ice all that autumn; drove and drifted to and fro in Barrow'sStraits till the 12th of November; and then froze up, without anchoring,off Cape Cockburn, perhaps one hundred and forty miles from their harborof the last winter. The log-book of that winter is a curious record; theingenuity of the officer in charge was well tasked to make one daydiffer from another. Each day has the first entry for "ship's position"thus: "In the floe off Cape Cockburn." And the blank for the secondentry, thus: "In the same position." Lectures, theatricals, schools,&c., whiled away the time; but there could be no autumn travellingparties, and not much hope for discovery in the summer.
Spring came. The captain went over ice in his little dog-sled toBeechey Island, and received his directions to abandon his ships. Itappears that he would rather have sent most of his men forward, and witha small crew brought the "Resolute" home that autumn or the next. ButSir Edward Belcher considered his orders peremptory "that the safety ofthe crews must preclude any idea of extricating the ships." Both shipswere to be abandoned. Two distant travelling parties were away, one atthe "Investigator," one looking for traces of Collinson, which theyfound. Word was left for them, at a proper point, not to seek the shipagain, but to come on to Beechey Island. And at last, having fitted the"Intrepid's" engines so that she could be un
der steam in two hours,having stored both ships with equal proportions of provisions, and madeboth vessels "ready for occupation," the captain calked down thehatches, and with all the crew he had not sent on before,--forty-twopersons in all,--left her Monday, the 15th of May, 1854, and startedwith the sledges for Beechey Island.
Poor old "Resolute"! All this gay company is gone who have made hersides split with their laughter. Here is Harlequin's dress, lying in oneof the wardrooms, but there is nobody to dance Harlequin's dances. "Hereis a lovely clear day,--surely to-day they will come on deck and take ameridian!" No, nobody comes. The sun grows hot on the decks; but it isall one, nobody looks at the thermometer! "And so the poor ship wasleft all alone." Such gay times she has had with all these brave youngmen on board! Such merry winters, such a lightsome summer! So much fun,so much nonsense! So much science and wisdom, and now it is all sostill! Is the poor "Resolute" conscious of the change? Does she miss theraces on the ice, the scientific lecture every Tuesday, the occasionalracket and bustle of the theatre, and the worship of every Sunday? Hasnot she shared the hope of Captain Kellett, of McClure, and of the crew,that she may _break out well!_ She sees the last sledge leave her. Thecaptain drives off his six dogs,--vanishes over the ice, and they areall gone "Will they not come back again?" says the poor ship. And shelooks wistfully across the ice to her little friend the steam tender"Intrepid," and she sees there is no one there. "Intrepid! Intrepid!have they really deserted us? We have served them so well, and have theyreally left us alone? A great many were away travelling last year, butthey came home. Will not any of these come home now?" No, poor"Resolute"! Not one of them ever came back again! Not one of them meantto. Summer came. August came. No one can tell how soon, but some day orother this her icy prison broke up, and the good ship found herself onher own element again; shook herself proudly, we cannot doubt, noddedjoyfully across to the "Intrepid," and was free. But alas! there was nomaster to take latitude and longitude, no helmsman at the wheel. Inclear letters cast in brass over her helm there are these words,"England expects each man to do his duty." But here is no man to heedthe warning, and the rudder flaps this way and that way, no longerdirecting her course, but stupidly swinging to and fro. And she driftshere and there,--drifts out of sight of her little consort,--strands ona bit of ice floe now, and then is swept off from it,--and findsherself, without even the "Intrepid's" company, alone on these blue seaswith those white shores. But what utter loneliness! Poor "Resolute "!She longed for freedom,--but what is freedom where there is no law? Whatis freedom without a helmsman! And the "Resolute" looks back so sadly tothe old days when she had a master. And the short bright summer passes.And again she sees the sun set from her decks. And now even her topmastssee it set. And now it does not rise to her deck. And the next day itdoes not rise to her topmast. Winter and night together! She has knownthem before! But now it is winter and night and loneliness all together.This horrid ice closes up round her again. And there is no one to bringher into harbor,--she is out in the open sound. If the ice drifts west,she must go west. If it goes east, she must east. Her seeming freedom isover, and for that long winter she is chained again. But her heart istrue to old England. And when she can go east, she is so happy! and whenshe must go west, she is so sad! Eastward she does go! Southward shedoes go! True to the instinct which sends us all home, she tracksundirected and without a sail fifteen hundred miles of that sea, withouta beacon, which separates her from her own. And so goes a dismal year."Perhaps another spring they will come and find me out, and fix thingsbelow. It is getting dreadfully damp down there; and I cannot keep theguns bright and the floors dry," No, good old "Resolute." May and Junepass off the next year, and nobody comes; and here you are all alone outin the bay, drifting in this dismal pack. July and August,--the days aregrowing shorter again. "Will nobody come and take care of me, and cutoff these horrid blocks of ice, and see to these sides of bacon in thehold, and all these mouldy sails, and this powder, and the bread and thespirit that I have kept for them so well? It is September, and the sunbegins to set again. And here is another of those awful gales. Will itbe my very last? all alone here,--who have done so much,--and if theywould only take care of me I can do so much more. Will nobody come?Nobody?.... What! Is it ice blink,--are my poor old lookouts blind? Isnot there the 'Intrepid'? Dear 'Intrepid,' I will never look down on youagain! No! there is no smoke-stack, it is not the 'Intrepid.' But it issomebody. Pray see me, good somebody. Are you a Yankee whaler? I am gladto see the Yankee whalers, I remember the Yankee whalers verypleasantly. We had a happy summer together once.... It will be dreadfulif they do not see me! But this ice, this wretched ice! They do seeme,--I know they see me, but they cannot get at me. Do not go away, goodYankees; pray come and help me. I know I can get out, if you will help alittle.... But now it is a whole week and they do not come! Are thereany Yankees, or am I getting crazy? I have heard them talk of crazy oldships, in my young days.... No! I am not crazy. They are coming! theyare coming. Brave Yankees! over the hummocks, down into the sludge. Donot give it up for the cold. There is coal below, and we will have afire in the Sylvester, and in the captain's cabin.... There is a horridlane of water. They have not got a Halkett. O, if one of these boats ofmine would only start for them, instead of lying so stupidly on my deckhere! But the men are not afraid of water! See them ferry over on thatice block! Come on, good friends! Welcome, whoever you be,--Dane, Dutch,French, or Yankee, come on! come on! It is coming up a gale, but I canbear a gale. Up the side, men. I wish I could let down the gangwayalone. But here are all these blocks of ice piled up,--you can scrambleover them! Why do you stop? Do not be afraid. I will make you verycomfortable and jolly. Do not stay talking there. Pray come in. There isport in the captain's cabin, and a little preserved meat in the pantry.You must be hungry; pray come in! O, he is coming, and now all four arecoming. It would be dreadful if they had gone back! They are on deck.Now I shall go home! How lonely it has been!"
It was true enough that when Mr. Quail, the brother of the captain ofthe "McLellan," whom the "Resolute" had befriended, the mate of theGeorge Henry, whaler, whose master, Captain Buddington, had discoveredthe "Resolute" in the ice, came to her after a hard day's journey withhis men, the men faltered with a little superstitious feeling, andhesitated for a minute about going on board. But the poor lonely shipwooed them too lovingly, and they climbed over the broken ice and cameon deck. She was lying over on her larboard side, with a heavy weight ofice holding her down. Hatches and companion were made fast, as CaptainKellett had left them. But, knocking open the companion, groping downstairs to the after cabin they found their way to the captain's table;somebody put his hand on a box of lucifers, struck a light, andrevealed--books scattered in confusion, a candle standing, which helighted at once, the glasses and the decanters from which Kellett andhis officers had drunk good by to the vessel. The whalemen filled themagain, and undoubtedly felt less discouraged. Meanwhile night came on,and a gale arose. So hard did it blow, that for two days these four werethe whole crew of the "Resolute," and it was not till the 19th ofSeptember that they returned to their own ship, and reported what theirprize was.
All these ten days, since Captain Buddington had first seen her, thevessels had been nearing each other. On the 19th he boarded her himself;found that in her hold, on the larboard side, was a good deal of ice; onthe starboard side there seemed to be water. In fact, her tanks hadburst from the extreme cold; and she was full of water, nearly to herlower deck. Everything that could move from its place had moved;everything was wet; everything that would mould was mouldy. "A sort ofperspiration" settled on the beams above. Clothes were wringing wet. Thecaptain's party made a fire in Captain Kellett's stove, and soon starteda sort of shower from the vapor with which it filled the air. The"Resolute" has, however, four fine force-pumps. For three days thecaptain and six men worked fourteen hours a day on one of these, and hadthe pleasure of finding that they freed her of water,--that she wastight still. They cut away upon the masses of ice; and on the 23d ofSepte
mber, in the evening, she freed herself from her encumbrances, andtook an even keel. This was off the west shore of Baffin's Bay, inlatitude 67 deg.. On the shortest tack she was twelve hundred miles fromwhere Captain Kellett left her.
There was work enough still to be done. The rudder was to be shipped,the rigging to be made taut, sail to be set; and it proved, by the way,that the sail on the yards was much of it still serviceable, while asuit of new linen sails below were greatly injured by moisture. In aweek more they had her ready to make sail. The pack of ice still driftedwith both ships; but on the 21st of October, after a long northwestgale, the "Resolute" was free,--more free than she had been for morethan two years.
Her "last voyage" is almost told. Captain Buddington had resolved tobring her home. He had picked ten men from the "George Henry," leavingher fifteen, and with a rough tracing of the American coast drawn on asheet of foolscap, with his lever watch and a quadrant for hisinstruments, he squared off for New London. A rough, hard passage theyhad of it. The ship's ballast was gone, by the bursting of the tanks;she was top-heavy and under manned. He spoke a British whaling bark, andby her sent to Captain Kellett his epaulettes, and to his own ownersnews that he was coming. They had heavy gales and head winds, weredriven as far down as the Bermudas; the water left in the ship's tankswas brackish, and it needed all the seasoning which the ship's chocolatewould give to make it drinkable. "For sixty hours at a time," says thespirited captain, "I frequently had no sleep"; but his perseverance wascrowned with success at last, and on the night of the 23d-24th ofDecember he made the light off the magnificent harbor from which hesailed; and on Sunday morning, the 24th, dropped anchor in the Thames,opposite _New_ London, ran up the royal ensign on the shorn masts of the"Resolute," and the good people of the town knew that he and his weresafe, and that one of the victories of peace was won.
As the fine ship lies opposite the piers of that beautiful town, sheattracts visitors from everywhere, and is, indeed, a very remarkablecuriosity. Seals were at once placed, and very properly, on thecaptain's book-cases, lockers, and drawers, and wherever privateproperty might be injured by wanton curiosity, and two keepers are onduty on the vessel, till her destination is decided. But nothing ischanged from what she was when she came into harbor. And, from stem tostern, every detail of her equipment is a curiosity, to the sailor or tothe landsman. The candlestick in the cabin is not like a Yankeecandlestick. The hawse hole for the chain cable is fitted as has notbeen seen before. And so of everything between. There is the aspect ofwet over everything now, after months of ventilation;--the rifles, whichwere last fired at musk-oxen in Melville Island, are red with rust, asif they had lain in the bottom of the sea; the volume of Shakespeare,which you find in an officer's berth, has a damp feel, as if you hadbeen reading it in the open air in a March north-easter. The old seamenlook with most amazement, perhaps, on the preparations foramusement,--the juggler's cups and balls, or Harlequin's spangled dress;the quiet landsman wonders at the gigantic ice-saws, at the cast-offcanvas boots, the long thick Arctic stockings. It seems almost wrong togo into Mr. Hamilton's wardroom, and see how he arranged his soap-cupand his tooth-brush; and one does not tell of it, if he finds on a blankleaf the secret prayer a sister wrote down for the brother to whom shegave a prayer-book. There is a good deal of disorder now,--thanks to hersudden abandonment, and perhaps to her three months' voyage home. Alittle union-jack lies over a heap of unmended and unwashedunderclothes; when Kellett left the ship, he left his country's flagover his arm-chair as if to keep possession. Two officers' swords and apair of epaulettes were on the cabin table. Indeed, what is there notthere,--which should make an Arctic winter endurable,--make a long nightinto day,--or while long days away?
The ship is stanch and sound. The "last voyage" which we have describedwill not, let us hope, be the last voyage of her career. But wherevershe goes, under the English flag or under our own, she will scarcelyever crowd more adventure into one cruise than into that which sealedthe discovery of the Northwest Passage; which gave new lands to England,nearest to the pole of all she has; which spent more than a year, no manknows where, self-governed and unguided; and which, having begun underthe strict _regime_ of the English navy, ended under the remarkablemutual rules, adopted by common consent, on the business of Americanwhalemen.
Is it not worth noting that in this chivalry of Arctic adventure, theships which have been wrecked have been those of the fight or horror?They are the "Fury," the "Victory," the "Erebus," the "Terror." But theships which never failed their crews,--which, for all that man knows,are as sound now as ever,--bear the names of peaceful adventure; the"Hecla," the "Enterprise," and "Investigator," the "Assistance" and"Resolute," the "Pioneer" and "Intrepid," and our "Advance" and "Rescue"and "Arctic," never threatened any one, even in their names. And theynever failed the men who commanded them or who sailed in them.
The Man Without a Country, and Other Tales Page 7