menu_book Chapter 40

celebrated travels and travellers volume three the great explorers and travellers of the nineteenth century by jules verne second part chapter three part two the north pole one anjou and wrangel powyna john ross's first expedition baffin's bay closed edward parry's discoveries on his first voyage the survey of hudson's bay and the discovery of fury and hecla straits parry's third voyage fourth voyage on the ice in sledges in the open sea franklin's first trip incredible sufferings of the explorers second expedition john ross four winters amongst the ice these and simpson's expedition we have more than once alluded to the great impulse given to geographical science by peter i one of the earliest results of this impulse was the discovery by bearing of the straits separating asia from america and the most important was the survey thirty years later of the lyakov archipelago or new siberia in seventeen seventy a merchant named lyakov noticed a large herd of reindeer coming across the ice from the north and he reflected that they could only come from a country where there were pastures enough to support them

a month later he started in a sledge and after a journey of fifty miles he discovered between the mouths of the lena and indigirka three large islands the vast deposits of fossil ivory which have since become celebrated all over the world in eighteen o nine had received instructions to make a map of this new discovery he made several attempts to cross the frozen ocean on a sledge but was always turned back by ice which would not bear him he came to the conclusion that there must be an open sea beyond and he founded this opinion on the immense quantity of warm water which flows into the arctic ocean from the great rivers of asia in march eighteen twenty one lieutenant afterwards admiral anjou crossed the ice to within forty-two miles of the north of the island of cotelnoi and in the northern latitude seventy six degrees thirty eight minutes saw a vapour which led him to believe in the existence of an open sea in a second trip he actually saw this sea with its drifting ice and came back convinced of the impossibility of going further in a sledge on account of the thinness of the ice

whilst anjou was thus employed another naval officer lieutenant wrangel collected some important traditions about the existence of land the other side of cape yakan from a chukchi chief he learned that in fine weather though never in the winter from the coast and some reefs at the mouth of a river mountains covered with snow could be seen far away in the north and that in former days when the sea was frozen over reindeer used to come from there the chief had himself once seen a herd of reindeer on their way back to the north by this route and he had followed them in a sledge for a whole day until the state of the ice compelled him to give up the experiment his father had told him too that a chukchi had once gone there with a few companions in a skin-boat but he did not know what they had discovered or what had become of them he was sure that the land in the north was inhabited because a dead whale had once been washed on to the aratane island with spears tipped with slate in its flesh and the chukchis never used such weapons

these facts were very curious and they increased wrangel's desire to penetrate to the unknown northern districts but the truth of all the rumours was not verified until our own day between eighteen twenty and eighteen twenty four made four expeditions in sledges from the mouth of the kouima which he made his headquarters first exploring the coast to cape chalakskoy and enduring thirty-five degrees of cold and in his second trip trying how far he could go across the ice an experiment resulting in a journey of four hundred miles from land in the third year eighteen twenty two wrangel started in march with a view to verifying the report of a native who said he had seen land in the offing he now came to an ice-field on which he advanced safely for a long distance when it began to be less compact and was soon not solid enough to bear many sledges so two small ones were selected on which were packed a wherry some planks and some tools the explorer then ventured on some melting ice which broke under his feet at the outset says wrangel i had to make way for seven worsts across a bed of brine further on appeared a surface furrowed with great crevasses which we could only succeed in clearing by the help of our planks

i noticed in this part several small mounds of ice in such a liquefying condition that the slightest touch would suffice to break it and convert the mound into a round slough the ice upon which we were travelling was without consistency was but a fruit in thickness and what was more was riddled with holes i could only compare the appearance of the sea at this stage to an immense morass and indeed the muddy water which issued from these thousands of crevasses opening up in every direction the melting snow mixed with earth and sand those little mounds whence numerous streamlets were issuing all these combined to make the illusion perfect wrangel had advanced some one hundred and forty miles and it was the open sea or the pohynia as he calls vast expanses of water north of siberia the outskirts of which he had reached the same in fact as that already cited by leontiev in seventeen sixty four and heddenstrem in eighteen ten on his fourth voyage wrangel and his small party of followers started from cape yacan the nearest point to the arctic regions and after passing cape chelakskoi made for the north but a violent storm broke up the ice there only three feet thick and involved the explorers in the greatest danger now dragged across some large unbroken slab now wet to the waist on a moving plank sometimes above and sometimes under water

or moored to a block serving as a ferry-boat which the swimming dogs dragged along they at last succeeded in crossing the shifting reverberating ice and regaining the land owning their life to the strength and agility of their teams of dogs alone thus closed the last attempt made to reach the districts north of siberia the arctic calot was meanwhile being attacked from the other side with equal energy and yet more perseverance it will be remembered with what untiring enthusiasm the famous north-west passage had been sought no sooner had the peace of eighteen fifteen necessitated the disarmament of numerous english vessels and set free their officers on half pay than the admiralty unwilling to let experienced seamen rust in idleness sought for them some employment it was under these circumstances that the search for the north-west passage was resumed the alexander two hundred and fifty two tons and the isabel three hundred and eighty five under command of the experienced officers john ross and lieutenant parry with james ross back and belcher who were to win honours in arctic exploration amongst their subordinates

were sent by the government to explore baffin's bay and set sail on the eighteenth of april after touching at the shetland islands and seeking in vain for the submerged land seen by baas in northern latitude fifty seven degrees twenty eight minutes the explorers came on the twenty sixth of may to the first ice and on the second of june sarvede the western coast of greenland hitherto very imperfectly laid down in maps finding it greatly encumbered in ice indeed the governor of the dutch settlement of whale island told them that the severity of the winter months had been steadily increasing during the eleven years of his residence in the country hitherto it had been supposed that the country was uninhabited beyond seventy-five degrees northern latitude and the travellers were therefore greatly surprised to see a whole tribe of esquimaux arriving by way of the ice they knew nothing of any race but their own and stared at the english without daring to touch them one of them even addressing to the vessels in a grave and solemn voice the inquiries who are you whence do you come from the sun or from the moon

although in many respects far inferior to the esquimaux who had been to some extent civilized by long intercourse with europeans the new-comers understood the use of iron of which a few of them had even succeeded in making knives this iron as far as the english could gather was dug out of a mountain it was probably of meteoric origin as public opinion in england subsequently confirmed ross in spite of qualities as a naval officer of the highest order showed extraordinary apathy and levity on this voyage appearing not to trouble himself in the least about the geographical problems for the solution of which the expedition was organised he passed wollstoneholm and whale sounds and smith's strait opening out of baffin's bay without examining them the last named at so great a distance that he did not even recognize it still worse than that was his conduct later cruising down the western shores of buffins bay a long deep gulf no less than fifty miles across gradually came in sight of the eager explorers yet when on the twenty ninth of august the two vessels had sailed up it for thirty miles only ross gave orders to tuck about on the ground that he distinctly saw at the further end a chain of lofty mountains to which he gave the name of crocker

his officers did not share his opinion they could not see so much as the slightest sign of a hill for the very excellent reason that the gulf they had entered was really lancaster sound so named by baffin and connecting his bay with the western arctic ocean the same sort of thing occurred again and again in this voyage along this deeply indented coast the vessels keeping so far off shore that not a detail could be made out thus it came about that cumberland bay was passed on the first of october without any survey of that most important feature of davis strait and ross returned to england having literally turned his back on the glory awaiting him when accused of apathy and neglect of duty ross replied with supreme indifference i trust as i believe myself that the objects of the voyage have been in every important point accomplished that i have proved the existence of a bay from disco to cumberland strait and set at rest for ever the question of a north-west passage in this direction it would have been impossible to make a more complete mistake

but fortunately the failure of this expedition did not in the least discourage other explorers some saw in it a brilliant confirmation of the venerable baffin's discovery others looked upon the innumerable inlets with their deep waters and strong currents as something more than mere bays they were straits and all hope of the discovery of the north-west passage was not yet lost these suggestions so far waited with the english admiralty as to lead to the equipment of two small vessels the bomb-vessel hecla and the brigantine griper which left the thumbs on the fifth of may eighteen nineteen under command of lieutenant william parry whose opinion as to the existence of the north-west passage had not coincided with that of his chief the vessels reached lancaster sound without meeting with any special adventures and after a delay of seven days amongst the ice which encumbered the sea at the distance of eighty miles they entered the supposed bay shut in by a mountain chain of john ross to find not only that this mountain chain did not exist but that the bay was a strait more than three hundred and ten fathoms deep where the influence of the tide could be felt

the temperature of the water rose some ten degrees and in the course of a single day no less than eighty full-grown whales were seen on the thirty first of july the explorers landed on the shores of possession bay visited by them the previous year and found there their own footprints a sign of the small quantity of snow and hoar-frost which had fallen during the winter all hearts beat high when with a favourable wind and all sails set the two vessels entered lancaster sound it is more easy says perry to imagine than to describe the almost breathless anxiety which was now visible in every countenance while as the breeze continued to a fresh gale we ran quickly up the sound the mast-heads were crowded by the officers and men during the whole afternoon and an unconcerned observer if any could be unconcerned on such an occasion would have been amused by the eagerness with which the various reports from the crow's nest were received the two coasts extended in a parallel line as far as the eye could reach that is to say for a distance exceeding fifty miles and the height of the waves together with the absence of ice

combined to convince the english that they had reached the open sea by way of the long-sought passage when an island framed in masses of ice checked their further progress an arm of the sea however some twelve leagues wide opened on the south and by it the explorers hoped to find a passage less encumbered by ice strange to say as they had advanced in a westerly direction through lancaster sound the vibrations of the pendulum had increased whilst now it appeared to have lost all motion and we now therefore witnessed for the first time the curious phenomenon of the directive power of the needle becoming so weak as to be completely overcome by the attraction of the ship so that the needle might now be properly set to point to the north pole of the ship the arm of the sea widened as the vessels advanced in a westerly direction and the shores seemed to bend sensibly towards the southwest but after making some one hundred and twenty miles further progress was again barred by ice the explorers therefore returned to burrows strait of which lancaster sound is but the entry and once more entered the sea now free from the ice by which it had been encumbered a few days previously

in western longitude ninety two degrees one minute and four seconds was discovered an inlet called wellington channel about eight leagues wide entirely free from ice and apparently not bounded by any land the existence of these numerous straits led the explorers to the conclusion that they were in the midst of a vast archipelago an opinion daily receiving fresh confirmation the dense fogs however made navigation difficult and the number of little islands and shallows increased whilst the ice became more compact parry however was not to be deterred from pressing on towards the west and presently his sailors found on a large island to which the name of butthurst was given the remains of some esquimo huts and traces of the former presence of reindeer magnetic observations were now taken pointing to the conclusion that the magnetic pole had been passed on the north another large island that of melville soon came in sight and in spite of the fogs and ice the expedition succeeded in passing western longitude one hundred and ten degrees thus earning the reward of one hundred pounds sterling promised by the english government

a promontory near melville island was named cape munificence whilst a good harbour close by was called hecla and griper bay it was in winter harbour at the end of this bay that the vessels passed the winter dismantled for the most part says parry the yards however being laid for walls and roofed in with thick wading tilts they were sheltered from the snow whilst stoves and ovens were fixed inside hunting was useless and resulted in nothing but the frost-biting of the limbs of some of the hunters as melville island was deserted at the end of october by all animals except wolves and foxes to get through the long winter without dying of ennui was no easy matter but the officers hit upon the plan of setting up a theatre the first representation in which was given on the sixth of november the day of the disappearance of the sun for three months a special piece was given on christmas day in which allusion was made to the situation of the vessel and a weekly paper was started called the north georgia gazette and winter chronicle which with sabine as editor ran into twenty-one numbers all printed on the return to europe of the expedition

in january scrofula broke out and with such virulence as to cause considerable alarm but the evil was soon checked by skilful treatment and the daily distribution of mustard and cress which parry had managed to grow in boxes round his stove the