again sent out. Commander Ross pro ceeded northward in search of a western opening but found none. Captain Ross and other officers went in other directions. The most important journey, however, was a later one performed by Commander Ross in search of the Magnetic Pole. Calculations had been made by the learned, which placed this interesting spot in latitude 70 north, and longitude 98 30' west, and it was one of the objects of this voyage to discover the spot. In Commander Ross's journey the previous year, he passed within ten miles of it, but had not instruments with him to make the requisite experiments. "To this point, therefore, he directed his course. The journey was tedious and laborious, not only from the rigor of the season, and the ruggedness of the surface, but from the care with which he examined the country." On the 1st of June, he reached the spot where his own calculations fixed the Magnetic Pole, which was 70°5' 17 north, and longitude 96° 46' 45 west. The instruments were put in motion and the amount of the dip of the needle found to be 890 59', being only one minute less than 90°, the vertical position, which would precisely have indicated the polar station; and the horizontal needles when suspended in the most delicate manner possible, did not shew the slightest tendency to move. He looked in vain for some object to mark the spot. "Nature had here erected no monument to denote the spot which she had chosen as the centre of one of her great and dark powers Commander Ross erected a pile of stones and returned to the ship. The summer of 1831 now arrived, and on the 29th of August the ship left her winter quarters. She was soon stopped by adverse winds and bad weather. A snow storm came on with a heavy gale, and they again found themselves completely surrounded with masses of ice. They watched an opportunity to escape through any channels in the ice that might be presented, but they watched in vain. On the 14th of September they were enabled to take exercise by skating on the new ice which had formed around them. A few days later, all hope of escape vanished and they found themselves fixed in the ice for a third winter, but four miles from their late winter station. "The spirits of the adventurers now began to droop in earnest. They soon became sensible that, at all events, it would be perilous to wait another season in the hope of extricating the vessel, in which they could never return to England, and had no alternative but to abandon her amid the Arctic regions. Their only means of escape was to proceed in boats, or draw them over the ice, to the wreck of the Fury, when after supplying themselves with a fresh stock of provisions out of her stores, they might reach Davis's Straits, and return in one of the whale ships." Up to this time the whole party had enjoyed excellent health. Now, the scurvy began to shew itself; yet the long and tedious winter was passed much as in previous years, and the spring found them ready to abandon their vessel. The stores of the Fury lay 180 miles off, in a direct line; but the windings which it would be necessary to make, increased the journey to 300 miles. There was no other hope of escape left for them but to reach these stores, and they determined to make the attempt. On the 23d of April 1832, they commenced the labor of carrying their provisions, clothing and boats over the ice; but it was impossible to carry all, except by making many journeys. ing many journeys. By the 21st of May they had accomplished but 30 miles distance to reach which their journey amounted to 329 miles. On leaving the Victory for the last time, they hoisted her colors, nailed them to the mast, and drank a parting glass to her. After the most fatiguing and incessant labor, in transporting their boats to a safe and accessible point, they made their way with their stores to Fury Beach, which they reached on the 1st July. They now set to work, and built a house of canvas for their residence, until the ice permitted their leaving. The boats were next repaired and fitted; and they now awaited the moment when some channels of water would permit them to set out on their voyage. On the 1st of August there was an open sea to a considerable distance when they embarked, but the dangers to which they were constantly exposed from the masses of floating ice, obliged them often to seek the beach for safety. On the 29th of August they reached Barrow's Strait, where they landed and pitched their tents. They attempted to run along the shore of the Strait with their boats but found it impossible. The whole Strait was firmly closed with ice, and had been so during the whole summer. Ascending the neighboring mountains, they saw an impenetrable barrier of ice before them, and that it would be impossible to reach the sea eastward. To return to Fury Beach was their only hope. On the 24th of September they retraced their steps, but were only able to get half-way in their boats, when they were stopped by the ice. They now hauled them high up on the beach for safety, where they left them; put their provision on sledges, and made their way to Fury Beach where they arrived on the 7th of October. Stoves soon reached Barrow's Strait which they found open and navigable though obstructed with floating ice. They made rapid progress until contrary winds met them, which detained them four days. On the 25th they made Navy Board Inlet where they landed for the night. The next morning a sail was seen. Signals were made but she did not descry them. A breeze sprang up and the sail soon vanished from their sight. A second soon after appeared. The weather became calm, when by hard rowing the boats approached so near that their signals were discovered. A boat was now seen coming from the ship, and on approaching, the mate asked them if they wanted aid, supposing them to be the crew of a whaleman, who had lost their vessel. On being asked by Captain Ross where their ship was from and her name, they replied that it was the Isabella of Hull, formerly commanded by Captain Ross. On being told that this gentleman stood before them, they replied that it must be a mistake, as he had been dead at least two years. Captain Ross soon satisfied them of the reality, when they hastened to the ship where he and his party received a most cordial reception. Every man was hungry, and had to be fed; all were ragged and were to be clothed; it was washing, dressing, shav As the frail canvas house was to be their abode for the fourth winter, which had already set in with severity, they endeavored to make it comfortable by covering, and raising walls of snow around it. were set up and a temperature of 51° maintained. "But the winter as it advanced, proved one of great severity; and the slight walls could no longer keep up a comfortable heat." For food they were pretty well off. The stores of the Fury furnished them with a reduced allowance of pre-ing, eating, all intermingled." Then came served meats; but plenty of flour, sugar, soups, and vegetables. In February, the carpenter died of scurvy, and many of the seamen were attacked with the same disease. Their situation was now becoming awful, and unless liberated in the approaching summer, death was inevitable. In April and May they carried forward to their boats a supply of provisions. To accomplish this many journeys were necessary, as in the previous year; and, although the distance to their boats was but 32 miles, their journeyings amounted to 256 miles. Having effected this, they returned to their canvas house where they remained until the Sth of July, when they set off, carrying with them the sick, and in four days reached their boat station. Here they anxiously awaited the breaking up of the ice. On the 15th of August a lane of water appearing, they launched their boats, embarked their provisions and stores, and got under way with a fair wind. They a thousand questions and the news of what had transpired in the world during their four years' absence. On the 13th of September they fell in with the fleet of whalers on the fishing ground, when all the captains came on board to welcome them, bringing presents from their stores. On the 30th, the fishery being no longer practicable, the Isabella left Davis's Straits, and on the 12th October reached Strom ness. The news of the arrival of Captain Ross spread like lightning through the served that, notwithstanding the great hard- | during the four years and a half they were ships and exposure of the officers and men | absent, but two deaths took place. CAPTAIN BACK'S JOURNEY TO THE POLAR SEA. 1833-4-5. CAPTAIN Back was sent out by the British government at the head of an expedition in search of Captain John Ross, who had then been absent four years, and for the safety of whose party, great fears were entertained. He left England in February 1833, and following the route of Captain Franklin, with whom he had been associated in his two land journeys, reached the eastern shore of Great Slave Lake, where he took up his winter quarters. The winter proved a severe one; and besides taking care of his own party, he was obliged to sustain a party of Indians which had reached his dwelling in a state of starvation. In April 1834, while preparing for his journey northward, Captain Back received despatches from England informing him of the return of Captain Ross. Nevertheless, agreeable to instructions, he made a journey to the Polar Sea by following a large stream, abounding in cataracts, since known as Back's River. He was unable to trace but little of the shore of the sea, and after many hardships, made his way back to his winter quarters. In the following year, he returned by the route he came, to England. CAPTAIN BACK'S ATTEMPT TO REACH REPULSE BAY. 1836-37. THE object of this voyage was the same as that on which Captain Lyon had been employed in 1824. Captain Back's instructions were to proceed to Wager River or Repulse Bay, as he should find most expedient. On arriving there he was to leave his ship with an officer to be employed in making surveys and observations, and proceed with a large party across the intervening land to the Eastern shore of Prince Regent's Inlet. It was then to divide; one party to trace the shore of this inlet northward, while the other was to follow the coast line westward to the mouth of Back's River, and thence to Point Turnagain of Franklin. The ship Terror was selected for the expedition, and a total of 73 officers and men made up the party. They left England on the 14th of June, 1836, and on the 28th of July, crossed Davis' Strait. On the 5th of September, they had reached lat. 65 25' opposite to Frozen Strait in Fox Channel, when they became fixed in the ice. The ship was tossed about among the broken ice for several weeks until a large floe or mass, got beneath her bottom and raised her high out of the water. Huge blocks of ice, and gigantic icebergs, attached themselves to, or were thrown upon the floe, while the ship lay in her icy cradle, unable, with all the efforts of her crew, to extricate herself from this dangerous position. November came, and finding themselves permanently fixed, Captain Back made his winter arrangements. Galleries and walls of ice and snow, were built around the ship for places of shelter as well as to protect her from the wind. This gave employment to, and furnished amusement for the men. But their situation was a dreadful one. At times, huge floes and icebergs were driven upon them by severe gales, crushing and grinding the floe or ice-island to which they were bound, threatening every moment to involve them all in a common destruction. In this situation they were tossed about at the mercy of the winds and waves during the whole winter. On one occasion they were driven near the rocky cliffs which bound these dreary and inhospitable seas, expecting to share the fate of the icy, masses which rushed by them, and were ground to atoms against the cliffs. But on they floated. Late in February, "the crashing of the ice, the hoarse rushing sound, and the severe shocks against the ship" indicated a change, and it was soon found that a rent had been made in the ice, forming a continuous line of separation directly through the centre of the floe on which the ship was mounted. "The ship now began to complain, and strained considerably under the counter. She then heeled over to port, and relieved herself about six inches from the starboard embankment against the side, making by the effort, gaping rents through the snow walls. At this time, the crashing, grinding, and rushing walls beneath, as well as at the borders of the floe, the rents and cracks in all directions toward the ship, herself suffering much, the freezing cold of 33° below zero, combined to render our situation not a little perilous and uncomfortable." But the Terror was not now to be liberated. The ice gave way in part, only to give place to other floes and masses, which hemmed her in on every side, and were piled up around her in the same icy cradle in which she had so long been rocked. Away was she borne again in the midst of the ocean, enveloped in fogs and snow, her compasses useless, no one knew whither. The boats were several times got in readiness, and arrangements made in case of necessity to embark in them as a last resort, but they were mercifully spared this crisis. In this state the ship remained until the 11th of July, when the ice was again rent asunder, and "a loud rumbling notified that she had broke her icy bounds, and was sliding down gently into her own element." "I know not," says Back, "how many cheers commemorated the occasion. It was a scene not to be forgotten by the spectators." The ship "crazy, broken, and leaky" as she was, now made her way to England as fast as possible, where she arrived in safety. This sketch of the various Arctic Expeditions should not be concluded without mentioning the important services rendered by Messrs. Dease and Simpson. These gentlemen fitted out a boat expedition under the direction of the Hudson Bay Company, with which they completed the discovery and survey of the shores of the Arctic Sea, by connecting the discoveries of Franklin and Beechey west of Mackenzie's River, and those of Franklin, Back, and Ross, east of Coppermine River. These gentlemen made the longest voyage in boats, ever performed in the Arctic Seas. The explorations and discoveries of Dr. Rae about Repulse Bay and Boothia completing the survey of the shores about these regions are also of importance, and deserve to be mentioned here. SIR JOHN FRANKLIN'S EXPEDITION, 1845-6-7-8-9-50. coast of America, ought not to be abandoned, after so much has been done, and so little now remains to be done, and that with our present knowledge no reasonable doubt can be entertained that the accomplishment of so desirable an object is practicable. A brief sketch then follows of what had been accomplished by the several Polar expeditions: "It may be presumed, therefore, that a distance of 300 leagues on a clear sea, keeping midway between Banks' Land and the coast of America, would accomplish an object which, at intervals during 300 years, has engaged the attention of crowned heads, men of science, Considerable discretionary power was and mercantile bodies, whose expectations given to Sir John Franklin, notwithstandwere frequently disappointed, but not discouring these instructions, for they continue: * * * Furthermore, Sir John aged." The plan received a favorable consideration, and after a little consultation was adopted. Sir John Franklin had but just returned from Van Dieman's Land on the opposite side of the globe, having been governor of that colony for several years, and was at once given the command of the expedition. The ships selected were the Erebus and Terror. His second in command was Captain Crozier, (who accompanied Captain Ross in his Antartic expedition.) These, with 136 officers, seamen and marines made up the party. This expedition left England on the 19th of May 1845. In an undertaking of this description, much must always be left to the discretion of the commanding officer; and as the objects of this expedition have been fully explained to you, and you already have had much experience on service of this nature, we are convinced that we cannot do better than leave it to your judgment, in the event of your not making a passage this season, either to winter on the coast, with the view of following up next season any hopes or expectations which your observations this year may lead you to entertain, or to return to England to report to us the result of such observations, always recollecting an anxiety for the health, comfort, and safety of yourself, your officers and men; and you will duly weigh how far the advantage of starting next season for an advanced position may be counterbalanced by what may be suffered during the winter, and by the want of such refreshment and refitting as would be afforded on your return to England." On the 26th July 1845, these ships were seen moored to an iceberg, in latitude 74° 48', longitude 66° 13' W., a point near by the middle of Baffin's Bay, and opposite Lancaster Sound, no doubt waiting for an opening through the floating or "Middle Ice," which is always found in this bay. This was the last seen of the ships. Their official instructions were to proceed up Lancaster Sound and Barrow's Strait to Cape Walker, a point noticed by Captain Parry from which the land trended southward. If an opening presented here, they were to avail themselves of it, and push on towards Behring's Strait. In case this course proved impracticable, their orders then were, to attempt the openings at the north of Barrow's Strait, particularly Wel-ed by the various whaling vessels. lington Channel, if it should be clear of ice, as it was when Captain Parry passed in his first voyage. He was then directed to proceed westward towards Behring's Strait. The probability is that the middle ice was passed, and that the ships entered Lancaster Sound; but what course they took afterwards is, of course, not known. No trace has been found of them on the shores visit To accomplish this, it was believed that three years would suffice; and in case the expedition should be unsuccessful, the same period would be required in their endeavors to penetrate the several passages referred to. Provisions for three years were accordingly placed on board, and everything which could tend to the comfort and health of the party was added. The ships, too, were made strong, that they might withstand the pressure from the ice to which they would be subjected, and the most approved means were adopted to warm and ventilate them. In the year 1848, no tidings having been received from Sir John Franklin, the British Admiralty and the friends of the intrepid navigator, determined to send out vessels for his succor. Three expeditions were accordingly equipped by the Government, to be dispatched in different directions. The first vessel which sailed was the Plover, under Captain Moore. She left England on the 31st January, 1848, expecting to reach Behring's Strait by August, which would have given time for two months' exploration of the Arctic Sea. But proving a bad sailer, she only reached the Sandwich Islands on the 22d August, a period too late to make the attempt. Capt. Moore accordingly proceeded to the |
