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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/30039-8.txt b/30039-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1736757 --- /dev/null +++ b/30039-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3761 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Adventurers of the Far North, by Stephen Leacock + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Adventurers of the Far North + A Chronicle of the Frozen Seas + +Author: Stephen Leacock + +Release Date: September 20, 2009 [EBook #30039] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The Arctic Council, discussing a plan of search for Sir +John Franklin. From the National Portrait Gallery.] + + + + + + +ADVENTURERS + +OF THE FAR NORTH + +A Chronicle of the Frozen Seas + + +BY + +STEPHEN LEACOCK + + + +TORONTO + +GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + +1914 + + + + + _Copyright in all Countries subscribing to + the Berne Convention_ + + + + +{ix} + +CONTENTS + + Page + + I. THE GREAT ELIZABETHAN NAVIGATORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + II. HEARNE'S OVERLAND JOURNEY TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN . . . . . 34 + III. MACKENZIE DESCENDS THE GREAT RIVER OF THE NORTH . . . . . 70 + IV. THE MEMORABLE EXPLOITS OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN . . . . . . . 89 + V. THE TRAGEDY OF FRANKLIN'S FATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 + VI. EPILOGUE. THE CONQUEST OF THE POLE . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 + INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 + + + + +{xi} + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +THE ARCTIC COUNCIL DISCUSSING A PLAN OF SEARCH FOR + SIR JOHN FRANKLIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + From the National Portrait Gallery. + +ROUTES OF EXPLORERS IN THE FAR NORTH . . . . . . . . _Facing page_ 1 + Map by Bartholomew. + +SAMUEL HEARNE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 42 + From the Dominion Archives. + +FORT CHURCHILL OR PRINCE OF WALES . . . . . . . . . . " " 50 + From a drawing by Samuel Hearne. + +SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 70 + From a painting by Lawrence. + +SIR JOHN FRANKLIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 112 + From the National Portrait Gallery. + + + +[Illustration: Routes of Explorers in the Far North] + + + + +{1} + +CHAPTER I + +THE GREAT ELIZABETHAN NAVIGATORS + +The map of Canada offers to the eye and to the imagination a vast +country more than three thousand miles in width. Its eastern face +presents a broken outline to the wild surges of the Atlantic. Its +western coast commands from majestic heights the broad bosom of the +Pacific. Along its southern boundary is a fertile country of lake and +plain and woodland, loud already with the murmur of a rising industry, +and in summer waving with the golden wealth of the harvest. + +But on its northern side Canada is set fast against the frozen seas of +the Pole and the desolate region of barren rock and ice-bound island +that is joined to the polar ocean by a common mantle of snow. For +hundreds and hundreds of miles the vast fortress of ice rears its +battlements of shining glaciers. The unending sunshine of the Arctic +summer falls upon untrodden snow. The cold light of the {2} aurora +illumines in winter an endless desolation. There is no sound, save +when at times the melting water falls from the glistening sides of some +vast pinnacle of ice, or when the leaden sea forces its tide between +the rock-bound islands. Here in this vast territory civilization has +no part and man no place. Life struggles northward only to die out in +the Arctic cold. The green woods of the lake district and the blossoms +of the prairies are left behind. The fertility of the Great West gives +place to the rock-strewn wilderness of the barren grounds. A stunted +and deformed vegetation fights its way to the Arctic Circle. Rude +grasses and thin moss cling desperately to the naked rock. Animal life +pushes even farther. The seas of the frozen ocean still afford a +sustenance. Even mankind is found eking out a savage livelihood on the +shores of the northern sea. But gradually all fades, until nothing is +left but the endless plain of snow, stretching towards the Pole. + +Yet this frozen northern land and these forbidding seas have their +history. Deeds were here done as great in valour as those which led to +the conquest of a Mexico or the acquisition of a Peru. But unlike the +captains and conquerors of the South, the explorers have {3} come and +gone and left behind no trace of their passage. Their hopes of a land +of gold, their vision of a new sea-way round the world, are among the +forgotten dreams of the past. Robbed of its empty secret, the North +still stretches silent and untenanted with nothing but the splendid +record of human courage to illuminate its annals. + +For us in our own day, the romance that once clung about the northern +seas has drifted well nigh to oblivion. To understand it we must turn +back in fancy three hundred years. We must picture to ourselves the +aspect of the New World at the time when Elizabeth sat on the throne of +England, and when the kingdoms of western Europe, Britain, France, and +Spain, were rising from the confusion of the Middle Ages to national +greatness. The existence of the New World had been known for nearly a +hundred years. But it still remained shadowed in mystery and +uncertainty. It was known that America lay as a vast continent, or +island, as men often called it then, midway between Europe and the +great empires of the East. Columbus, and after him Verrazano and +others, had explored its eastern coast, finding everywhere a land of +dense forests, peopled here and there with naked savages that fled at +their {4} approach. The servants of the king of Spain had penetrated +its central part and reaped, in the spoils of Mexico, the reward of +their savage bravery. From the central isthmus Balboa had first seen +the broad expanse of the Pacific. On this ocean the Spaniard Pizarro +had been borne to the conquest of Peru. Even before that conquest +Magellan had passed the strait that bears his name, and had sailed +westward from America over the vast space that led to the island +archipelago of Eastern Asia. Far towards the northern end of the great +island, the fishermen of the Channel ports had found their way in +yearly sailings to the cod banks of Newfoundland. There they had +witnessed the silent procession of the great icebergs that swept out of +the frozen seas of the north, and spoke of oceans still unknown, +leading one knew not whither. The boldest of such sailors, one Jacques +Cartier, fighting his way westward had entered a great gulf that yawned +in the opening side of the continent, and from it he had advanced up a +vast river, the like of which no man had seen. Hundreds of miles from +the gulf he had found villages of savages, who pointed still westward +and told him of wonderful countries of gold and silver that lay beyond +the palisaded settlement of Hochelaga. + +{5} + +But the discoveries of Columbus and those who followed him had not +solved but had only opened the mystery of the western seas. True, a +way to the Asiatic empire had been found. The road discovered by the +Portuguese round the base of Africa was known. But it was long and +arduous beyond description. Even more arduous was the sea-way found by +Magellan: the whole side of the continent must be traversed. The +dreadful terrors of the straits that separate South America from the +Land of Fire must be essayed: and beyond that a voyage of thirteen +thousand miles across the Pacific, during which the little caravels +must slowly make their way northward again till the latitude of Cathay +was reached, parallel to that of Spain itself. For any other sea-way +to Asia the known coast-line of America offered an impassable barrier. +In only one region, and that as yet unknown, might an easier and more +direct way be found towards the eastern empires. This was by way of +the northern seas, either round the top of Asia or, more direct still +perhaps, by entering those ice-bound seas that lay beyond the Great +Banks of Newfoundland and the coastal waters visited by Jacques +Cartier. Into the entrance of these waters the ships of the Cabots +flying the {6} English flag had already made their way at the close of +the fifteenth century. They seem to have reached as far, or nearly as +far, as the northern limits of Labrador, and Sebastian Cabot had said +that beyond the point reached by their ships the sea opened out before +them to the west. No further exploration was made, indeed, for +three-quarters of a century after the Cabots, but from this time on the +idea of a North-West Passage and the possibility of a great achievement +in this direction remained as a tradition with English seamen. + +It was natural, then, that the English sailors of the sixteenth century +should turn to the northern seas. The eastern passage, from the German +Ocean round the top of Russia and Asia, was first attempted. As early +as the reign of Edward the Sixth, a company of adventurers, commonly +called the Muscovy Company, sailed their ships round the north of +Norway and opened a connection with Russia by way of the White Sea. +But the sailing masters of the company tried in vain to find a passage +in this direction to the east. Their ships reached as far as the Kara +Sea at about the point where the present boundary of European Russia +separates it from Siberia. Beyond this extended countless leagues of +{7} impassable ice and the rock-bound desolation of Northern Asia. + +It remained to seek a passage in the opposite direction by way of the +Arctic seas that lay above America. To find such a passage and with it +a ready access to Cathay and the Indies became one of the great +ambitions of the Elizabethan age. There is no period when great things +might better have been attempted. It was an epoch of wonderful +national activity and progress: the spirit of the nation was being +formed anew in the Protestant Reformation and in the rising conflict +with Spain. It was the age of Drake, of Raleigh, of Shakespeare, the +time at which were aroused those wide ambitions which were to give +birth to the British Empire. + +In thinking of the exploits of these Elizabethan sailors in the Arctic +seas, we must try to place ourselves at their point of view, and +dismiss from our minds our own knowledge of the desolate and hopeless +region against which their efforts were directed. The existence of +Greenland, often called Frisland, and of Labrador was known from the +voyages of the Cabots and the Corte-Reals. It was known that between +these two coasts the sea swept in a powerful current out of the north. +Of {8} what lay beyond nothing was known. There seemed no reason why +Frobisher, or Davis, or Henry Hudson might not find the land trend away +to the south again and thus offer, after a brief transit of the +dangerous waters of the north, a smooth and easy passage over the +Pacific. + +Perhaps we can best understand the hopes and ambitions of the time if +we turn to the writings of the Elizabethans themselves. One of the +greatest of them, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, afterwards lost in the northern +seas, wrote down at large his reasons for believing that the passage +was feasible and that its discovery would be fraught with the greatest +profit to the nation. In his _Discourse to prove a North-West Passage +to Cathay_, Gilbert argues that all writers from Plato down have spoken +of a great island out in the Atlantic; that this island is America +which must thus have a water passage all round it; that the ocean +currents moving to the west across the Atlantic and driven along its +coast, as Cartier saw, past Newfoundland, evidently show that the water +runs on round the top of America. A North-West Passage must therefore +exist. Of the advantages to be derived from its discovery Gilbert was +in no doubt. + + +{9} + +It were the only way for our princes [he wrote] to possess themselves +of the wealth of all the east parts of the world which is infinite. +Through the shortness of the voyage, we should be able to sell all +manner of merchandise brought from thence far better cheap than either +the Portugal or Spaniard doth or may do. Also we might sail to divers +very rich countries, both civil and others, out of both their +jurisdiction [that of the Portuguese and Spaniards], where there is to +be found great abundance of gold, silver, precious stones, cloth of +gold, silks, all manner of spices, grocery wares, and other kinds of +merchandise of an inestimable price. + + +Gilbert also speaks of the possibility of colonizing the regions thus +to be discovered. The quaint language in which he describes the +chances of what is now called 'imperial expansion' is not without its +irony: + + +We might inhabit some part of those countries [he says], and settle +there such needy people of our country which now trouble the +commonwealth, and through want here at home are enforced to commit {10} +outrageous offences whereby they are daily consumed with the gallows. +We shall also have occasion to set poor men's children to learn +handicrafts and thereby to make trifles and such like, which the +Indians and those people do much esteem: by reason whereof there should +be none occasion to have our country cumbered with loiterers, +vagabonds, and such like idle persons. + + +Undoubtedly Gilbert's way of thinking was also that of many of the +great statesmen and sailors of his day. Especially was this the case +with Sir Martin Frobisher, a man, we are told, 'thoroughly furnished +with knowledge of the sphere and all other skills appertaining to the +art of navigation.' The North-West Passage became the dream of +Frobisher's ambition. Year after year he vainly besought the queen's +councillors to sanction an expedition. But the opposition of the +powerful Muscovy Company was thrown against the project. Frobisher, +although supported by the influence of the Earl of Warwick, agitated +and argued in vain for fifteen years, till at last in 1574 the +necessary licence was granted and the countenance of the queen was +assured to the enterprise. Even then about two years {11} passed +before the preparations could be completed. + +Frobisher's first expedition was on a humble scale. His company +numbered in all thirty-five men. They embarked in two small barques, +the _Gabriel_ and the _Michael_, neither of them of more than +twenty-five tons, and a pinnace of ten tons. They carried food for a +year. The ships dropped down the Thames on June 7, 1576, and as they +passed Greenwich, where the queen's court was, the little vessels made +a brave show by the discharge of their ordnance. Elizabeth waved her +hand from a window to the departing ships and sent one of her gentlemen +aboard to say that she had 'a good liking of their doings.' From such +small acts of royal graciousness has often sprung a wonderful devotion. + +Frobisher's little ships struck boldly out on the Atlantic. They ran +northward first, and crossed the ocean along the parallel of sixty +degrees north latitude. Favourable winds and strong gales bore them +rapidly across the sea. On July 11, they sighted the southern capes of +Greenland, or Frisland, as they called it, that rose like pinnacles of +steeples, snow-crowned and glittering on the horizon. They essayed a +landing, but the masses of shore ice and the {12} drifting fog baffled +their efforts. Here off Cape Desolation the full fury of the Arctic +gales broke upon their ships. The little pinnace foundered with all +hands. The _Michael_ was separated from her consort in the storm, and +her captain, losing heart, made his way back to England to report +Frobisher cast away. But no terror of the sea could force Frobisher +from his purpose. With his single ship the _Gabriel_, its mast sprung, +its top-mast carried overboard in the storm, he drove on towards the +west. He was 'determined,' so writes a chronicler of his voyages, 'to +bring true proof of what land and sea might be so far to the +northwestwards beyond any that man hath heretofore discovered.' His +efforts were rewarded. On July 28, a tall headland rose on the +horizon, Queen Elizabeth's Foreland, so Frobisher named it. As the +_Gabriel_ approached, a deep sound studded with rocky islands at its +mouth opened to view. Its position shows that the vessel had been +carried northward and westward past the coast of Labrador and the +entrance of Hudson Strait. The voyagers had found their way to the +vast polar island now known as Baffin Island. Into this, at the point +which the ship had reached, there extends a deep inlet, {13} called +after its discoverer, Frobisher's Strait. Frobisher had found a new +land, and its form, with a great sea passage running westward and land +both north and south of it, made him think that this was truly the +highway to the Orient. He judged that the land seen to the north was +part of Asia, reaching out and overlapping the American continent. For +many days heavy weather and fog and the danger of the drifting ice +prevented a landing. The month of August opened with calm seas and +milder weather. Frobisher and his men were able to land in the ship's +boat. They found before them a desolate and uninviting prospect, a +rock-bound coast fringed with islands and with the huge masses of +grounded icebergs. + +For nearly a month Frobisher's ship stood on and off the coast. Fresh +water was taken on board. In a convenient spot the ship was beached +and at low tide repairs were made and leaks were stopped in the +strained timbers of her hull. In the third week, canoes of savages +were seen, and presently the natives were induced to come on board the +_Gabriel_ and barter furs for looking-glasses and trinkets. The +savages were 'like Tartars with long black hair, broad faces, and flat +noses.' They seemed friendly and well-disposed. Five of the English +{14} sailors ventured to join the natives on land, contrary to the +express orders of the captain. They never returned, nor could any of +the savages be afterwards induced to come within reach. One man only, +paddling in the sea in his skin canoe, was enticed to the ship's side +by the tinkling of a little bell, and so seized and carried away. But +his own sailors, though he vainly searched the coast, Frobisher saw no +more. After a week's delay, the _Gabriel_ set sail (on August 26) for +home, and in spite of terrific gales was safely back at her anchorage +at Harwich early in October. + +Contrary to what we should suppose, the voyage was viewed as a +brilliant success. The queen herself named the newly found rocks and +islands Meta Incognita. Frobisher was at once 'specially famous for +the great hope he brought of a passage to Cathay.' A strange-looking +piece of black rock that had been carried home in the _Gabriel_ was +pronounced by a metallurgist, one Baptista Agnello, to contain gold; +true, Agnello admitted in confidence that he had 'coaxed nature' to +find the precious metal. But the rumour of the thing was enough. The +cupidity of the London merchants was added to the ambitions of the +court. There was no trouble about finding {15} ships and immediate +funds for a second expedition. + +The new enterprise was carried out in the following year (1577). The +_Gabriel_ and the _Michael_ sailed again, and with them one of the +queen's ships, the _Aid_. This time the company included a number of +soldiers and gentlemen adventurers. The main object was not the +discovery of the passage but the search for gold. + +The expedition sailed out of Harwich on May 31, 1577, following the +route by the north of Scotland. A week's sail brought the ships 'with +a merrie wind' to the Orkneys. Here a day or so was spent in obtaining +water. The inhabitants of these remote islands were found living in +stone huts in a condition almost as primitive as that of American +savages. 'The good man, wife, children, and other members of the +family,' wrote Master Settle, one of Frobisher's company, 'eat and +sleep on one side of the house and the cattle on the other, very +beastly and rude.' From the Orkneys the ships pursued a very northerly +course, entering within the Arctic Circle and sailing in the perpetual +sunlight of the polar day. Near Iceland they saw huge pine trees +drifting, roots and all, across the ocean. Wild storms {16} beset them +as they passed the desolate capes of Greenland. At length, on July 16, +the navigators found themselves off the headlands of Meta Incognita. + +Here Frobisher and his men spent the summer. The coast and waters were +searched as far as the inclement climate allowed. The savages were +fierce and unfriendly. A few poor rags of clothing found among the +rocks bespoke the fate of the sailors of the year before. Fierce +conflicts with the natives followed. Several were captured. One woman +so hideous and wrinkled with age that the mariners thought her a witch +was released in pious awe. A younger woman, with a baby at her back, +was carried captive to the English ships. The natives in return +watched their opportunity and fell fiercely on the English as occasion +offered, leaping headlong from the rocks into the sea rather than +submit to capture. + +To the perils of conflict was added the perpetual danger of moving ice. +Even in the summer seas, great gales blew and giant masses of ice drove +furiously through the strait. No passage was possible. In vain +Frobisher landed on both the northern and the southern sides and tried +to penetrate the rugged country. All about the land was barren and +forbidding. {17} Mountains of rough stone crowned with snow blocked +the way. No trees were seen and no vegetation except a scant grass +here and there upon the flatter spaces of the rocks. + +But neither the terrors of the ice nor the fear of the savages could +damp the ardour of the explorers. The landing of Frobisher and his men +on Meta Incognita was carried out with something of the pomp, dear to +an age of chivalrous display, that marked the landing of Columbus on +the tropic island of San Salvador. The captain and his men moved in +marching order: they knelt together on the barren rock to offer thanks +to God and to invoke a blessing on their queen. Great cairns of stone +were piled high here and there, as a sign of England's sovereignty, +while as they advanced against the rugged hills of the interior, the +banner of their country was proudly carried in the van. Their thoughts +were not of glory only. It was with the ardour of treasure-seekers +that they fell to their task, forgetting in the lust for gold the chill +horror of their surroundings; and, when the Arctic sunlight glittered +on the splintered edges of the rocks, the crevices of the barren stone +seemed to the excited minds of the explorers to be filled with virgin +gold, carried by subterranean {18} streams. The three ships were +loaded deep with worthless stone, a fitting irony on their quest. +Then, at the end of August, they were turned again eastward for +England. Tempest and fog enveloped their passage. The ships were +driven asunder. Each thought the others lost. But, by good fortune, +all safely arrived, the captain's ship landing at Milford Haven, the +others at Bristol and Yarmouth. + +Fortunately for Frobisher the worthless character of the freight that +he brought home was not readily made clear by the crude methods of the +day. For the next summer found him again off the shores of Meta +Incognita eagerly searching for new mines. This time he bore with him +a large company and ample equipment. Fifteen ships in all sailed under +his command. Among his company were miners and artificers. The frames +of a house, ready to set up, were borne in the vessels. Felton, a +ship's captain, and a group of Frobisher's gentlemen were to be left +behind to spend the winter in the new land. + +From the first the voyage was inauspicious. The ships had scarcely +entered the straits before a great storm broke upon them. Land and sea +were blotted out in driving snow. The open water into which they had +sailed was soon {19} filled with great masses of ice which the tempest +cast furiously against the ships. To their horror the barque +_Dionise_, rammed by the ice, went down in the swirling waters. With +her she carried all her cargo, including a part of the timbers of the +house destined for the winter's habitation. But the stout courage of +the mariners was undismayed. All through the evening and the night +they fought against the ice: with capstan bars, with boats' oars, and +with great planks they thrust it from the ships. Some of the men +leaped down upon the moving floes and bore with might and main against +the ships to break the shock. At times the little vessels were lifted +clear out of the sea, their sides torn with the fierce blows of the +ice-pack, their seams strained and leaking. All night they looked for +instant death. But, with the coming of the morning, the wind shifted +to the west and cleared the ice from the sea, and God sent to the +mariners, so runs their chronicle, 'so pleasant a day as the like we +had not of a long time before, as after punishment consolation.' + +But their dangers were not ended. As the ships stood on and off the +land, they fell in with a great berg of ice that reared its height four +hundred feet above the masts, and lay {20} extended for a half mile in +length. This they avoided. But a few days later, while they were +still awaiting a landing, a great mist rolled down upon the seas, so +that for five days and nights all was obscurity and no ship could see +its consorts. Current and tide drove the explorers to and fro till +they drifted away from the mouth of Frobisher Strait southward and +westward. Then another great sound opened before them to the west. +This was the passage of Hudson Strait, and, had Frobisher followed it, +he would have found the vast inland sea of Hudson Bay open to his +exploration. But, intent upon his search for ore, he fought his way +back to the inhospitable waters that bear his name. There at an island +which had been christened the Countess of Warwick's Island, the fleet +was able to assemble by August 1. But the ill-fortune of the +enterprise demanded the abandonment of all idea of settlement. +Frobisher and his men made haste to load their vessels with the +worthless rock which abounded in the district. In one 'great black +island alone' there was discovered such a quantity of it that 'if the +goodness might answer the plenty thereof, it might reasonably suffice +all the gold-gluttons of the world.' In leaving Meta Incognita, +Frobisher and his {21} companions by no means intended that the +enterprise should be definitely abandoned. Such timbers of the house +as remained they buried for use next year. A little building, or fort, +of stone was erected, to test whether it would stand against the frost +of the Arctic winter. In it were set a number of little toys, bells, +and knives to tempt the cupidity of the Eskimos, who had grown wary and +hostile to the newcomers. Pease, corn, and grain were sown in the +scant soil as a provision for the following summer. On the last day of +August, the fleet departed on its homeward voyage. The passage was +long and stormy. The ships were scattered and found their way home as +best they might, some to one harbour and some to another. But by the +beginning of October, the entire fleet was safely back in its own +waters. + +The expectations of a speedy return to Meta Incognita were doomed to +disappointment. The ore that the ships carried proved to be but +worthless rock, and from the commercial point of view the whole +expedition was a failure. Frobisher was never able to repeat his +attempt to find the North-West Passage. In its existence his faith +remained as firm as ever. But, although his three voyages resulted in +no discoveries of {22} profit to England, his name should stand high on +the roll of honour of great English sea-captains. He brought to bear +on his task not only the splendid courage of his age, but also the +earnest devotion and intense religious spirit which marked the best men +of the period of the Reformation. The first article of Frobisher's +standing orders to his fleet enjoined his men to banish swearing, dice, +and card-playing and to worship God twice a day in the service of the +Church of England. The watchword of the fleet, to be called out in fog +or darkness as a means of recognition was 'Before the World was God,' +and the answer shouted back across the darkness, 'After God came Christ +His Son.' At all convenient times and places, sermons were preached to +the company of the fleet by Frobisher's chaplain, Master Wolfall, a +godly man who had left behind in England a 'large living and a good +honest woman to wife and very towardly children,' in order to spread +the Gospel in the new land. Frobisher's personal bravery was of the +highest order. We read how in the rage of a storm he would venture +tasks from which even his boldest sailors shrank in fear. Once, when +his ship was thrown on her beam ends and the water poured into the +waist, the commander worked his way along {23} the lee side of the +vessel, engulfed in the roaring surges, to free the sheets. With these +qualities Martin Frobisher combined a singular humanity towards both +those whom he commanded and natives with whom he dealt. It is to be +regretted that a man of such high character and ability should have +spent his efforts on so vain a task. + +Although the gold mines of Meta Incognita had become discredited, it +was not long before hope began to revive in the hearts of the English +merchants. The new country produced at least valuable sealskins. +There was always the chance, too, that a lucky discovery of a Western +Passage might bring fabulous wealth to the merchant adventurers. It +thus happened that not many years elapsed before certain wealthy men of +London and the West Country, especially one Master William Sanderson, +backed by various gentlemen of the court, decided to make another +venture. They chose as their captain and chief pilot John Davis, who +had already acquired a reputation as a bold and skilful mariner. In +1585 Davis, in command of two little ships, the _Sunshine_ and the +_Moonshine_, set out from Dartmouth. The memory of this explorer will +always be associated with the great {24} strait or arm of the sea which +separates Greenland from the Arctic islands of Canada, and which bears +his name. To these waters, his three successive voyages were directed, +and he has the honour of being the first on the long roll of navigators +whose watchword has been 'Farther North,' and who have carried their +ships nearer and nearer to the pole. + +Davis started by way of the English Channel and lay storm-bound for +twelve days under the Scilly Islands, a circumstance which bears +witness to the imperfect means of navigation of the day and to the +courage of seamen. The ships once able to put to sea, the voyage was +rapid, and in twenty days Davis was off the south-west coast of +Greenland. All about the ships were fog and mist, and a great roaring +noise which the sailors thought must be the sea breaking on a beach. +They lay thus for a day, trying in vain for soundings and firing guns +in order to know the whereabouts of the ships. They lowered their +boats and found that the roaring noise came from the grinding of the +ice pack that lay all about them. Next day the fog cleared and +revealed the coast, which they said was the most deformed rocky and +mountainous land that ever they saw. This was Greenland. The +commander, {25} suiting a name to the miserable prospect before him, +called it the Land of Desolation. + +Davis spent nearly a fortnight on the coast. There was little in the +inhospitable country to encourage his exploration. Great cliffs were +seen glittering as with gold or crystal, but the ore was the same as +that which Frobisher had brought from Meta Incognita and the voyagers +had been warned. Of vegetation there was nothing but scant grass and +birch and willow growing like stunted shrubs close to the ground. +Eskimos were seen plying along the coast in their canoes of seal skin. +They called to the English sailors in a deep guttural speech, low in +the throat, of which nothing was intelligible. One of them pointed +upwards to the sun and beat upon his breast. By imitating this +gesture, which seemed a pledge of friendship, the sailors were able to +induce the natives to approach. They presently mingled freely with +Davis's company. The captain shook hands with all who came to him, and +there was a great show of friendliness on both sides. A brisk trade +began. The savages eagerly handed over their garments of sealskin and +fur, their darts, oars, and everything that they had, in return for +little trifles, even for pieces of paper. They seemed to the English +sailors a very tractable {26} people, void of craft and double dealing. +Seeing that the English were eager to obtain furs, they pointed to the +hills inland, as if to indicate that they should go and bring a large +supply. But Davis was anxious for further exploration, and would not +delay his ships. On August 1, the wind being fair, he put to sea, +directing his course to the north-west. In five days he reached the +land on the other side of Davis Strait. This was the shore of what is +now called Baffin Island, in latitude 66° 40', and hence considerably +to the north of the strait which Frobisher had entered. At this season +the sea was clear of ice, and Davis anchored his ships under a great +cliff that glittered like gold. He called it Mount Raleigh, and the +sound which opened out beside it Exeter Sound. A large headland to the +south was named Cape Walsingham in honour of the queen's secretary. +Davis and his men went ashore under Mount Raleigh, where they saw four +white bears of 'a monstrous bigness,' three of which they killed with +their guns and boar-spears. There were low shrubs growing among the +cliffs and flowers like primroses. But the whole country as far as +they could see was without wood or grass. Nothing was in sight except +the open iceless sea to the east and on the land side {27} great +mountains of stone. Though the land offered nothing to their search, +the air was moderate and the weather singularly mild. The broad sheet +of open water, of the very colour of the ocean itself, buoyed up their +hopes of the discovery of the Western Passage. Davis turned his ships +to the south, coasting the shore. Here and there signs of man were +seen, a pile of stones fashioned into a rude wall and a human skull +lying upon the rock. The howling of wolves, as the sailors thought it, +was heard along the shore; but when two of these animals were killed +they were seen to be dogs like mastiffs with sharp ears and bushy +tails. A little farther on sleds were found, one made of wood and sawn +boards, the other of whalebone. Presently the coast-line was broken +into a network of barren islands with great sounds between. When Davis +sailed southward he reached and passed the strait that had been the +scene of Frobisher's adventures and, like Frobisher himself, also +passed by the opening of Hudson Strait. Davis was convinced that +somewhere on this route was the passage that he sought. But the winds +blew hard from the west, rendering it difficult to prosecute his +search. The short season was already closing in, and it was dangerous +to {28} linger. Reluctantly the ships were turned homeward, and, +though separated at sea, the _Sunshine_ and the _Moonshine_ arrived +safely at Dartmouth within two hours of each other. + +While this first expedition had met with no conspicuous material +success, Davis was yet able to make two other voyages to the same +region in the two following seasons. In his second voyage, that of +1586, he sailed along the edge of the continent from above the Arctic +Circle to the coast of Labrador, a distance of several hundred miles. +His search convinced him that if a passage existed at all it must lie +somewhere among the great sounds that opened into the coast, one of +which, of course, proved later on to be the entrance to Hudson Bay. +Moreover, Davis began to see that, owing to the great quantity of +whales in the northern waters, and the ease with which seal-skins and +furs could be bought from the natives, these ventures might be made a +source of profit whether the Western Passage was found or not. In his +second voyage alone he bought from the Eskimos five hundred sealskins. +The natives seem especially to have interested him, and he himself +wrote an account of his dealings with them. They were found to be +people of good stature, well proportioned in body, {29} with broad +faces and small eyes, wide mouths, for the most part unbearded, and +with great lips. They were, so Davis said, 'very simple in their +conversation, but marvellous thievish.' They made off with a boat that +lay astern of the _Moonshine_, cut off pieces from clothes that were +spread out to dry, and stole oars, spears, swords, and indeed anything +within their reach. Articles made of iron seemed to offer an +irresistible temptation: in spite of all pledges of friendship and of +the lifting up of hands towards the sun which the Eskimos renewed every +morning, they no sooner saw iron than they must perforce seize upon it. +To stop their pilfering, Davis was compelled to fire off a cannon among +them, whereat the savages made off in wild terror. But in a few hours +they came flocking back again, holding up their hands to the sun and +begging to be friends. 'When I perceived this,' said Davis, 'it did +but minister unto me an occasion of laughter to see their simplicity +and I willed that in no case should they be any more hardly used, but +that our own company should be more vigilant to keep their things, +supposing it to be very hard in so short a time to make them know their +own evils.' + +The natives ate all their meat raw, lived {30} mostly on fish and 'ate +grass and ice with delight.' They were rarely out of the water, but +lived in the nature of fishes except when 'dead sleep took them,' and +they lay down exhausted in a warm hollow of the rocks. Davis found +among them copper ore and black and red copper. But Frobisher's +experience seems to have made him loath to hunt for mineral treasure. + +On his last voyage (1587) Davis made a desperate attempt to find the +desired passage by striking boldly towards the Far North. He skirted +the west shore of Greenland and with favourable winds ran as far north +as 72° 12', thus coming into the great sheet of polar water now called +Baffin Bay. This was at the end of the month of June. In these +regions there was perpetual day, the sun sweeping in a great circle +about the heavens and standing five degrees above the horizon even at +midnight. To the northward and westward, as far as could be seen, +there was nothing but open sea. Davis thought himself almost in sight +of the goal. Then the wind turned and blew fiercely out of the north. +Unable to advance, Davis drove westward across the path of the gale. +At forty leagues from Greenland, he came upon a sheet of ice that +forced him to turn back {31} towards the south. 'There was no ice +towards the north,' he wrote, in relating his experience, 'but a great +sea, free, large, very salt and blue and of an unsearchable depth. It +seemed most manifest that the passage was free and without impediment +towards the north.' + +When Davis returned home, he was still eager to try again. But the +situation was changed. Walsingham, who had encouraged his enterprise, +was dead, and the whole energy of the nation was absorbed in the great +struggle with Spain. Davis sailed no more to the northern seas. With +each succeeding decade it became clear that the hopes aroused by the +New World lay not in finding a passage by the ice-blocked sounds of the +north, but in occupying the vast continent of America itself. Many +voyages were indeed attempted before the hope of a northern passage to +the Indies was laid aside. Weymouth, Knight, and others followed in +the track of Frobisher and Davis. But nothing new was found. The +sea-faring spirit and the restless adventure which characterized the +Elizabethan period outlived the great queen. The famous voyage of +Henry Hudson in 1610 revealed the existence of the great inland sea +which bears his name. {32} Hudson, already famous as an explorer and +for his discovery of the Hudson river, was sent out by Sir John +Wolstenholme and Sir Dudley Digges to find the North-West Passage. The +story of his passage of the strait, his discovery of the great bay, the +mutiny of his men and his tragic and mysterious fate forms one of the +most thrilling narratives in the history of exploration. But it +belongs rather to the romantic story of the great company whose +corporate title recalls his name and memory, than to the present +narrative. + +After Hudson came the exploits of Bylot, one of his pilots, and a +survivor of the tragedy, and of William Baffin, who tried to follow +Davis's lead in searching for the Western Passage in the very confines +of the polar sea. Finally there came (1631) the voyage of Captain Luke +Fox, who traversed the whole western coast of Hudson Bay and proved +that from the main body of its waters there was no outlet to the +Pacific. The hope of a North-West Passage in the form of a wide and +glittering sea, an easy passage to Asia, was dead. Other causes were +added to divert attention from the northern waters. The definite +foundation of the colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts Bay opened the +path to new {33} hopes and even wider ambitions of Empire. Then, as +the seventeenth century moved on its course, the shadow of civil strife +fell dark over England. The fierce struggle of the Great Rebellion +ended for a time all adventure overseas. When it had passed, the days +of bold sea-farers gazing westward from the decks of their little +caravels over the glittering ice of the Arctic for a pathway to the +Orient were gone, and the first period of northern adventure had come +to an end. + + + + +{34} + +CHAPTER II + +HEARNE'S OVERLAND JOURNEY TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN + +In course of time the inaccurate knowledge and vague hopes of the early +navigators were exchanged for more definite ideas in regard to the +American continent. The progress of discovery along the Pacific side +of the continent and the occupation by the Spaniards of the coast of +California led to a truer conception of the immense breadth of North +America. Voyages across the Pacific to the Philippines revealed the +great distance to be traversed in order to reach the Orient by the +western route. At the same time the voyages of Captain Fox and his +contemporary Captain James had proved Hudson Bay to be an enclosed sea. +In consequence, for about a century no further attempt was made to find +a North-West Passage. + +In the meantime the English came into connection with the Far North in +a different way. {35} The early explorers had brought home the news of +the extraordinary wealth of America in fur-bearing animals. Soon the +fur trade became the most important feature of the settlements on the +American coast, and from both New England and New France enormous +quantities of furs were exported to Europe. This commerce was with the +Indians, and everything depended upon a ready and convenient access to +the interior. Thus it came about that when the peculiar configuration +of Hudson Bay was known to combine an access to the remotest parts of +the continent with a short sea passage to Europe, its shores naturally +offered themselves as the proper scene of the trade in furs. The great +rivers that flowed into the bay--the Severn, the Nelson, the Albany, +the Rupert--offered a connection in all directions with the dense +forests and the broad plains of the interior. + +The two competing nations both found their way to the great bay, the +English by sea through Hudson Strait, the French overland by the +portage way from the upper valley of the Ottawa. So it happened that +there was established by royal charter in 1670 that notable body whose +corporate title is 'The Governor and Company of Adventurers of {36} +England, trading into Hudson's Bay.' The company was founded primarily +to engage in the fur trade. But it was also pledged by its charter to +promote geographical discovery, and both the honour of its sovereign +rights and the promptings of its own commercial interest induced it to +expand its territory of operations to the greatest possible degree. +During its early years, necessity compelled it to cling to the coast. +Its operations were confined to forts at the mouth of the Nelson, the +Churchill, and other rivers to which the Indian traders annually +descended with their loads of furs. Moreover, the hostility of the +French, who had founded the rival Company of the North, cramped the +activities of the English adventurers. During the wars of King William +and Queen Anne, the territory of the bay became the scene of armed +conflict. Expeditions were sent overland from Canada against the +English company. The little forts were taken and retaken, and the +echoes of the European struggle that was fought at Blenheim and at +Malplaquet woke the stillness of the northern woods of America. But +after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the whole country of the Bay was +left to the English. + +The Hudson's Bay Company were, therefore, {37} enabled to expand their +operations. By establishing forts farther and farther in the interior +they endeavoured to come into more direct relation with the sources of +their supply. They were thus early led to surmise the great potential +wealth of the vast region that lay beyond their forts, and to become +jealous of their title thereto. Their aversion to making public the +knowledge of their territory lent to their operations an air of mystery +and secrecy, and their enemies accused them of being hostile to the +promotion of discovery. For their own purposes, however, the company +were willing to have their territory explored as the necessities of +their expanding commerce demanded. As early as the close of the +seventeenth century (1691) a certain Henry Kelsey, in the service of +the company, had made his way from York Fort to the plains of the +Saskatchewan. After the Treaty of Utrecht had brought peace and a +clear title to the basin of the bay, the company endeavoured to obtain +more accurate knowledge of their territory and resources. + +It had long been rumoured that valuable mines of copper lay in the Far +North. The early explorers spoke of the Eskimos as having copper ore. +Indians who came from the north-west to trade at Fort Churchill +reported the {38} existence of a great mountain of copper beside a +river that flowed north into the sea; in proof of this, they exhibited +ornaments and weapons rudely fashioned from the metal. It is probable +that attempts were made quite early in the century by the servants of +the company to reach this 'Coppermine River' by advancing into the +interior. But more serious attempts were made by sea voyages along the +western shore of the bay. Such an expedition was sent out from England +under Governor Knight of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Captains Barlow +and Vaughan. In 1719 their two ships, the _Albany_ and the +_Discovery_, sailed from England, and were never seen again. Not until +half a century later was the story of their shipwreck on Marble Island +in the north of Hudson Bay and the protracted fate of the survivors +learned from savages who had been witnesses of the grim tragedy. Other +expeditions were sent northward from time to time, but without success +either in finding copper or in finding a passage westward through the +Arctic, which always remained at least an ostensible object of the +search. + +It so happened that in 1768 the Northern Indians brought down to +Churchill such striking specimens of copper ore that the interest of +the {39} governor, Moses Norton, was aroused to the highest point. A +man of determined character, he took ship straightway to England and +obtained from the directors of the company permission to send an +expedition through the interior from Fort Churchill to the Coppermine +river. The accomplishment of this task he entrusted to one Samuel +Hearne, whose overland journey, successfully carried out in the years +1769 to 1772, was to prove one of the great landmarks in the +exploration of the Far North. + +Hearne, a youth of twenty-four years, had been trained in a rugged +school. He had gone to sea at the age of eleven and at this tender age +had taken part in his first sea-fight. He served as a naval midshipman +during the Seven Years' War. At its conclusion he became a mate on one +of the ships of the Hudson's Bay Company, in which position his +industry and ingenuity distinguished him among his associates. For +some years Hearne was employed in the fur trade north of the Churchill, +and gained a thorough knowledge of the coast of the bay. For the +expedition inland Norton needed especially a man able to record with +scientific accuracy the exact positions which he reached. Norton's +choice fell upon Hearne. + +The young man was instructed to make his {40} way to the Athabaska +country and thence to find if he could the river of the north whence +the copper came, and to trace the river to the sea. He was to note the +position of any mines, to prepare the way for trade with the Indians, +and to find out from travel or enquiry whether there was a water +passage through the continent. Two white men (a sailor and a landsman) +were sent in Hearne's service. He had as guides an Indian chief, +Chawchinahaw, with a small band of his followers. On November 6, 1769, +the little party set out, honoured by a salute of seven guns from the +huge fortress of Fort Prince of Wales, the massive ruins of which still +stand as one of the strangest monuments of the continent. + +The country which the explorer was to traverse in this and his +succeeding journeys may be ranked among the most inhospitable regions +of the earth. The northern limit of the great American forest runs +roughly in a line north-westward from Churchill to the mouth of the +Mackenzie river. East and north of this line is the country of the +barren grounds, for the most part a desolate waste of rock. It is +broken by precipitous watercourses and wide lakes, and has no +vegetation except the mosses and grasses which support great wandering +{41} herds of caribou. A few spruce trees and hardy shrubs struggle +northward from the limits of the great woods. Even these die out in +the bitter climate, and then the explorer sees about him nothing but +the wide waste of barren rock and running water or in winter the +endless mantle of the northern snow. + +It is not strange that Hearne's first attempt met with complete +failure. His Indian companions had, indeed, no intention of guiding +him to the Athabaska country. They deliberately kept to the north of +the woods, along the edge of the barren grounds, where Hearne and his +companions were exposed to the intense cold which set in a few days +after their departure. When they camped at night only a few poor +shrubs could be gathered to make a fire, and the travellers were +compelled to scoop out holes in the snow to shelter their freezing +bodies against the bitter blast. The Indians, determined to prevent +the white men from reaching their goal, provided very little game. +Hearne and his two servants were reduced to a ration of half a +partridge a day for each man. Each day the Indian chief descanted at +length upon the horrors of cold and famine that still lay before them. +Each day, with the obstinate pluck of his race, Hearne struggled on. +Thus {42} for nearly two hundred miles they made their way out into the +snow-covered wilderness. At length a number of the Indians, determined +to end the matter, made off in the night, carrying with them a good +part of the supplies. The next day Chawchinahaw himself announced that +further progress was impossible. He and his braves made off to the +west, inviting Hearne with mocking laughter to get home as best he +might. The three white men with a few Indians, not of Chawchinahaw's +band, struggled back through the snow to Fort Prince of Wales. The +whole expedition had lasted five weeks. + +In spite of this failure, neither Governor Norton nor Hearne himself +was discouraged. In less than three months (on February 23, 1770) +Hearne was off again for the north. Convinced that white men were of +no use to him, he had the hardihood to set out accompanied only by +Indians, three from the northern country and three belonging to what +were called at Churchill the Home Guard, or Southern Indians. There +was no salute from the fort this time, for the cannon on its ramparts +were buried deep in snow. + +[Illustration: Samuel Hearne. From an engraving in the Dominion +Archives.] + +Hearne's second expedition, though more protracted than the first, was +doomed also to failure. The little party followed on the former {43} +trail along the Seal river, and thence, with the first signs of opening +spring, struck northwards over the barren grounds. Leaving the woods +entirely behind, Hearne found himself in the broken and desolate +country between Fort Churchill and the three or four great rivers, +still almost unknown, that flow into the head-waters of Chesterfield +Inlet. In the beginning of June, as the snow began to melt, progress +grew more and more difficult. Snowshoes became a useless encumbrance, +and on the 10th of the month even the sledges were abandoned. Every +man must now shoulder a heavy load. Hearne himself staggered under a +pack which included a bag of clothes, a box of papers, a hatchet and +other tools, and the clumsy weight of his quadrant and its stand. This +article was too precious to be entrusted to the Indians, for by it +alone could the position of the explorers be recorded. The party was +miserably equipped. Unable to carry poles with them into a woodless +region, they found their one wretched tent of no service and were +compelled to lie shelterless with alternations of bitter cold and +drenching rain. For food they had to depend on such fish and game as +could be found. In most cases it was eaten raw, as they had nothing +with which to make a fire. {44} Worse still, for days together, food +failed them. Hearne relates that for four days at the end of June he +tramped northward, making twenty miles a day with no other sustenance +than water and such support as might be drawn from an occasional pipe +of tobacco. Intermittent starvation so enfeebled his digestion that +the eating of food when found caused severe pain. Once for seven days +the party had no other food than a few wild berries, some old leather, +and some burnt bones. On such occasions as this, Hearne tells us, his +Indians would examine their wardrobe to see what part could be best +spared and stay their hunger with a piece of rotten deer skin or a pair +of worn-out moccasins. As they made their way northward, the party +occasionally crossed small rivers running north and east, but of so +little depth that they were able to ford them. Presently, however, one +great river proved too deep to cross on foot. It ran north-east. +Hearne's Indians called it the Cathawachaga, and the Canadian explorer +Tyrrell identifies it with the river now called the Kazan. Here the +party fell in with a band of Indians who carried them across the river +in their canoes. On the northern side of the Cathawachaga, Hearne and +his men rested for a week, finding {45} a few deer and catching fish. +As the guides now said that in the country beyond there were other +large rivers, Hearne bought a canoe from one of the Indians, and gave +in exchange for it a knife which had cost a penny in England. + +In July the travellers moved on north-westward with better fortune. +Deer became plentiful. Bands of roving Indian hunters now attached +themselves to the exploring party. Hearne's guide declared that it +would be impossible to reach the Coppermine that season, and that they +must spend a winter in the Indian country. The truth was that Hearne's +followers had no intention of going farther to the north, but preferred +to keep company with the bands of hunters. It was useless for Hearne +to protest. He and his Indians drifted along to the west with the +hunting parties, now so numerous that by the end of July about seventy +deer-skin tents were pitched so as to form a little village. There +were about six hundred persons in the party. Each morning as they +broke camp and set out on the march 'the whole ground for a large space +around,' wrote Hearne, 'seemed to be alive with men, women, children, +and dogs.' + +The country through which Hearne travelled, or wandered, in this +mid-summer of 1770, {46} between the rivers Kazan and Dubawnt, was +barren indeed. There were no trees and no vegetation except moss and +the plant called by the Indians wish-a-capucca--the 'Labrador tea' that +is found everywhere in the swamps of the northern forests. Animal life +was, however, abundant. The caribou roaming the barren grounds in the +summer, to graze on the moss, were numerous. There was ample food for +all the party, and the animals were, indeed, slaughtered recklessly, +merely for the skins and the more delicate morsels of the flesh. + +The Dubawnt river midway in its course expands into Dubawnt Lake, a +great sheet of water some sixty-five miles long and forty miles broad. +It lies in the same latitude as the south of Greenland. No more +desolate scene can be imagined than the picture revealed by modern +photographs of the country. The low shores of the lake offer an +endless prospect of barren rock and broken stone. In the century and a +half that have elapsed since Hearne's journey, only one or two intrepid +explorers have made their way through this region. It still lies and +probably will lie for centuries unreclaimed and unreclaimable for the +uses of civilization. + +Hearne and his Indian hunters moved {47} westward and southward, +passing in a circle round the west shore of Lake Dubawnt, though at a +distance of some miles from it. The luckless travellers had now but +little chance of reaching the object of their search. They were +hundreds of miles away even from the head waters of the Coppermine. +The season was already late: the Indian guides were quite unmanageable, +while the natives whom Hearne met clamoured greedily for European +wares, ammunition and medicine, and cried out in disgust at his +inability to supply their wants. + +Then came an accident, fortunate perhaps, that compelled Hearne to +abandon his enterprise. While he was taking his noon observations, +which showed him to be in latitude 63° 10' north, he left his quadrant +standing and sat down on the rocks to eat his dinner. A sudden gust of +wind dashed the delicate instrument to the ground, where it lay in +fragments. This capped the climax. Unable any longer to ascertain his +exact whereabouts, with no trustworthy guidance and no prospect of +winter supplies or equipment, Hearne turned back towards the south. +This was on August 12, after a journey of nearly six months into the +unknown north. + +The return occupied three months and a {48} half. They were filled +with hardship. On the very first day of the long march, a band of +Indians from the north, finding Hearne defenceless, plundered him of +wellnigh all he had. 'Nothing can exceed,' wrote Hearne, 'the cool +deliberation of the villains. A committee of them entered my tent. +The ringleader seated himself on my left hand. They first begged me to +lend them my skipertogan[1] to fill a pipe of tobacco. After smoking +two or three pipes, they asked me for several articles which I had not, +and among others for a pack of cards; but, on my answering that I had +not any of the articles they mentioned, one of them put his hand on my +baggage and asked if it was mine. Before I could answer in the +affirmative, he and the rest of his companions (six in number) had all +my treasure spread on the ground. One took one thing and one another, +till at last nothing was left but the empty bag, which they permitted +me to keep.' At Hearne's urgent request, a few necessary articles were +restored to him. From his Indian guides also the marauders took all +they had except their guns, a little ammunition, and a few tools. + +Thus miserably equipped, Hearne and his {49} followers set out for +home. Their only tent consisted of a blanket thrown over three long +sticks. They had no winter clothing, neither snow-shoes nor sleds, and +their food was such as could be found by the way. The month of +September was unusually severe, and when the winter set in, the party +suffered intensely from the cold, while the want of snow-shoes made +their march increasingly difficult. The marvel is that Hearne ever +reached the fort at all. He would not have done so very probably had +it not been his fortune to fall in with an Indian chief named +Matonabbee, a man of strange and exceptional character, to whom he owed +not only his return to Fort Prince of Wales, but his subsequent +successful journey to the Coppermine. + +This Indian chief, when he fell in with Hearne (September 20, 1770), +was crossing the barren grounds on his way to the fort with furs. As a +young man, Matonabbee had resided for years among the English. He had +some knowledge of the language, and was able to understand that a +certain merit would attach to the rescue of Hearne from his +predicament. Moreover, the chief had himself been to the Coppermine +river, and it was partly owing to his account of it that Governor {50} +Norton had sent Hearne into the barren grounds. + +[Illustration: Fort Churchill or Prince of Wales. Drawn by Samuel +Hearne.] + +Matonabbee hastened to relieve the young explorer's sufferings. He +provided him with warm deer-skins and, from his ample supplies, +prepared a great feast for the good cheer of his new acquaintance. An +orgy of eating followed, dear to the Indian heart, and after this, +without fire-water to drink, the Indians sang and danced about the +fires of the bivouac. Matonabbee and Hearne travelled together for +several days towards the fort, making only about twelve miles a day. +The Indian then directed Hearne to go eastward to a little river where +wood enough could be found for snow-shoes and sledges, while he himself +went forward at such a slow pace as to allow Hearne and his party to +overtake him. This was done and Hearne, now better equipped, rejoined +Matonabbee, after which they continued together for a fortnight, making +good progress over the snow. As they drew near the fort their +ammunition was almost spent and the game had almost disappeared. By +Matonabbee's advice, Hearne, accompanied by four Indians, left the main +party in order to hasten ahead as rapidly as possible. The daylight +was now exceedingly short, but the moon and the aurora borealis {51} +illuminated the brilliant waste of snow. The weather was intensely +cold. One of Hearne's dogs was frozen to death. But in spite of +hardship the advance party reached Fort Prince of Wales safe and sound +on November 25, 1770. Matonabbee arrived a few days later. + +Strange as it may seem, Hearne was off again in less than a fortnight +on his third quest of the Coppermine. The time that he had spent in +Matonabbee's company had given him a great opinion of the character of +the chief; 'the most sociable, kind, and sensible Indian I have ever +met'--so Hearne described him. The chief himself had offered to lead +Hearne to the great river of the north. Governor Norton willingly +furnished ammunition, supplies, and a few trading goods. The +expedition started in the depth of winter. But this time, with better +information to guide them, the travellers made no attempt to strike +directly northward. Instead, they moved towards the west so as to +cross the lower reaches of the barren grounds as soon as possible and +proceed northward by way of the basin of the Great Slave Lake, where +they would find a wooded country reaching far to the north. A glance +at the map will show the immensity of the task before them. The +distance from Fort Churchill {52} to the Slave Lake, even as the crow +flies, is some seven hundred miles, and from thence to the Arctic sea +four hundred and fifty, and the actual journey is longer by reason of +the sinuous course which the explorer must of necessity pursue. The +whole of this vast country was as yet unknown: no white man had looked +upon the Mackenzie river nor upon the vast lakes from which it flows. +It speaks well for the quiet intrepidity of Hearne that he was ready +alone to penetrate the trackless waste of an unknown country, among a +band of savages and amid the rigour of the northern winter. + +The journey opened gloomily enough. The month of December was spent in +toiling painfully over the barren grounds. The sledges were +insufficient, and Hearne as well as his companions had to trudge under +the burden of a heavy load. At best some sixteen or eighteen miles +could be traversed in the short northern day. Intense cold set in. +Game seemed to have vanished, and Christmas found the party plodding +wearily onward, foodless, moving farther each day from the little +outpost of civilization that lay behind them on the bleak shores of +Hudson Bay. + + +I must confess [wrote Hearne in his {53} journal] that I never spent so +dull a Christmas; and when I recollected the merry season which was +then passing, and reflected on the immense quantities and great variety +of delicacies which were then expending in every part of Christendom, I +could not refrain from wishing myself again in Europe, if it had only +been to have had an opportunity of alleviating the extreme hunger that +I suffered with the refuse of the table of one of my acquaintances. + + +At the end of the month (December 1770), they reached the woods, a +thick growth of stunted pine and poplar with willow bushes growing in +the frozen swamps. Here they joined a large party of Matonabbee's +band, for the most part women and children. The women were by no means +considered by the chief as a hindrance to the expedition. Indeed, he +attributed Hearne's previous failure to their absence. 'Women,' he +once told his English friend, 'were made for labour; one of them can +carry or haul as much as two men can do; they pitch our tents, make and +mend our clothing, and in fact there is no such thing as travelling in +this country for any length of {54} time without their assistance. +Women,' he added, 'though they do everything are maintained at a +trifling expense; for as they always stand cook, the very licking of +their fingers in scarce times is sufficient for their subsistence.' +Acting on these salutary opinions, the chief was a man of eight wives, +and Hearne was shocked later on to find the Indian willing to add to +his little flock by force without the slightest compunction. + +The two opening months of the year 1771 were spent in travelling +westward towards Wholdaia Lake. The country was wooded, though here +and there, the observer, standing on the higher levels, could see the +barren grounds to the northward. The cold was intense, especially when +a frozen lake or river exposed the travellers to the full force of the +wind. But game was plentiful. At intervals the party halted and +killed caribou in such quantities that three and four days were +sometimes spent in camp in a vain attempt to eat the spoils of the +chase. The Indians, Hearne remarked, slaughtered the game recklessly, +with no thought of the morrow. + +Wholdaia Lake was reached on March 2. This is a long sheet of water +lying some thirty miles north of the parallel of sixty degrees. At +{55} the point where Hearne crossed it on the ice, it was twenty-seven +miles broad; its length appears to be four or five times as great. It +is still almost unknown, for it lies far beyond the confines of present +settlement and has been seen only by explorers. + +From Wholdaia Lake the course was continued westward. The weather was +moderate. There was abundant game, the skies overhead were bright, and +the journey assumed a more agreeable aspect. Here and there bands of +roving Indians were seen, as also were encampments of hunters engaged +in snaring deer in the forest. In the middle of April, the party +rested for ten days in camp beside a little lake which marked the +westward limit of their march. From here on, the course was to lie +northward again. The Indians were therefore employed in gathering +staves and birch-bark to be used for tent poles and canoes when the +party should again reach the barren grounds on their northern route. + +The opening of May found the party at Lake Clowey, whose waters run +westward to the Great Slave Lake. Here they again halted, and the +Indians built birch-bark canoes out of the material they had carried +from the woods. In traversing the barren grounds, where both the {56} +direction and the nature of the rivers render them almost useless for +navigation, the canoe plays a part different from that which is +familiar throughout the rest of Canada. During the greater part of the +journey, often for a stretch of a hundred miles at a time, the canoe is +absolutely useless, or worse, since it must be carried. Here and +there, however, for the crossing of the larger rivers, it is +indispensable. Large numbers of Indians were assembling at Clowey Lake +during Hearne's stay there, and were likewise engaged in building +canoes. A considerable body of them, hearing that Matonabbee and his +band were on the way to the Coppermine, eagerly agreed to travel with +them. It seemed to them an excellent opportunity for making a combined +attack on their hereditary enemy, the Eskimos at the mouth of the +river. The savages thereupon set themselves to make wooden shields +about three feet long with which to ward off the arrows of the Eskimos. + +On May 20, a new start was made to the north. Matonabbee and his great +company of armed Indians now assumed the appearance of a war party, and +hurried eagerly towards the enemy's country. Two days after leaving +Lake Clowey, they passed out of the woods on {57} to the barren +grounds. To facilitate their movements most of the women were +presently left behind together with the children and dogs. A number of +the braves, weary already of the prospect of the long march, turned +back, but Matonabbee, Hearne, and about one hundred and fifty Indians +held on with all speed towards the north. Their path as traced on a +modern map runs by way of Clinton-Colden and Aylmer lakes and thence +northward to the mouth of the Coppermine. By the latter part of June +the ice was breaking up, and on the 22nd the party made use of their +canoes (which had been carried for over a month) in order to cross a +great river rejoicing in the ponderous name of the Congecathawachaga. +On the farther side, they met a number of Copper Indians who were +delighted to learn of Matonabbee's hostile design against the Eskimos. +They eagerly joined the party, celebrating their accession by a great +feast. + +The Copper Indians expressed their pleasure at learning from Hearne +that the great king their father proposed to send ships to visit them +by the northern sea. They had never seen a white man before and +examined Hearne with great curiosity, disapproving strongly of the +colour of his skin and comparing his hair to a stained buffalo tail. + +{58} + +The whole party moved on together. The weather was bad, with +alternating sleet and rain, and the path broken and difficult. July 4 +found them at the Stony Mountains, a rugged and barren set of hills +that seemed from a distance like a pile of broken stones. Nine days +more of arduous travel brought the warriors in sight of their goal. +From the elevation of the low hills that rose above its banks, Hearne +was able to look upon the foaming waters of the Coppermine, as it +plunged over the broken stones of its bed in a series of cascades. A +few trees, or rather a few burnt stumps, fringed the banks, but the +trees which here and there remained unburned were so crooked and +dwarfish as merely to heighten the desolation of the scene. + +Immediately on their arrival at the Coppermine, Matonabbee and his +Indians began to make their preparations for an attack upon the +Eskimos, who were known to frequent the mouth of the river. Spies were +sent out in advance towards the sea, and the remainder of the Indians +showed an unwonted and ominous energy in building fires and roasting +meat so that they might carry with them a supply so large as to make it +unnecessary to alarm the Eskimos by the sound of the guns of the +hunters {59} in search of food. Hearne occupied himself with surveying +the river. He was sick at heart at the scene of bloodshed which he +anticipated, but was powerless to dissuade his companions from their +design. Two days later (July 15, 1771), the spies brought back word +that a camp of Eskimos, five tents in all, had been seen on the further +side of the river. It was distant about twelve miles and favourably +situated for a surprise. Matonabbee and his braves were now filled +with the fierce eagerness of the savage; they crossed hurriedly to the +west side of the river, where each Indian painted the shield that he +carried with rude daubs of red and black, to imitate the spirits of the +earth and air on whom he relied for aid in the coming fight. +Noiselessly the Indians proceeded along the banks of the river, +trailing in a serpentine course among the rocks so as to avoid being +seen upon the higher ground. They seemed to Hearne to have been +suddenly transformed from an undisciplined rabble into a united band. +Northern and Copper Indians alike were animated by a single purpose and +readily shared with one another the weapons of their common stock. The +advance was made in the middle of the night, but at this season of the +year the whole {60} scene was brilliant with the light of the midnight +sun. The Indians stole to within two hundred yards of the place +indicated by the guides. From their ambush among the rocks they could +look out upon the tents of their sleeping victims. The camp of the +Eskimos stood on a broad ledge of rock at the spot where the +Coppermine, narrowed between lofty walls of red sandstone, roars +foaming over a cataract some three hundred yards in extent. + +The Indians, sure of their prey, paused a few moments to make final +preparations for the onslaught. They cast aside their outer garments, +bound back their hair from their eyes, and hurriedly painted their +foreheads and faces with a hideous coating of red and black. Then with +weapons in hand they rushed forth upon their sleeping foe. + +Hearne, unable to leave the spot, was compelled to witness in all its +details the awful slaughter which followed. + + +In a few seconds [he wrote in his journal] the horrible scene +commenced; it was shocking beyond description; the poor unhappy victims +were surprised in the midst of their sleep, and had neither time nor +power to make any resistance; men, {61} women, and children, in all +upwards of twenty, ran out of their tents stark naked, and endeavoured +to make their escape; but the Indians, having possession of all the +land-side, to no place could they fly for shelter. One alternative +only remained, that of jumping into the river; but, as none of them +attempted it, they all fell a sacrifice to Indian barbarity. The +shrieks and groans of the poor expiring wretches were truly dreadful. + + +But it is needless to linger on the details of the massacre, which +Hearne was thus compelled to witness, and the revolting mutilation of +the corpses which followed it. To Matonabbee and the other Indians the +whole occurrence was viewed as a proper incident of tribal war, and the +feeble protests which Hearne contrived to make only drew down upon him +the expression of their contempt. + +After the massacre followed plunder. The Indians tore down the tents +of the Eskimos and with reckless folly threw tents, tent poles, and +great quantities of food into the waters of the cataract. Having made +a feast of fresh fish on the ruins of the camp, they then announced to +Hearne that they were ready to assist him in {62} going on to the mouth +of the river. The desolate scene was left behind--the broad rock +strewn with mangled bodies of the dead and the broken remnants of their +poor belongings. Half a century later the explorer Franklin visited +the spot and saw the skulls and bones of the Eskimos still lying about. +One of Franklin's Indians, then an aged man, had been a witness of the +scene. + +From the hills beside the Bloody Falls, as the cataract is called, the +eye could discern at a distance of some eight miles the open water of +the Arctic and the glitter of the ice beyond. Hearne followed the +river along its precipitous and broken course till he stood upon the +shore of the sea. One may imagine with what emotion he looked out upon +that northern ocean to reach which he had braved the terrors of the +Arctic winter and the famine of the barren grounds. He saw before him +about three-quarters of a mile of open sea, studded with rocks and +little islands: beyond that the clear white of the ice-pack stretched +to the farthest horizon. Hearne viewed this scene in the bright +sunlight of the northern day: but while he still lingered, thick fog +and drizzling rain rolled in from the sea and shut out the view. For +the sake of form, as he said, he {63} erected a pile of stones and took +possession of the coast in the name of the Hudson's Bay Company. Then, +filled with the bitterness of a vain quest, Hearne turned his face +towards the south to commence his long march to the settlements. + +Up to this point nothing had been seen of the supposed mountains of +copper which formed the principal goal of Hearne's undertaking. The +eagerness of the Indians had led them to hasten directly to the camp of +the Eskimos regardless of all else. But on the second day of the +journey home, the guides led Hearne to the site of this northern +Eldorado. It lay among the hills beside the Coppermine river at a spot +thirty miles from the sea, and almost directly south of the mouth of +the river. The prospect was strange. Some mighty force, as of an +earthquake, seemed to have rent asunder the solid rock and strewn it in +a confused and broken heap of boulders. Through these a rivulet ran to +join the Coppermine. Here, said the Indians, was copper so great in +quantity that it could be gathered as easily as one might gather stones +at Churchill. Filled with a new eagerness, Hearne and his companions +searched for four hours among the rocks. Here and there a few +splinters of native {64} copper were seen. One piece alone, weighing +some four pounds, offered a slight reward for their quest. This Hearne +carried away with him, convinced now that the mountain of copper and +the inexhaustible wealth of the district were mere fictions created by +the cupidity of the savages or by the natural mystery surrounding a +region so grim and inaccessible as the rocky gorge by which the +Coppermine rushes to the cold seas of the north. + +After Hearne's visit no explorer reached the lower waters of the +Coppermine till Captain (afterwards Sir John) Franklin made his +memorable and marvellous overland journey of 1821. Since Franklin's +time the region has been crossed only two or three times by explorers. +They agree in stating that loose copper and copper ore are freely +found. But it does not seem that, since 1771, any white man has ever +looked upon the valley of the great boulders which the Indians +described to Hearne as containing a fabulous wealth of copper. The +solitary piece of metal which he brought home is still preserved by the +Hudson's Bay Company. + +There is no need to follow in detail the long journey which Hearne had +to take in order to {65} return to the fort. The march lasted nearly a +year, during which he was exposed to the same hardship, famine and +danger as on his way to the sea. The route followed on the return was +different. The party ascended the valley of the Coppermine as far as +Point Lake, a considerable body of water visited later by Franklin, and +distant one hundred and sixty miles from the sea. This was reached on +September 3, 1771. Four months were spent in travelling almost +directly south. They passed over a rugged country of stone and marsh, +buried deep in snow, with here and there a clump of stunted pine or +straggling willow. Bitter weather with great gales and deep snow set +in in October. Snow-shoes and sledges were made. Many small lakes and +rivers, now fast frozen, were traversed, but the whole country is still +so little known that Hearne's path can hardly be traced with certainty. +By the middle of November the clumps of trees thickened into the +northern edge of the great forest. The way now became easier. They +had better shelter from the wind, and firewood was abundant. For food +the party carried dried meat from Point Lake, and as they passed into +the thicker woods they were fortunate enough to find a few rabbits and +wood partridges. {66} Some fish were caught through the ice of the +river. But in nearly two months of walking only two deer were seen. + +On Christmas Eve Hearne found himself on the shores of a great frozen +lake, so vast that, as the Indians rightly informed him, it reached +three hundred miles east and west. This is the Great Slave Lake; +Hearne speaks of it as Athaspuscow Lake. The latter name is the same +as that now given to another lake (Athabaska of Canadian maps)--the +word being descriptive and meaning the lake with the beds of reeds. + +Hearne and his party crossed the great lake on the ice. A new prospect +now opened. Deer and beaver were plentiful among the islands. Great +quantities of fine fish abounded in the waters under the ice. As they +reached the southern shore, the jumble of rocks and hills and stunted +trees of the barren north was left behind, and the travellers entered a +fine level country, over which wandered great herds of buffalo and +moose. For about forty miles they ascended the course of the Athabaska +river, finding themselves among splendid woods with tall pines and +poplars such as Hearne had never seen. From the Athabaska they struck +eastward, plunging into so dense a forest that {67} at times the axes +had to be used to clear the way. For two months (January and February +of 1772) they made their way through the northern forest. The month of +March found them clear of the level country of the Athabaska and +entering upon the hilly and broken region which formed the territory of +the Northern Indians. At the end of March the first thaws began, +rendering walking difficult in the bush. In traversing the open lakes +and plains they were frequently exposed to the violent gales of the +equinoctial season. By the middle of April the signs of spring were +apparent. Flocks of waterfowl were seen overhead, flying to the north. +Their course was shaped directly to the east, so that the party were +presently traversing the same route as on their outward journey and +making towards Wholdaia Lake. The month of May opened with fine +weather and great thaws. Such intense heat was experienced in the +first week of this month that for some days a march of twelve miles a +day was all that the travellers could accomplish. Canoes were now +built for the passage of the lakes and rivers. By May 25 the +expedition was clear of all the woods and out on the barren grounds. +They passed the Cathawachaga river, still covered with ice, {68} on the +last day of May. A month of travel over the barren grounds brought +them on the last day of June 1772 to the desolate but welcome +surroundings of Fort Prince of Wales. Hearne had been absent on his +last journey one year, six months, and twenty-three days. From his +first journey into the wilderness until his final return, there had +elapsed two years, seven months, and twenty-four days. + +Hearne was not left without honour. The Hudson's Bay Company retained +him in their service at various factories, and three years after his +famous expedition they made him governor of Fort Prince of Wales. +During his service there he had the melancholy celebrity of +surrendering the great fort (unfortunately left without men enough to +defend it) to a French fleet under Admiral La Pérouse. Among the +spoils of the captors was Hearne's manuscript journal, which the +generous victors returned on the sole condition that it should be +published as soon as possible. Hearne returned to England in 1787, and +was chiefly busied with revising and preparing his journal until his +death in 1792. + +No better appreciation of his work has been written than the words with +which he concludes the account of his safe return after his years {69} +of wandering. 'Though my discoveries,' he writes, 'are not likely to +prove of any material advantage to the nation at large, or indeed to +the Hudson's Bay Company, yet I have the pleasure to think that I have +fully complied with the orders of my masters, and that it has put a +final end to all disputes concerning a North-West Passage through +Hudson's Bay.' + + + +[1] Bag for flint and steel, tobacco, etc. + + + + +{70} + +CHAPTER III + +MACKENZIE DESCENDS THE GREAT RIVER OF THE NORTH + +The next great landmark in the exploration of the Far North is the +famous voyage of Alexander Mackenzie down the river which bears his +name, and which he traced to its outlet into the Arctic ocean. This +was in 1789. By that time the Pacific coast of America and the coast +of Siberia over against it had already been explored. Even before +Hearne's journey the Danish navigator Bering, sailing in the employ of +the Russian government, had discovered the strait which separates Asia +from America, and which commemorates his name. Four years after +Hearne's return (1776) the famous navigator Captain Cook had explored +the whole range of the American coast to the north of what is now +British Columbia, had passed Bering Strait and had sailed along the +Arctic coast as far as Icy Cape. + +[Illustration: Sir Alexander Mackenzie. From the painting by Sir T. +Lawrence.] + +The general outline of the north of the {71} continent of America, and +at any rate the vast distance to be traversed to reach the Pacific from +the Atlantic, could now be surmised with some accuracy. But the +internal geography of the continent still contained an unsolved +mystery. It was known that vast bodies of fresh water far beyond the +basin of the Saskatchewan and the Columbia emptied towards the north. +Hearne had revealed the existence of the Great Slave Lake, and the +advance of daring fur-traders into the north had brought some knowledge +of the great stream called the Peace, which rises far in the mountains +of the west, and joins its waters to Lake Athabaska. It was known that +this river after issuing from the Athabaska Lake moved onwards, as a +new river, in a vast flood towards the north, carrying with it the +tribute of uncounted streams. These rivers did not flow into the +Pacific. Nor could so great a volume of water make its way to the sea +through the shallow torrent of the Coppermine or the rivers that flowed +north-eastward over the barren grounds. There must exist somewhere a +mighty river of the north running to the frozen seas. + +It fell to the lot of Alexander Mackenzie to find the solution of this +problem. The {72} circumstances which led to his famous journey arose +out of the progress of the fur trade and its extension into the Far +West. The British possession of Canada in 1760 had created a new +situation. The monopoly enjoyed by the Hudson's Bay Company was rudely +disturbed. Enterprising British traders from Montreal, passing up the +Great Lakes, made their way to the valley of the Saskatchewan and, +whether legally or not, contrived to obtain an increasing share of the +furs brought from the interior. These traders were at first divided +into partnerships and small groups, but presently, for the sake of +co-operation and joint defence, they combined (1787) into the powerful +body known as the North-West Company, which from now on entered into +desperate competition with the great corporation that had first +occupied the field. The Hudson's Bay Company and its rival sought to +carry their operations as far inland as possible in order to tap the +supplies at their source. They penetrated the valleys of the +Assiniboine, the Red, and the Saskatchewan rivers, and founded, among +others, the forts which were destined to become the present cities of +Winnipeg, Brandon, and Edmonton. The annals of North-West Canada +during the next thirty-three years are made up of the {73} recital of +the commercial rivalry, and at times the actual conflict under arms, of +the two great trading companies. + +It was in the service of the North-West Company that Alexander +Mackenzie made his famous journey. He had arrived in Canada in 1779. +After five years spent in the counting-house of a trading company at +Montreal, he had been assigned for a year to a post at Detroit, and in +1785 had been elevated to the dignity of a bourgeois or partner in the +North-West Company. In this capacity Alexander Mackenzie was sent out +to the Athabaska district to take control, in that vast and scarcely +known region, of the posts of the traders now united into the +North-West Company. + +A glance at the map of Canada will show the commanding geographical +position occupied by Lake Athabaska, in a country where the waterways +formed the only means of communication. It receives from the south and +west the great streams of the Athabaska and the Peace, which thus +connect it with the prairies of the Saskatchewan valley and with the +Rocky Mountains. Eastward a chain of lakes and rivers connects it and +the forest country which lies about it with the barren grounds and the +forts on Hudson Bay, while to the north, {74} issuing from Lake +Athabaska, a great and unknown river led into the forests, moving +towards an unknown sea. + +It was Mackenzie's first intention to make Lake Athabaska the frontier +of the operations of his company. Acting under his instructions, his +cousin Roderick Mackenzie, who served with him, selected a fine site on +a cape on the south side of the lake and erected the post that was +named Fort Chipewyan. Beautifully situated, with good timber and +splendid fisheries and easy communication in all directions, the fort +rapidly became the central point of trade and travel in the far +north-west. But it was hardly founded before Mackenzie had already +conceived a wider scheme. Chipewyan should be the emporium but not the +outpost of the fur trade; using it as a base, he would descend the +great unknown waterway which led north, and thus bring into the sphere +of the company's operations the whole region between Lake Athabaska and +the northern sea. Alexander Mackenzie's object was, in name at least, +commercial--the extension of the trade of the North-West Company. But +in reality, his incentive was that instinctive desire to widen the +bounds of geographical knowledge, and to roll back the {75} mystery of +unknown lands and seas which had already raised Hearne to eminence, and +which later on was to lead Franklin to his glorious disaster. + +It was on Wednesday, June 3, 1789, that Alexander Mackenzie's little +flotilla of four birch-bark canoes set out across Lake Athabaska on its +way to the north. In Mackenzie's canoe were four French-Canadian +voyageurs, two of them accompanied by their wives, and a German. Two +other canoes were filled with Indians, who were to act as guides and +interpreters. At their head was a notable brave who had been one of +the band of Matonabbee, Hearne's famous guide. From his frequent +visits to the English post at Fort Churchill he had acquired the name +of the 'English Chief.' Another canoe was in charge of Leroux, a +French-Canadian in the service of the company, who had already +descended the Slave river, as far as the Great Slave Lake. Leroux and +his men carried trading goods and supplies. + +The first part of the journey was by a route already known. The +voyageurs paddled across the twenty miles of water which here forms the +breadth of Lake Athabaska, entered a river running from the lake, and +followed its {76} winding stream. They encamped at night seven miles +from the lake. The next morning at four o'clock the canoes were on +their way again, descending the winding river through a low forest of +birch and willow. After a paddle of ten miles, a bend in the little +river brought the canoes out upon the broad stream of the Peace river, +its waters here being upwards of a mile wide and running with a strong +current to the north. On our modern maps this great stream after it +leaves Lake Athabaska is called the Slave river: but it is really one +and the same mighty river, carrying its waters from the valleys of +British Columbia through the gorges of the Rocky Mountains, passing +into the Great Slave Lake, and then, under the name of the Mackenzie, +emptying into the Arctic. + +In the next five days Mackenzie's canoes successfully descended the +river to the Great Slave Lake, a distance of some two hundred and +thirty-five miles. The journey was not without its dangers. The Slave +river has a varied course: at times it broadens out into a great sheet +of water six miles across, flowing with a gentle current and carrying +the light canoes gently upon its unruffled surface. In other places it +is confined into a narrow channel, breaks into swift eddies and pours +in {77} boiling rapids over the jagged rocks. Over the upper rapids of +the river, Mackenzie and his men were able to run their canoes fully +laden; but lower down were long and arduous portages, rendered +dangerous by the masses of broken ice still clinging to the banks of +the river. As they neared the Great Slave Lake boisterous gales from +the north-east lashed the surface of the river into foam and brought +violent showers of rain. But the voyageurs were trained men, +accustomed to face the dangers of northern navigation. + +A week of travel brought them on June 9 to the Great Slave Lake. It +was still early in the season. The rigour of winter was not yet +relaxed. As far as the eye could see the surface of the lake presented +an unbroken sheet of ice. Only along the shore had narrow lanes of +open water appeared. The weather was bitterly cold, and there was no +immediate prospect of the break-up of the ice. + +For a fortnight Mackenzie and his party remained at the lake, skirting +its shores as best they could, and searching among the bays and islands +of its western end for the outlet towards the north which they knew +must exist. Heavy rain, alternating with bitter cold, caused them much +hardship. At times it froze so {78} hard that a thin sheet of new ice +covered even the open water of the lake. But as the month advanced the +mass of old ice began slowly to break; strong winds drove it towards +the north, and the canoes were presently able to pass, with great +danger and difficulty, among the broken floes. Mackenzie met a band of +Yellow Knife Indians, who assured him that a great river ran out of the +west end of the lake, and offered a guide to aid him in finding the +channel among the islands and sandbars of the lake. Convinced that his +search would be successful, Mackenzie took all the remaining supplies +into his canoes and sent back Leroux to Chipewyan with the news that he +had gone north down the great river. But even after obtaining his +guide Mackenzie spent four days searching for the outlet It was not +till the end of the month of June that his search was rewarded, and, at +the extreme south-west, the lake, after stretching out among islands +and shallows, was found to contract into the channel of a river. + +The first day of July saw Mackenzie's canoes floating down the stream +that bears his name. From now on, progress became easier. At this +latitude and season the northern day gave the voyageurs twenty hours of +sunlight in each day, {79} and with smooth water and a favouring +current the descent was rapid. Five days after leaving the Great Slave +Lake the canoes reached the region where the waters of the Great Bear +Lake, then still unknown, drain into the Mackenzie. The Indians of +this district seemed entirely different from those known at the trading +posts. At the sight of the canoes and the equipment of the voyageurs +they made off and hid among the rocks and trees beside the river. +Mackenzie's Indians contrived to make themselves understood, by calling +out to them in the Chipewyan language, but the strange Indians showed +the greatest reluctance and apprehension, and only with difficulty +allowed Mackenzie's people to come among them. Mackenzie notes the +peculiar fact that they seemed unacquainted with tobacco, and that even +fire-water was accepted by them rather from fear of offending than from +any inclination. Knives, hatchets and tools, however, they took with +great eagerness. On learning of Mackenzie's design to go on towards +the north they endeavoured with every possible expression of horror to +induce him to turn back. The sea, they said, was so far away that +winter after winter must pass before Mackenzie could hope to reach it: +he would be an old man {80} before he could complete the voyage. More +than this, the river, so they averred, fell over great cataracts which +no one could pass; he would find no animals and no food for his men. +The whole country was haunted by monsters. Mackenzie was not to be +deterred by such childish and obviously interested terrors. His +interpreters explained that he had no fear of the horrors that they +depicted, and, by a heavy bribe, consisting of a kettle, an axe, and a +knife, he succeeded in enlisting the services of one of the Indians as +a guide. That the terror of the Far North professed by these Indians, +or at any rate the terror of going there in strange company, was not +wholly imaginary was made plain from the conduct of the guide. When +the time came to depart he showed every sign of anxiety and fear: he +sought in vain to induce his friends to take his place: finding that he +must go, he reluctantly bade farewell to his wife and children, cutting +off a lock of his hair and dividing it into three parts, which he +fastened to the hair of each of them. + +On July 5, the party set out with their new guide, and on the same +afternoon passed the mouth of the Great Bear river, which joins the +Mackenzie in a flood of sea-green water, fresh, but coloured like that +of the ocean. Below {81} this point, they passed many islands. The +banks of the river rose to high mountains covered with snow. The +country, so the guide said, was here filled with bears, but the +voyageurs saw nothing worse than mosquitoes, which descended in clouds +upon the canoes. As the party went on to the north, the guide seemed +more and more stricken with fear and consumed with the longing to +return to his people. In the morning after breaking camp nothing but +force would induce him to embark, and on the fourth night, during the +confusion of a violent thunder-storm, he made off and was seen no more. + +The next day, however, Mackenzie supplied his place, this time by +force, from a band of roving Indians. The new guide told him that the +sea was not far away, and that it could be reached in ten days. As the +journey continued the river was broken into so many channels and so +dotted with islands, that it was almost impossible to decide which was +the main waterway. The guide's advice was evidently influenced by his +desire to avoid the Eskimos, and, like his predecessor, to keep away +from the supposed terrors of the North. The shores of the river were +now at times low, though usually lofty mountains could be seen about +ten miles {82} away. Trees were still present, especially fir and +birch, though in places both shores of the river were entirely bare, +and the islands were mere banks of sand and mud to which great masses +of ice adhered. An observation taken on July 10 showed that the +voyageurs had reached latitude 67° 47' north. From the extreme +variation of the compass, and from other signs, Mackenzie was now +certain that he was approaching the northern ocean. He was assured +that in a few days more of travel he could reach its shores. But in +the meantime his provisions were running low. His Indian guide, a prey +to fantastic terrors, endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose, +while his canoe men, now far beyond the utmost limits of the country +known to the fur trade, began to share the apprehensions of the guide, +and clamoured eagerly for return. Mackenzie himself was of the opinion +that it would not be possible for him to return to Chipewyan while the +rivers were still open, and that the approach of winter must surprise +him in these northern solitudes. But in spite of this he could not +bring himself to turn back. With his men he stipulated for seven days; +if the northern ocean were not found in that time he would turn south +again. + +{83} + +The expedition went forward. On July 10, they made a course of +thirty-two miles, the river sweeping with a strong current through a +low, flat country, a mountain range still visible in the west and +reaching out towards the north. At the spot where they pitched their +tents at night on the river bank they could see the traces of an +encampment of Eskimos. The sun shone brilliantly the whole night, +never descending below the horizon. Mackenzie sat up all night +observing its course in the sky. At a quarter to four in the morning, +the canoes were off again, the river winding and turning in its course +but heading for the north-west. Here and there on the banks they saw +traces of the Eskimos, the marks of camp fires, and the remains of +huts, made of drift-wood covered with grass and willows. This day the +canoes travelled fifty-four miles. The prospect about the travellers +was gloomy and dispiriting. The low banks of the river were now almost +treeless, except that here and there grew stunted willow, not more than +three feet in height. The weather was cloudy and raw, with gusts of +rain at intervals. The discontent of Mackenzie's companions grew +apace: the guide was evidently at the end of his knowledge; while the +violent rain, the biting cold {84} and the fear of an attack by hostile +savages kept the voyageurs in a continual state of apprehension. July +12 was marked by continued cold, and the canoes traversed a country so +bare and naked that scarcely a shrub could be seen. At one place the +land rose in high banks above the river, and was bright with short +grass and flowers, though all the lower shore was now thick with ice +and snow, and even in the warmer spots the soil was only thawed to a +depth of four inches. Here also were seen more Eskimo huts, with +fragments of sledges, a square stone kettle, and other utensils lying +about. + +Mackenzie was now at the very delta of the great river, where it +discharges its waters, broken into numerous and intricate channels, +into the Arctic ocean. On Sunday, July 12, the party encamped on an +island that rose to a considerable eminence among the flat and dreary +waste of broken land and ice in which the travellers now found +themselves. The channels of the river had here widened into great +sheets of water, so shallow that for stretches of many miles, east and +west, the depth never exceeded five feet. Mackenzie and 'English +Chief,' his principal follower, ascended to the highest ground on the +island, {85} from which they were able to command a wide view in all +directions. To the south of them lay the tortuous and complicated +channels of the broad river which they had descended; east and north +were islands in great number; but on the westward side the eye could +discern the broad field of solid ice that marked the Arctic ocean. + +Mackenzie had reached the goal of his endeavours. His followers, when +they learned that the open sea, the _mer d'ouest_ as they called it, +was in sight, were transformed; instead of sullen ill-will they +manifested the highest degree of confidence and eager expectation. +They declared their readiness to follow their leader wherever he wished +to go, and begged that he would not turn back without actually reaching +the shore of the unknown sea. But in reality they had already reached +it. That evening, when their camp was pitched and they were about to +retire to sleep, under the full light of the unsinking sun, the inrush +of the Arctic tide, threatening to swamp their baggage and drown out +their tents, proved beyond all doubt that they were now actually on the +shore of the ocean. + +For three days Mackenzie remained beside the Arctic ocean. Heavy gales +blew in from {86} the north-west, and in the open water to the westward +whales were seen. Mackenzie and his men, in their exultation at this +final proof of their whereabouts, were rash enough to start in pursuit +in a canoe. Fortunately, a thick curtain of fog fell on the ocean and +terminated the chase. In memory of the occurrence, Mackenzie called +his island Whale Island. On the morning of July 14, 1789, Mackenzie, +convinced that his search had succeeded, ordered a post to be erected +on the island beside his tents, on which he carved the latitude as he +had calculated it (69° 14' north), his own name, the number of persons +who were with him and the time that was spent there. + +This day Mackenzie spent in camp, for a great gale, blowing with rain +and bitter cold, made it hazardous to embark. But on the next morning +the canoes were headed for the south, and the return journey was begun. +It was time indeed. Only about five hundred pounds weight of supplies +was now left in the canoes--enough, it was calculated, to suffice for +about twelve days. As the return journey might well occupy as many +weeks, the fate of the voyageurs must now depend on the chances of +fishing and the chase. + +{87} + +As a matter of fact the ascent of the river, which Mackenzie conducted +with signal success and almost without incident, occupied two months. +The weather was favourable. The wild gales which had been faced in the +Arctic delta were left behind, and, under mild skies and unending +sunlight, and with wild fowl abundant about them, the canoes were urged +steadily against the stream. The end of the month of July brought the +explorers to the Great Bear river; from this point an abundance of +berries on the banks of the stream--the huckleberry, the raspberry and +the saskatoon--afforded a welcome addition to their supplies. As they +reached the narrower parts of the river, where it flowed between high +banks, the swift current made paddling useless and compelled the men to +haul the canoes with the towing line. At other times steady strong +winds from the north enabled them to rig their sails and skim without +effort over the broad surface of the river. Mackenzie noted with +interest the varied nature and the fine resources of the country of the +upper river. At one place petroleum, having the appearance of yellow +wax, was seen oozing from the rocks; at another place a vast seam of +coal in the river bank was observed to be burning. On August 22 the +canoes were {88} driven over the last reaches of the Mackenzie with a +west wind strong and cold behind them, and were carried out upon the +broad bosom of the Great Slave Lake. The voyageurs were once more in +known country. The navigation of the lake, now free from ice, was +without difficulty, and the canoes drove at a furious rate over its +waters. On August 24 three canoes were sighted sailing on the lake, +and were presently found to contain Leroux and his party, who had been +carrying on the fur trade in that district during Mackenzie's absence. + +The rest of the journey offered no difficulty. There remained, indeed, +some two hundred and sixty miles of paddle and portage to traverse the +Slave river and reach Fort Chipewyan. But to the stout arms of +Mackenzie's trained voyageurs this was only a summer diversion. On +September 12, 1789, Alexander Mackenzie safely reached the fort. His +voyage had occupied one hundred and two days. Its successful +completion brought to the world its first knowledge of that vast +waterway of the northern country, whose extensive resources in timber +and coal, in mineral and animal wealth, still await development. + + + + +{89} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MEMORABLE EXPLOITS OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN + +The generation now passing away can vividly recall, as one of the +deepest impressions of its childhood, the profound and sustained +interest excited by the mysterious fate of Sir John Franklin. His +splendid record by sea and land, the fact that he was one of 'Nelson's +men' and had fought at Copenhagen and Trafalgar, his feats as an +explorer in the unknown wilds of North America and the torrid seas of +Australasia, and, more than these, his high Christian courage and his +devotion to the flag and country that he served--all had made of +Franklin a hero whom the nation delighted to honour. His departure in +1846 with his two stout ships the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ and a total +company of one hundred and thirty-four men, including some of the +ablest naval officers of the day, was hailed with high hopes that the +mysterious north would at length be {90} robbed of its secret. Then, +as the years passed and the ships never returned, and no message from +the explorers came out of the silent north, the nation, defiant of +difficulty and danger, bent its energies towards the discovery of their +fate. No less than forty-two expeditions were sent out in search of +the missing ships. The efforts of the government were seconded by the +munificence of private individuals, and by the generosity of naval +officers who gladly gave their services for no other reward than the +honour of the enterprise. The energies of the rescue parties were +quickened by the devotion of Lady Franklin, who refused to abandon +hope, and consecrated her every energy and her entire fortune to the +search for her lost husband. Her conduct and her ardent appeals awoke +a chivalrous spirit at home and abroad; men such as Kane, Bellot, +M'Clintock and De Haven volunteered their services in the cause. At +length, as with the passage of years anxiety deepened into despair, and +as little by little it was learned that all were lost, the brave story +of the death of Franklin and his men wrote itself in imperishable +letters on the hearts of their fellow-countrymen. It found no parallel +till more than half a century later, when another and a {91} similar +tragedy in the silent snows of the Antarctic called forth again the +mingled pride and anguish with which Britain honours the memory of +those fallen in her cause. + +John Franklin belonged to the school of naval officers trained in the +prolonged struggle of the great war with France. He entered the Royal +Navy in 1800 at fourteen years of age, and within a year was engaged on +his ship, the _Polyphemus_, in the great sea-fight at Copenhagen. +During the brief truce that broke the long war after 1801, Franklin +served under Flinders, the great explorer of the Australasian seas. On +his way home in 1803 he was shipwrecked in Torres Strait, and, with +ninety-three others of the company of H.M.S. _Porpoise_, was cast up on +a sandbar, seven hundred and fifty miles from the nearest port. The +party were rescued, Franklin reached England, and at once set out on a +voyage to the China seas in the service of the East India Company. +During the voyage the merchant fleet with which he sailed offered +battle to a squadron of French men-of-war, which fled before them. The +next year saw Franklin serving as signal midshipman on board the +_Bellerophon_ at Trafalgar. He remained in active service during the +war, served in America, and was {92} wounded in the British attempt to +capture New Orleans. After the war Franklin, now a lieutenant, found +himself, like so many other naval officers, unable, after the stirring +life of the past fifteen years, to settle into the dull routine of +peace service. Maritime discovery, especially since his voyage with +Flinders, had always fascinated his mind, and he now offered himself +for service in that Arctic region with which his name will ever be +associated. + +The long struggle of the war had halted the progress of discoveries in +the northern seas. But on the conclusion of peace the attention of the +nation, and of naval men in particular, was turned again towards the +north. The Admiralty naturally sought an opportunity of giving +honourable service to their officers and men. Great numbers of them +had been thrown out of employment. Some migrated to the colonies or +even took service abroad. At the same time the writings of Captain +Scoresby, a whaling captain of scientific knowledge who published an +account of the Greenland seas, and the influence of such men as Sir +John Barrow, the secretary of the Admiralty, did much to create a +renewal of public interest in the north. It was now recognized that +the North-West Passage offered no commercial {93} attractions. But it +was felt that it would not be for the honour of the nation that the +splendid discoveries of Hearne, Cook and Mackenzie should remain +uncompleted. To trace the Arctic water-way from the Atlantic to the +Pacific became now a supreme object, not of commercial interest, but of +geographical research and of national pride. To this was added the +fact that the progress of physical and natural science was opening up +new fields of investigation for the explorers of the north. + +Franklin first sailed north in 1818, as second in command of the first +Arctic expedition of the nineteenth century. Two brigs, H.M.S. +_Dorothea_ under Captain Buchan, and H.M.S. _Trent_ under Lieutenant +John Franklin, set out from the Thames with a purpose which in audacity +at least has never been surpassed. The new sentiment of supreme +confidence in the navy inspired by the conquest of the seas is evinced +by the fact that these two square-rigged sailing ships, clumsy and +antiquated, built up with sundry extra beams inside and iron bands +without, were directed to sail straight north across the North Pole and +down the world on the other side. They did their best. They went +churning northward through the foaming seas, and when they found that +{94} the ice was closing in on them, and that they were being blown +down upon it in a gale as on to a lee shore, the order was given to put +the helm up and charge full speed at the ice. It was the only possible +way of escape, and it meant either sudden and awful death under the ice +floes or else the piling up of the ships safe on top of them--'taking +the ice' as Arctic sailors call it. The _Dorothea_ and the _Trent_ +went driving at the ice with such a gale of snow about them that +neither could see the other as they ran. They 'took the ice' with a +mighty crash, amid a wild confusion of the elements, and when the storm +cleared the two old hulls lay shattered but safe on the surface of the +ice-pack. The whole larboard side of the _Dorothea_ was smashed, but +they brought her somehow to Spitzbergen, and there by wonderful +patching enabled her to sail home. + +The next year (1819) Lieutenant Franklin was off again on an Arctic +journey, the record of which, written by himself, forms one of the most +exciting stories of adventure ever written. The design this time was +to follow the lead of Hearne and Mackenzie. Beginning where their +labours ended, Franklin proposed to embark on the polar sea in canoes +and follow the coast line. Franklin left England at the {95} end of +May. He was accompanied by Dr Richardson, a naval surgeon, afterwards +Sir John Richardson, and second only to Franklin himself as an explorer +and writer, Midshipman Back, later on to be Admiral Sir George Back, +Midshipman Hood, and one Hepburn, a stout-hearted sailor of the Royal +Navy. They sailed in the Hudson's Bay Company ship _Prince of Wales_, +and passed through the straits to York Factory. Thence by canoe they +went inland, up the Hayes river, through Lake Winnipeg and thence up +the Saskatchewan to Cumberland House, a Hudson's Bay fort established +by Samuel Hearne a few years after his famous journey. From York +Factory to Cumberland House was a journey of six hundred and ninety +miles. But this was only a beginning. During the winter of 1819-20 +Franklin and his party made their way from Cumberland House to Fort +Chipewyan on Lake Athabaska, a distance, by the route traversed, of +eight hundred and fifty-seven miles. From this fort the party, +accompanied by Canadian voyageurs and Indian guides, made their way, in +the summer of 1820, to Fort Providence, a lonely post of the North-West +Company lying in latitude 62° on the northern shore of the Great Slave +Lake. + +{96} + +These were the days of rivalry, and even open war, between the two +great fur companies, the Hudson's Bay and the North-West. The +Admiralty had commended Franklin's expeditions to the companies, who +were to be requisitioned for the necessary supplies. But the disorders +of the fur trade, and the demoralization of the Indians, owing to the +free distribution of ardent spirits by the rival companies, rendered it +impossible for the party to obtain adequate supplies and stores. +Undeterred by difficulties, Franklin set out from Fort Providence to +make his way to the Arctic seas at the mouth of the Coppermine. The +expedition reached the height of land between the Great Slave Lake and +the Coppermine, on the borders of the country which had been the scene +of Hearne's exploits. The northern forest is here reduced to a thin +growth of stunted pine and willow. It was now the end of August. The +brief northern summer was drawing to its close. It was impossible to +undertake the navigation of the Arctic coast till the ensuing summer. +Franklin and his party built some rude log shanties which they called +Fort Enterprise. Here, after having traversed over two thousand miles +in all from York Factory, they spent their second winter in the {97} +north. It was a season of great hardship. With the poor materials at +their hand it was impossible to make their huts weatherproof. The wind +whistled through the ill-plastered seams of the logs. So intense was +the winter cold that the trees about the fort froze hard to their +centres. In cutting firewood the axes splintered as against stone. In +the officers' room the thermometer, sixteen feet from the log fire, +marked as low as fifteen degrees below zero in the day and forty below +at night. For food the party lived on deer's meat with a little fish, +tea twice a day (without sugar), and on Sunday a cup of chocolate as +the luxury of the week to every man. But, undismayed by cold and +hardship, they kept stoutly at their work. Richardson investigated the +mosses and lichens beneath the snow and acquainted himself with the +mineralogy of the neighbourhood. Franklin and the two lieutenants +carried out observations, their fingers freezing with the cold of +forty-six below zero at noon of the brief three-hour day in the heart +of winter. Sunday was a day of rest. The officers dressed in their +best attire. Franklin read the service of the Church of England to his +assembled company. For the French-Canadian Roman Catholics, Franklin +did the best he {98} could; he read to them the creed of the Church of +England in French. In the leisure part of the day a bundle of London +newspapers was perused again and again. + +The winter passed safely; the party now entered upon the most arduous +part of their undertaking. Canoes were built and dragged on improvised +sledges to the Coppermine. Franklin descended the river, surveying its +course as he went. He passed by the scene of the massacre witnessed by +Hearne, and found himself, late in July of 1821, on the shores of the +Arctic. The distance from Fort Enterprise was three hundred and +thirty-four miles, for one hundred and seventeen of which the canoes +and baggage had been hauled over snow and ice. + +Franklin and his followers, in two canoes, embarked on the polar sea +and traced the course of the coast eastward for five hundred and fifty +miles. The sailors were as men restored to their own element. But the +Canadian voyageurs were filled with dread at the great waves of the +open ocean. All that Franklin saw of the Arctic coast encouraged his +belief that the American continent is separated by stretches of sea +from the great masses of land that had been already discovered in the +Arctic. {99} The North-West Passage, ice-blocked and useless, was +still a geographical fact. Eager in the pursuit of his investigations +he went on eastward as long as he dared--too long in fact. Food was +running low. His voyageurs had lost heart, appalled at the immense +spaces of ice and sea through which their frail canoes went onward into +the unknown. Reluctantly, Franklin decided to turn back. But it was +too late to return by water. The northern gales drove the ice in +against the coast. Franklin and his men, dragging and carrying one of +the canoes, took to the land, in order to make their way across the +barren grounds. By this means they hoped to reach the upper waters of +the Coppermine and thence Fort Enterprise, where supplies were to have +been placed for them during the summer. Their journey was disastrous. +Bitter cold set in as they marched. Food failed them. Day after day +they tramped on, often with blinding snow in their faces, with no other +sustenance than the bitter weed called _tripe de roche_ that can here +and there be scraped from the rocks beneath the snow. At times they +found frozen remnants of deer that had been killed by wolves, a few +bones with putrid meat adhering to them. These they eagerly devoured. +But {100} often day after day passed without even this miserable +sustenance. At night they lay down beside a clump of willows, trying, +often in vain, to make a fire of the green twigs dragged from under the +snow. So great was their famine, Franklin says, that the very +sensation of hunger passed away, leaving only an exhaustion too great +for words. Lieutenant Back, gaunt and emaciated, staggered forward +leaning on a stick, refusing to give in. Richardson could hardly walk, +while Lieutenant Hood, emaciated to the last degree, was helped on by +his comrades as best they could. The Canadians and Indians suffered +less in body, but, lacking the stern purpose of the officers, they were +distraught with the horror of the death that seemed to await them. In +their fear they had refused to carry the canoe, and had smashed it and +thrown it aside. In this miserable condition the party reached, on +September 26, the Coppermine river, to find it flowing still unfrozen +in an angry flood which they could not cross. In vain they ranged the +banks above and below. Below them was a great lake; beside and above +them a swift, deep current broken by rapids. There was no crossing. +They tried to gather willow faggots, and bind them into a raft. But +the green wood sank so {101} easily that only one man could get upon +the raft: to paddle or pole it in the running water was impossible. A +line was made of strips of skin, and Richardson volunteered to swim the +river so as to haul the raft across with the line. The bitter cold of +the water paralysed his limbs. He was seen to sink beneath the leaping +waters. His companions dragged him back to the bank, where for hours +he lay as if lifeless beside the fire of willow branches, so emaciated +that he seemed a mere skeleton when they took off his wet clothing. +His comrades gazed at him with a sort of horror. Thus for days they +waited. At last, with infinite patience, one of the Canadians made a +sort of canoe with willow sticks and canvas. In this, with a line +attached, they crossed the river one by one. + +They were now only forty miles from Fort Enterprise. But their +strength was failing. Hood could not go on. The party divided. +Franklin and Back went forward with most of the men, while Richardson +and sailor Hepburn volunteered to stay with Hood till help could be +sent. The others left them in a little tent, with some rounds of +ammunition and willow branches gathered for the fire. A little further +on the march, three of Franklin's followers, {102} too exhausted to go +on, dropped out, proposing to make their way back to Richardson and +Hood. + +The little party at the tent in the snow waited in vain. Days passed, +and no help came. One of the three men who had left Franklin, an +Indian called Michel, joined them, saying that the others had gone +astray in the snow. But he was strange and sullen, sleeping apart and +wandering off by himself to hunt. Presently, from the man's strange +talk and from some meat which he brought back from his hunting and +declared to be part of a wolf, Richardson realized the awful truth that +Michel had killed his companions and was feeding on their bodies. A +worse thing followed. Richardson and Hepburn, gathering wood a few +days later, heard the report of a gun from beside the fire where they +had left Lieutenant Hood, who was now in the last stage of exhaustion. +They returned to find Michel beside the dead body of their comrade. He +had been shot through the back of the head. Michel swore that Hood had +killed himself. Richardson knew the truth, but both he and Hepburn +were too enfeebled by privation to offer fight to the armed and +powerful madman. The three set out for Fort Enterprise, Michel +carrying a loaded gun, two {103} pistols and a bayonet, muttering to +himself and evidently meditating a new crime. Richardson, a man of +iron nerve, forestalled him. Watching his opportunity, he put a pistol +to the Indian's head and blew his brains out. + +Richardson and Hepburn dragged themselves forward mile by mile, +encouraged by the thought of the blazing fires and the abundant food +that they expected to find at Fort Enterprise. They reached the fort +just in the dusk of an October evening. All about it was silence. +There were no tracks in the newly fallen snow. Only a thin thread of +smoke from the chimney gave a sign of life. Hurriedly they made their +way in. To their horror and dismay they found Franklin and three +companions, two Canadians and an Indian, stretched out in the last +stages of famine. 'No words can convey an idea,' wrote Dr Richardson +later on, 'of the filth and wretchedness that met our eyes on looking +around. Our own misery had stolen upon us by degrees and we were +accustomed to the contemplation of each other's emaciated figures, but +the ghastly countenances, dilated eye-balls, and sepulchral voices of +Captain Franklin and those with him were more than we could bear.' +Franklin, on his part, was equally dismayed at the appearance of +Richardson and Hepburn. {104} 'We were all shocked,' he says in his +journal, 'at beholding the emaciated countenances of the doctor and +Hepburn, as they strongly evidenced their extremely debilitated state. +The alteration in our appearance was equally distressing to them, for +since the swellings had subsided we were little more than skin and +bone. The doctor particularly remarked the sepulchral tone of our +voices, which he requested us to make more cheerful if possible, +unconscious that his own partook of the same key.' + +Franklin related to the new-comers how he and his followers had reached +Fort Enterprise, and to their infinite disappointment and grief had +found it perfectly desolate. There was no depot of provisions, as had +been arranged, nor any trace of a letter or other message from the +traders at Fort Providence or from the Indians. Lieutenant Back, who +had reached the fort a little in advance of Franklin, had gone on in +the hope of finding Indian hunters, or perhaps of reaching Fort +Providence and sending relief. They had no food except a little _tripe +de roche_, and Franklin had thus found himself, as he explained to +Richardson, in the deserted fort with five companions, in a state of +utter destitution. Food there was none. {105} From the refuse heaps +of the winter before, now buried under the snow, they dug out pieces of +bone and a few deer-skins; on this, with a little _tripe de roche_, +they endeavoured to subsist. The log house was falling into decay. +The seams gaped and the piercing air entered on every side with the +thermometer twenty below zero. Franklin and his companions had tried +in vain to stop the chinks and to make a fire by tearing up the rough +boards of the floor. But their strength was insufficient. Already for +two weeks before their arrival at Fort Enterprise they had had no meat. +It was impossible that they could have existed long in the miserable +shelter of the deserted fort. Franklin had endeavoured to go on. +Leaving three of his companions, now too exhausted to walk far, he and +the other two, a Canadian and an Eskimo, set out to try to reach help +in the direction of Fort Providence. The snow was deep, and their +strength was so far gone that in six hours they only struggled four +miles on their way. At night they lay down beside one another in the +snow, huddled together for warmth, with a bitter wind blowing over +their emaciated bodies. The next morning, in recommencing their march, +Franklin stumbled and fell, breaking his snow-shoe in the {106} fall. +Realizing that he could never hope to traverse the one hundred and +eighty-six miles to Fort Providence, he directed his companions to go +on, and he himself made his way back to Fort Enterprise. There he had +remained for a fortnight until found by Richardson and Hepburn. So +weak had Franklin and his three companions become that they could not +find the strength to go on cutting down the log buildings of the fort +to make a fire. Adam, the Indian, lay prostrate in his bunk, his body +covered with hideous swellings. The two Canadians, Peltier and +Samandré, suffered such pain in their joints that they could scarcely +move a step. A herd of deer had appeared on the ice of the river near +by, but none of the men had strength to pursue them, nor could any one +of them, said Franklin, have found the strength to raise a gun and fire +it. + +Such had been the position of things when Richardson and Hepburn, +themselves almost in the last stage of exhaustion, found their unhappy +comrades. Richardson was a man of striking energy, of the kind that +knows no surrender. He set himself to gather wood, built up a blazing +fire, dressed as well as he could the swollen body of the Indian, and +tried to bring some order into the filth and squalor {107} of the hut. +Hepburn meantime had killed a partridge, which the doctor then divided +among them in six parts, the first fresh meat that Franklin and those +with him had tasted for thirty-one days. This done, 'the doctor,' so +runs Franklin's story, 'brought out his prayer book and testament, and +some prayers and psalms and portions of scripture appropriate to the +situation were read.' + +But beyond the consolation of manifesting a brave and devout spirit, +there was little that Richardson could do for his companions. The +second night after his arrival Peltier died. There was no strength +left in the party to lift his body out into the snow. It lay beside +them in the hut, and before another day passed Samandré, the other +Canadian, lay dead beside it. For a week the survivors remained in the +hut, waiting for death. Then at last, and just in time, help reached +them. + +On November 7, nearly a month after Franklin's first arrival at the +fort, they heard the sound of a musket and the shouting of men outside. +Three Indians stood before the door. The valiant Lieutenant Back, +after sufferings almost as great as their own, had reached a band of +Indian hunters and had sent three men travelling at top speed with +enough food to {108} keep the party alive till further succour could be +brought. Franklin and his friends were saved by one of the narrowest +escapes recorded in the history of northern adventure. Another week +passed before the relief party of the Indians reached them, and even +then Franklin and his companions were so enfeebled by privation that +they could only travel with difficulty, and a month passed before they +found themselves safe and sound within the shelter of Fort Providence +on the Great Slave Lake. There they remained till the winter passed. +A seven weeks' journey took them to York Factory on Hudson Bay, whence +they sailed to England. Franklin's journey overland and on the waters +of the polar sea had covered in all five thousand five hundred and +fifty miles and had occupied nearly three years. + +On his return to England Franklin found himself at once the object of a +wide public interest. Already during his absence he had been made a +commander, and the Admiralty now promoted him to the rank of captain, +while the national recognition of his services was shortly afterwards +confirmed by the honour of knighthood. One might think that after the +perils which he had braved and the horrors which he had experienced, +Sir John would have {109} been content to retire upon his laurels. But +it was not so. There is something in the snow-covered land of the +Arctic, its isolation from the world and the long silence of its winter +darkness, that exercises a strange fascination upon those who have the +hardihood to brave its perils. It was a moment too when interest in +Arctic discovery and the advancement thereby of scientific knowledge +had reached the highest point yet known. During Franklin's absence +Captain Ross and Lieutenant Parry had been sent by sea into the Arctic +waters. Parry had met with wonderful success, striking from Baffin Bay +through the northern archipelago and reaching half-way to Bering Strait. + +Franklin was eager to be off again. The year 1825 saw him start once +more to resume the survey of the polar coast of America. The plan now +was to learn something of the western half of the North American coast, +so as to connect the discoveries of Sir Alexander Mackenzie with those +made by Cook and others through Bering Strait. Franklin was again +accompanied by his gallant friend, Dr Richardson. They passed again +overland through the fur country, where the recent union of the rival +companies had brought about a new era. They descended the Mackenzie +river, {110} wintered on Great Bear Lake, and descended thence to the +sea. Franklin struck out westward, his party surveying the coast in +open boats. Their journey from their winter quarters to the sea and +along the coast covered a thousand miles, and extended to within one +hundred and sixty miles of the point that had then been reached by +explorers from Bering Strait. At the same time Richardson, going +eastward from the Mackenzie, surveyed the coast as far as the +Coppermine river. Their discoveries thus connected the Pacific waters +with the Atlantic, with the exception of one hundred and sixty miles on +the north-west, where water was known to exist and only ice blocked the +way, and of a line north and south which should bring the discoveries +of Parry into connection with those of Franklin. These two were the +missing links now needed in the chain of the North-West Passage. + +But more than twenty years were to elapse before the discoveries thus +made were carried to their completion. Franklin himself, claimed by +other duties, was unable to continue his work in the Arctic, and his +appointment to the governorship of Tasmania called him for a time to +another sphere. Yet, little by little, the exploration of the Arctic +regions was carried {111} on, each explorer adding something to what +was already known, and each hoping that the honour of the discovery of +the great passage would fall to his lot. Franklin's comrade Back, now +a captain and presently to be admiral, made his way in 1834 from Canada +to the polar sea down the river that bears his name. Three years later +Simpson, in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, succeeded in +traversing the coast from the Mackenzie to Point Barrow, completing the +missing link in the western end of the chain. John and James Ross +brought the exploration of the northern archipelago to a point that +made it certain that somewhere or other a way through must exist to +connect Baffin Bay with the coastal waters. At last the time came, in +1844, when the British Admiralty determined to make a supreme effort to +unite the explorations of twenty-five years by a final act of +discovery. The result was the last expedition of Sir John Franklin, +glorious in its disaster, and leaving behind it a tale that will never +be forgotten while the annals of the British nation remain. + + + + +{112} + +CHAPTER V + +THE TRAGEDY OF FRANKLIN'S FATE + +The month of May 1845 found two stout ships, the _Erebus_ and the +_Terror_, riding at anchor in the Thames. Both ships were already well +known to the British public. They had but recently returned from the +Antarctic seas, where Captain Sir James Ross, in a voyage towards the +South Pole, had attained the highest southern latitude yet reached. +Both were fine square-rigged ships, strengthened in every way that the +shipwrights of the time could devise. Between their decks a warming +and ventilating apparatus of the newest kind had been installed, and, +as a greater novelty still, the attempt was now made for the first time +in history to call in the power of steam for the fight against the +Arctic frost. Each vessel carried an auxiliary screw and an engine of +twenty horse-power. When we remember that a modern steam vessel with a +horse-power of many thousands is still {113} powerless against the +northern ice, the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ arouse in us a forlorn +pathos. But in the springtime of 1845 as they lay in the Thames, an +object of eager interest to the flocks of sightseers in the +neighbourhood, they seemed like very leviathans of the deep. Vast +quantities of stores were being loaded into the ships, enough, it was +said, for the subsistence of the one hundred and thirty-four members of +the expedition for three years. For it was now known that Arctic +explorers must be prepared to face the winter, icebound in their ships +through the long polar night. That the winter could be faced with +success had been shown by the experience of Sir William Parry, whose +ships, the _Fury_ and the _Hecla_, had been ice-bound for two winters +(1821-23), and still more by that of Captain John Ross, who brought +home the crew of the _Victory_ safe and sound in 1833, after four +winters in the ice. + +[Illustration: Sir John Franklin. From the National Portrait Gallery.] + +All England was eager with expectancy over the new expedition. It was +to be commanded by Sir John Franklin, the greatest sailor of the day, +who had just returned from his five years in Van Diemen's Land and +carried his fifty-nine winters as jauntily as a midshipman. The era +was auspicious. A new reign under a {114} queen already beloved had +just opened. There was every hope of a long, some people said a +perpetual, peace: it seemed fitting that the new triumphs of commerce +and science, of steam and the magnetic telegraph, should replace the +older and cruder glories of war. + +The expedition was well equipped for scientific research, but its main +object was the discovery of the North-West Passage. We have already +seen what this phrase had come to mean. It had now no reference to the +uses of commerce. The question was purely one of geography. The ocean +lying north of America was known to be largely occupied by a vast +archipelago, between which were open sounds and seas, filled for the +greater part of the year with huge packs of ice. In the Arctic winter +all was frozen into an unending plain of snow, broken by distorted +hummocks of ice, and here and there showing the frowning rocks of a +mountainous country swept clean by the Arctic blast. In the winter +deep night and intense cold settled on the scene. But in the short +Arctic summer the ice-pack moved away from the shores. Lanes of water +extended here and there, and sometimes, by the good fortune of a gale, +a great sheet of open sea with blue tossing waves gladdened the heart +of the {115} sailor. Through this region somewhere a water-way must +exist from east to west. The currents of the sea and the drift-wood +that they carried proved it beyond a doubt. Exploration had almost +proved it also. Ships and boats had made their way from Bering Strait +to the Coppermine. North of this they had gone from Baffin Bay through +Lancaster Sound and on westward to a great sea called Melville Sound, a +body of water larger than the Irish Sea. The two lines east and west +overlapped widely. All that was needed now was to find a channel north +and south to connect the two. This done, the North-West Passage, the +will-o'-the-wisp of three hundred and fifty years, had been found. + +A glance at the map will make clear the instructions given to Sir John +Franklin. He was to go into the Arctic by way of Baffin Bay, and to +proceed westward along the parallel of 74° 15' north latitude, which +would take him through the already familiar waters of Lancaster Sound +and Barrow Strait, leading into Melville Sound. This line he was to +follow as far as Cape Walker in longitude 98°, from which point it was +known that waters were to be found leading southward. Beyond this +position Franklin was left to his own {116} discretion, his +instructions being merely to penetrate to the southward and westward in +a course as direct to Bering Strait as the position of the land and the +condition of the ice should allow. + +The _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ sailed from England on June 19, 1845. +The officers and sailors who manned their decks were the very pick of +the Royal Navy and the merchant service, men inured to the perils of +the northern ocean, and trained in the fine discipline of the service. +Captain Crozier of the _Terror_ was second in command. He had been +with Ross in the Antarctic. Commander Fitzjames, Lieutenants +Fairholme, Gore and others were tried and trained men. The ships were +so heavily laden with coal and supplies that they lay deep in the +water. Every inch of stowage had been used, and even the decks were +filled up with casks. A transport sailed with them across the Atlantic +carrying further supplies. Thus laden they made their way to the Whale +Fish Islands, near Disco, on the west coast of Greenland. Here the +transport unloaded its stores and set sail for England. It carried +with it five men of Franklin's company, leaving one hundred and +twenty-nine in the ill-fated expedition. + +{117} + +The ships put out from the coast of Greenland on, or about, July 12, +1845, to make their way across Baffin Bay to Lancaster Sound, a +distance of two hundred and twenty miles. In these waters are found +the great floes of ice which Davis had first seen, called by Arctic +explorers the 'middle ice.' The _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ spent a +fortnight in attempting to make the passage across, and here they were +seen for the last time at sea. A whaling ship, the _Prince of Wales_, +sighted the two vessels on July 26. A party of Franklin's officers +rowed over to the ship and carried an invitation to the master to dine +with Sir John on the next day. But the boat had hardly returned when a +fine breeze sprang up, and with a clear sea ahead the _Erebus_ and the +_Terror_ were put on their course to the west without even taking time +to forward letters to England. + +Thus the two ships vanished into the Arctic ice, never to be seen of +Englishmen again. The summer of 1845 passed; no news came: the winter +came and passed away; the spring and summer of 1846, and still no +message. England, absorbed in political struggles at home--the Corn +Law Repeal and the vexed question of Ireland--had still no anxiety over +Franklin. No message could have come except {118} by the chance of a +whaling ship or in some roundabout way through the territories of the +Hudson's Bay Company, after all but a slender chance. The summer of +1846 came and went and then another winter, and now with the opening of +the new year, 1847, the first expression of apprehension began to be +heard. It was remembered how deeply laden the ships had been. The +fear arose that perhaps they had foundered with all hands in the open +waters of Baffin Bay, leaving no trace behind. Even the naval men +began to shake their heads. Captain Sir John Ross wrote to the +Admiralty to express his fear that Franklin's ships had been frozen in +in such a way that their return was impossible. The Admiralty took +advice. The question was gravely discussed with the leading Arctic +seamen of the day. It was decided that until two years had elapsed +from the time of departure (May 1845 to May 1847) no measures need be +taken for the relief of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_. The date came +and passed. Anxiety was deepening. The Admiralty decided to act. +Great stores of pemmican, some eight tons, together with suitable boats +and experienced crews, were sent in June 1847 to Hudson Bay, ready for +an expedition along the northern coast. A ship {119} was sent with +supplies to meet Franklin in Bering Strait, and two more vessels were +strengthened and equipped to be ready to follow on the track of the +_Erebus_ and the _Terror_ in 1848. As this last year advanced and +winter passed into summer, a shudder of apprehension was felt +throughout the nation. It was felt now that some great disaster had +happened, or even now was happening. It was known that Franklin's +expedition had carried food for at best three years: the three years +had come and gone. Franklin's men, if anywhere alive, must be +suffering all the horrors of starvation in the frozen fastness of the +Arctic. + +We may imagine the awful pictures that rose up before the imagination +of the friends and relatives, the wives and children, of the one +hundred and twenty-nine gallant men who had vanished in the _Erebus_ +and the _Terror_--visions of ships torn and riven by the heaving ice, +of men foodless and shelterless in the driving snow, looking out vainly +from the bleak shores of some rocky coast for the help that never +came--awful pictures indeed, yet none more awful than the grim reality. + +A generous frenzy seized upon the nation. The cry went up from the +heart of the people that Franklin must be found; he and his men {120} +must be rescued--they would not speak of them as dead. Ships must be +sent out with all the equipment that science could devise and the +wealth of a generous nation could supply. Ships were sent out. Year +after year ships fought their way from Baffin Bay to the islands of the +north. Ships sailed round the distant Horn and through the Pacific to +Bering Strait. Down the Mackenzie and the great rivers of the north, +the canoes of the voyageurs danced in the rapids and were paddled +swiftly over the wider stretches of moving water. Over the frozen snow +the sledges toiled against the storm. And still no word of Franklin, +till all the weary outline of the frozen coast was traced in their +wanderings: till twenty-one thousand miles of Arctic sea and shore had +been tracked out. Thus the great epic of the search for Franklin ran +slowly to its close. With each year the hope that was ever deferred +made the heart sick. Anxiety deepened into dread, and even dread gave +way to the cruel certainty of despair. Not till twelve years had +passed was the search laid aside: not until, little by little, the +evidence was found that told all that we know of the fate of the +_Erebus_ and the _Terror_. + +First in the field was Richardson, the gallant {121} friend and comrade +of Franklin's former journeys. He would not believe that Franklin had +failed. He knew too well the temper of the man. Franklin had been +instructed to strike southward from the Arctic seas to the American +coast. On that coast he would be found. Thither went Sir John +Richardson, taking with him a man of like metal to himself, one John +Rae, a Hudson's Bay man, fashioned in the north. Down the Mackenzie +they went and then eastward along the coast searching for traces of the +_Erebus_ and the _Terror_. For two years they searched, tracing their +way from the Mackenzie to the Coppermine. But no vestige of Franklin +did they find. The queen's ships were searching too. Sir James Ross, +with the _Enterprise_ and the _Investigator_, went into Lancaster +Sound. The _Plover_ and the _Herald_ went to Bering Strait. The +_North Star_ went in at Wolstenholme Sound. The _Resolute_, the +_Assistance_, the _Sophia_--a very flock of admiralty ships--spread +their white wings for the Arctic seas. The Hudson's Bay Company sent +Sir John Ross, a tried explorer, in the yacht _Felix_. Lady Franklin, +the sorrow-stricken wife of the lost commander, sent out Captain +Forsyth in the _Prince Albert_. One Robert Spedden sailed his private +yacht, the {122} _Nancy Dawson_, in through Bering Strait; and Henry +Grinnell of New York (be his name honoured), sent out two expeditions +at his own charge. By water and overland there went out, between 1847 +and 1851, no less than twenty-one expeditions searching for the +_Erebus_ and the _Terror_. + +Thus passed six years from the time when Franklin sailed out of the +Thames, and still no trace, no vestige had been found to tell the story +of his fate. Then at last news came, the first news of the _Erebus_ +and the _Terror_ since they were sighted by the whaling ship in 1845. +The news in a way was neither good nor bad. But it showed that at +least the melancholy forebodings of those who said that the heavily +laden ships must have foundered before they reached the Arctic were +entirely mistaken. Captain Penny, master of the _Lady Franklin_, had +sailed under Admiralty orders in 1850, and had followed on the course +laid down in Franklin's instructions. He returned in 1851, bringing +news that on Beechey Island, a little island lying on the north side of +Barrow Strait, he had found the winter quarters that must have been +occupied by the expedition in 1845-46, the first winter after its +departure. There were the remains of a large storehouse, {123} a +workshop and an observatory; a blacksmith's forge was found, with many +coal bags and cinders lying about, and odds and ends of all sorts, +easily identified as coming from the lost ships. Most ominous of all +was the discovery of over six hundred empty cans that had held +preserved meat, the main reliance of the expedition. These were found +regularly piled in little mounds. The number of them was far greater +than Franklin's men would have consumed during the first winter, and, +to make the conclusion still clearer, the preparation was of a brand of +which the Admiralty since 1845 had been compelled to destroy great +quantities, owing to its having turned putrid in the tins. It was +plain that the food supply of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ must have +been seriously depleted, and the dangers of starvation have set in long +before three years were completed. + +Three graves were found on Beechey Island with head-boards marking the +names and ages of three men of the crew who had died in the winter. +Near a cape of the island was a cairn built of stone. It was evidently +intended to hold the records of the expedition. Yet, strange to say, +neither in the cairn nor anywhere about it was a single document to be +found. + +{124} + +The greatest excitement now prevailed. Hope ran high that at least +some survivors of the men of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ might be +found, even if the ships themselves had been lost. The Admiralty +redoubled its efforts. Already Captains Collinson and M'Clure had been +sent out (in 1850) to sail round the Horn, and were on their way into +the Arctic region via Bering Strait. To these were now added a +squadron under Captain Sir Edward Belcher consisting of the +_Assistance_ with a steam tender named the _Pioneer_, the _Resolute_ +with its tender the _Intrepid_, and the _North Star_. Stations were to +be made at Beechey Island and at two other points in the region now +indicated as the scene of Sir John Franklin's operations. From these +sledge and boat parties were to be sent out in all directions. At the +same time Lady Franklin dispatched the _Albert_ under Captain Kennedy +and Lieutenant Bellot, an officer of the French navy who had given his +services to the cause. + +Once again hope was doomed to disappointment. The story of the +expeditions was an almost unbroken record of disaster. Captain +M'Clure, in the _Investigator_, separated from his consort, and +vanished into the northern ice; for three years nothing was heard of +his vessel. {125} The gallant Bellot, attempting to carry dispatches +over the ice, sealed his devotion with his life. Belcher's ships the +_Assistance_ and the _Resolute_, with their two tenders, froze fast in +the ice. Despite the earnest protests of some of his officers, Belcher +abandoned them, and, in the end, was able to return home. The +Admiralty had to face the loss of four good ships with large quantities +of stores. It had been better perhaps had they remained lost. One of +the abandoned ships, the _Resolute_, its hatches battened down, floated +out of the ice, and was found by an American whaler, masterless, +tossing in the open waters of Baffin Bay. Belcher may have been right +in abandoning his ships to save the crews, but his judgment and even +his courage were severely questioned, and unhappy bitterness was +introduced where hitherto there had been nothing but the record of +splendid endeavour and mutual help. The only bright spot was seen in +the achievement of Captain, afterwards Sir Robert, M'Clure, who +reappeared with his crew safe and sound after four winters in the +Arctic. He had made his way in the _Investigator_ (1850 to 1853) from +Bering Strait to within sight of Melville Sound. He had spent three +winters in the ice, the last two years in one and the same spot, {126} +fast frozen, to all appearances, for ever. With supplies dangerously +low and his crew weakened by exposure and privation, M'Clure +reluctantly left his ship. He and his men fortunately reached the +ships of Sir Edward Belcher, having thus actually made the North-West +Passage. + +The disasters of 1853-54 cast a deeper gloom than ever over the search +for Franklin. Moreover, the rising clouds in the East and presently +the outbreak of the Crimean War prevented further efforts. Ships and +men were needed elsewhere than in the northern seas. It began to look +as if failure was now final, and that nothing more could be done. +Following naval precedent, a court-martial had been held to investigate +the action of Captain Sir Edward Belcher. 'The solemn silence,' wrote +Captain M'Clure afterwards, 'with which the venerable president of the +court returned Captain Belcher his sword, with a bare acquittal, best +conveyed the painful feelings which wrung the hearts of all +professional men upon that occasion; and all felt that there was no +hope of the mystery of Franklin's fate being cleared up in our time +except by some unexpected miracle.' + +The unexpected happened. Strangely enough, {127} it was just at this +juncture that a letter sent by Dr John Rae from the Hudson Bay country +brought to England the first authentic news of the fate of Franklin's +men. Rae had been sent overland from the north-west shores of Hudson +Bay to the coast of the Arctic at the point where the Back or Great +Fish river runs in a wide estuary to the sea. He had wintered on the +isthmus (now called after him) which separates Regent's Inlet from +Repulse Bay, and in the spring of 1854 had gone westward with sledges +towards the mouth of the Back. On his way he fell in with Eskimos, who +told him that several years before a party of about forty white men had +been seen hauling a boat and sledges over the ice. This was on the +west side of the island called King William's Land. None of the men, +so the savages said, could speak to them in their own language; but +they made signs to show that they had lost their ships, and that they +were trying to make their way to where deer could be found. All the +men looked thin, and the Eskimos thought they had very little food. +They had bought some seal's flesh from the savages. They hauled their +sledges and the boat along with drag-ropes, at which all were tugging +except one very tall big man, who seemed to be a chief and {128} walked +by himself. Later on in the same season, so the Eskimos said, they had +found the bodies of a lot of men lying on the ice, and had seen some +graves and five dead bodies on an island at the mouth of a river. Some +of the bodies were lying in tents. The big boat had been turned over +as if to make a shelter, and under it were dead men. One that lay on +the island was the body of the chief; he had a telescope strapped over +his shoulders, and his gun lay underneath him. The savages told Dr Rae +that they thought that the last survivors of the white men must have +been feeding on the dead bodies, as some of these were hacked and +mutilated and there was flesh in the kettles. There were signs that +some of the party might have escaped; for on the ground there were +fresh bones and feathers of geese, showing that the men were still +alive when the wild fowl came north, which would be about the end of +May. There was a quantity of gunpowder and ammunition lying around, +and the Eskimos thought that they had heard shots in the neighbourhood, +though they had seen no living men, but only the corpses on the ice. A +great number of relics--telescopes, guns, compasses, spoons, forks, and +so on--were gathered by the natives, and of these Dr Rae {129} +forwarded a large quantity to England. They left no doubt as to the +identity of the unfortunate victims. There was a small silver plate +engraved 'Sir John Franklin, K.C.B.', and a spoon with a crest and the +initials F.R.M.C. (those of Captain Crozier), and a great number of +articles easily recognized as coming from the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_. + +One may well imagine the intense interest which Dr Rae's discoveries +aroused in England. Rae had been unable, it is true, to make his way +to the actual scene of the disaster as described by the Eskimos, but it +was now felt that at last certain tidings had been received of the +death of Franklin and his men. Dr Rae and his party received the ten +thousand pounds which the government had offered to whosoever should +bring correct news of the fate of the expedition. + +In all except a few hearts hope was now abandoned. It was felt that +all were dead. Anxious though the government was to obtain further +details of the tragedy, it was not thought proper at such a national +crisis as the Crimean War to dispatch more ships to the Arctic. +Something, however, was done. A chief factor of the Hudson's Bay +Company, named Anderson, was sent overland in 1855 to explore {130} the +mouth of the Back river. He found in and around Montreal Island, at +the mouth of the river, numerous relics of the disaster. A large +quantity of chips and shavings seemed to indicate the place where the +savages had broken up the boat. But no documents or papers were found +nor any bodies of the dead. Anderson had no interpreter, and could +only communicate by signs with the savages whom he found alone on the +island. But he gathered from them that the white men had all died for +want of food. + +For two years nothing more was done. Then, as the war cloud passed +away, the unsolved mystery began again to demand solution. Some faint +hope too struggled to life. It was argued that perhaps some of the +white men were still alive. The imagination conjured up a ghastly +picture of a few survivors, still alive when, with the coming of the +wild fowl, life and warmth returned. With what horror must they have +turned their backs upon the hideous scene of their sufferings, leaving +the dead as they lay, and preferring to leave unwritten the chronicle +of an experience too awful to relate. There, penned in between the +barren grounds and the sea, they might have somehow continued to live: +there they might still be found. + +{131} + +It was through the personal efforts of Lady Franklin, who devoted +thereto the last remnant of her fortune, that the final expedition was +sent out in 1857. The yacht _Fox_ was commanded by Captain M'Clintock. +He had already spent many years in the Arctic. Touched by the poignant +grief of Lady Franklin, he gave his service gratuitously in a last +effort to trace the fate of the missing men. Other officers gave their +services and even money to the search. The little _Fox_ sailed in +1857, to search the waters between Beechey Island and the mouth of the +Back. When she returned to England two years later she brought back +with her the first, and the last, direct information ever received from +the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_. In a cairn on the west coast of King +William's Island was found a document placed there from Franklin's +ships. It was dated May 28, 1847 (two years after the ships left +England). It read: 'H.M. Ships _Erebus_ and _Terror_ wintered in the +ice lat. 70° 5' N. long., 98° 23' west, having wintered in 1845-46 at +Beechey Island after having ascended Wellington Channel to Lat. 77° and +returned by the west side of Cornwallis Island. Sir John Franklin +commanding the expedition. All well.' + +{132} + +This showed that Franklin had, as already gathered, explored the +channels west and north from Lancaster Sound, and finding no way +through had wintered on Beechey Island (1845-46). Striking south from +there his ships had been caught in the open ice-pack, where they had +passed their second winter. At the time of writing, Franklin must have +been looking eagerly forward to their coming liberation and the +prosecution of their discoveries towards the American coast. + +But the document did not end there. It had evidently been placed in +the cairn in May of 1847; a year later the cairn had been reopened and +to the document a note had been appended, written in fine writing round +the edge of the original. The torn edge of the paper leaves part of +the date missing. It runs '... 848. H.M. Ships _Erebus_ and _Terror_ +were deserted on the 22 of April, 5 leagues NNW. of this ... been beset +since 12th Sept. 1846. The officers and crews consisting of 105 souls +under the command ... tain F. R. M. Crozier landed here in Lat. 69° 37' +42" Long. 98° 41'.' + +No words could convey better than these simple lines the full horror of +the disaster: two winters frozen in the ice-pack till the {133} lack of +food and the imminence of starvation compelled the officers and men to +leave the ships long before the summer season and try to make their way +over ice and snow to the south! And Franklin? The other edge of the +paper contained in the same writing a note that ran: 'Sir John Franklin +died on the 11th June 1847 and the total loss by death to the +expedition has been to date 9 officers and 14 men. F. R. M. Crozier, +Captain and Senior Officer. James Fitzjames, Captain H.M.S. +_Erebus_.' At one corner of the paper are the final words that, taken +along with the stories of the Eskimos, explained the last chapter of +the tragedy--'and start to-morrow 26th for Back's Fish River.' + +M'Clintock did all that could be done. He and his party traced out the +coast on both sides of King William's Island, and, having reached the +mouth of the Back river, he traced the course of Crozier and his +perishing companions step by step backwards over the scene of the +disaster. The Eskimos whom he met told him of the freezing in of the +two great ships: how the white men had abandoned them and walked over +the ice: how one ship had been crushed in the ice a few months later +and had gone down: and how the other ship {134} had lain a wreck for +years and years beside the coast of King William's Island. One aged +woman who had visited the scene told M'Clintock's party that there had +been on the wrecked ship the dead body of a tall man with long teeth +and large bones. + +The searchers themselves found more direct testimony still. A few +miles south of Cape Herschel lay the skeleton of one of Franklin's men, +outstretched on the ground, just as he had fallen on the fatal march, +the head pointing towards the Back river. At another point there was +found a boat with two corpses in it, the one lying in the stern +carefully covered as if by the act of his surviving comrade, the other +lying in the bow, two loaded muskets standing upright beside the body. +A great number of relics that marked the path of Crozier's men were +found along the shore of King William's Island. In one place a +plundered cairn was discovered. But, strangely enough, no document or +writing to tell anything of the fate of the survivors after they +started on their last march. That all perished by the way there can be +little doubt. But it is altogether probable that before the final +catastrophe overtook them they had endeavoured to place somewhere a +record of their achievements and their {135} sufferings. Such a record +may still lie buried among the stones of the desolate region where they +died, and it may well be that some day the chance discovery of an +explorer will bring it to light. But it can tell us little more than +we already know by inference of the tragic but inspiring disaster that +overwhelmed the men of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_. + + + + +{136} + +CHAPTER VI + +EPILOGUE. THE CONQUEST OF THE POLE + +It is no part of the present narrative to follow in detail the +explorations and discoveries made in the polar seas in recent times. +After the great episode of the loss of Franklin, and the search for his +ships, public interest in the North-West Passage may be said to have +ended. The journey made by Sir Robert M'Clure and his men, after +abandoning their ship, had proved that such a water-way existed, but +the knowledge of the northern regions acquired in the attempt to find +the survivors of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ made it clear that the +passage was valueless, not merely for commerce, but even for the uses +of exploration. For the time being a strong reaction set in, and +popular opinion condemned any further expenditure of life and money in +the frozen regions of the Arctic. But, although the sensational aspect +of northern discovery had thus largely disappeared, a new incentive +{137} began to make itself increasingly felt; the progress of physical +science, the rapid advance in the knowledge of electricity and +magnetism, and the rise of the science of biology were profoundly +altering the whole outlook of the existing generation towards the globe +that they inhabited. The sea itself, like everything else, became an +object of scientific study. Its currents and its temperature, its +relation to the land masses which surrounded it, acquired a new +importance in the light of geological and physical research. The polar +waters offered a fruitful field for the new investigations. In place +of the adventurous explorers of Frobisher's day, searching for fabled +empires and golden cities, there appeared in the seas of the north the +inquisitive man of science, eagerly examining the phenomena of sea and +sky, to add to the stock of human knowledge. Very naturally there grew +up under such conditions an increasing desire to reach the Pole itself, +and to test whether the theoretical conclusions of the astronomer were +borne out by the actual observations of one standing upon the apex of +the spinning earth. The attempt to reach the Pole became henceforth +the great preoccupation of Arctic discovery. From this time on the +story of what has been done in {138} the northern seas belongs not to +Canada but to the world at large. The voyages of such men as +Frobisher, Davis and Hudson, and the journeys of men like Hearne and +Mackenzie led to the opening up of this vast country and belong to +Canadian history. But in recent Arctic discovery the point of interest +had never been found in the lands about the northern seas, but only in +the Arctic ocean itself and in the effort to penetrate farther and +farther north. Little by little this effort was rewarded. A series of +intrepid explorers forced their way onward until at last the Pole +itself was reached and the frozen North had yielded up its hollow +mystery. + +The struggle to reach the Pole was the form in which Arctic exploration +came to life again after the paralysing effect of the Franklin tragedy. +Some of the Franklin relief expeditions had reached very high +latitudes, and, shortly after the great tragedy, the exploring ships of +Dr Kane and Dr Hayes, and the _Polaris_ under Captain Hall, had all +passed the eightieth parallel and been within less than ten degrees of +the Pole. The idea grew that there might be an open polar sea, +navigable at times to the very apex of the world. In 1875 the _Alert_ +and the _Discovery_, two ships of the British Navy, {139} were sent out +with the express purpose of reaching the North Pole. They sailed up +the narrow waters that separate Greenland from the large islands lying +west of it. The _Alert_ wintered as far north as latitude 82° 24'. A +sledge party that was sent out under Captain Markham went as far as +latitude 83° 20', and the expedition returned with the proud +distinction of having carried its flag northward beyond all previous +explorations. But other nations were not to lag behind. An American +expedition (1881) under Lieutenant Greeley, carried on the exploration +of the extreme north of Greenland and of the interior of Grinnell Land +that lies west of it. Two of Greeley's men, Lieutenant Lockwood and a +companion, followed the Greenland coast northward in a sledge and +passed Markham's latitude, reaching 83° 24' north, which remained for +many years as the highest point attained. Greeley's expedition became +the subject of a tragedy almost comparable to the great Franklin +disaster. The vessels sent with supplies failed to reach their +destination. For four years Greeley and his men remained in the Arctic +regions. Of the twenty-three men in the party only six were found +alive when Captain Schley of the United States Navy at last brought +relief. + +{140} + +After the Greeley expedition the fight towards the Pole was carried on +by a series of gallant explorers, none of whom, strange to narrate, +were British. Commander R. E. Peary, of the United States Navy, came +prominently before the world as an Arctic navigator in the last decade +of the nineteenth century. In 1892 he crossed northern Greenland in +the extreme latitude of 81° 37', a feat of the highest order. + +Still more striking was the work of Dr Fridtjof Nansen, which attracted +the attention of the whole world. Nansen had devoted profound study to +the question of the northern drift of the polar waters. It had often +been observed that drift-wood and wreckage seemed, in many places, to +float towards the Pole. Trees that fall in the Siberian forests and +float down the great rivers to the northern sea are frequently found +washed up on the shores of Greenland, having apparently passed over the +Pole itself. A strong current flows northward through Bering Strait, +and it is a matter of record that an American vessel, the _Jeanette_, +which stuck fast in the ice near Wrangel Land in 1879, drifted slowly +northward with the ice for two years, and made its way in this fashion +some four hundred miles towards the {141} Pole. Dr Nansen formed the +bold design of carrying a ship under steam into one of the currents of +the Far North, allowing it to freeze in, and then trusting to the polar +drift to do the rest. The adventures of Nansen and his men in this +enterprise are so well known as scarcely to need recital. A stout +wooden vessel of four hundred tons, the _Fram_ (or the _Forwards_), was +specially constructed to withstand the grip of the polar ice. In 1893 +she sailed from Norway and made her way by the Kara Sea to the New +Siberian Islands. In October, the _Fram_ froze into the ice and there +she remained for three years, drifting slowly forwards in the heart of +the vast mass. Her rudder and propeller were unshipped and taken +inboard, her engine was taken to pieces and packed away, while on her +deck a windmill was erected to generate electric power. In this +situation, snugly on board their stout ship, Nansen and his crew +settled down into the unbroken night of the Arctic winter. The ice +that surrounded them was twelve feet thick, and escape from it, even +had they desired it, would have been impossible. They watched eagerly +the direction of their drift, worked out by observation of the stars. +For the first few weeks, propelled by northern winds, the _Fram_ moved +southwards. Then {142} slowly the northern current began to make +itself felt, but during the whole of this first winter the _Fram_ only +moved a few miles onward towards her goal. All the next summer the +ship remained fast frozen and drifted about two hundred miles. With +her rate of progress and direction, Nansen reckoned that she would +reach, not the Pole, but Spitzbergen, and would take four and a half +years more to do it. All through the next winter the _Fram_ moved +slowly northwards and westwards. In the spring of 1895 she was still +about five hundred miles from the Pole, and her present path would miss +it by about three hundred and fifty miles. Nansen resolved upon an +enterprise unparalleled in hardihood. He resolved to take with him a +single companion, to leave the _Fram_ and to walk over the ice to the +Pole, and thence as best he might to make his way, not back to his ship +again (for that was impossible), but to the nearest known land. The +whole distance to be covered was almost a thousand miles. Dr Nansen +and Lieutenant Johansen left the _Fram_ on March 13, 1895, to make this +attempt. They failed in their enterprise. To struggle towards the +Pole over the pack-ice, at times reared in rough hillocks and at times +split with lanes of open water, proved {143} a feat beyond the power of +man. Nansen and his companion got as far as latitude 86° 13', a long +way north of all previous records. By sheer pluck and endurance they +managed to make their way southward again. They spent the winter on an +Arctic island in a hut of stone and snow, and in June of the next year +(1896) at last reached Franz Joseph Land, where they fell in with a +British expedition. They reached Norway in time to hear the welcome +news that the _Fram_, after a third winter in the ice, had drifted into +open sea again and had just come safely into port. + +Equally glorious, but profoundly tragic, was the splendid attempt of +Professor Andrée to reach the Pole in a balloon, which followed on the +heels of Nansen's enterprise. Andrée, who was a professor in the +Technical School at Stockholm, had been for some years interested in +the rising science of aerial navigation. He judged that by this means +a way might be found to the Pole where all else failed. By the +generous aid of the king of Sweden, Baron Dickson and others, he had a +balloon constructed in Paris which represented the very latest progress +towards the mastery of the air, in the days before the aeroplane and +the light-weight motor had opened a new chapter in {144} history. +Andrée's balloon was made of 3360 pieces of silk sewn together with +three miles of seams. It contained 158,000 cubic feet of hydrogen; it +carried beneath it a huge wicker basket that served as a sort of house +for Andrée and his companions, and to the netting of this were lashed +provisions, sledges, frame boats, and other appliances to meet the +needs of the explorers if their balloon was wrecked on the northern +ice. There was no means of propulsion, but three heavy guide ropes, +trailing on the ground, afforded a feeble and uncertain control. The +whole reliance of Andrée was placed, consciously and with full +knowledge of the consequences, on the possibility that a strong and +favouring wind might carry him across the Pole. The balloon was taken +on shipboard to Spitzbergen and there inflated in a tall shed built for +the purpose. Andrée was accompanied by two companions, Strindberg and +Fraenkel. On July 11, 1897, the balloon was cast loose, and, with a +southerly wind and bright sky, it was seen to vanish towards the north. +It is known, from a message sent by a pigeon, that two days later all +was well and the balloon still moving towards its goal. Since then no +message or token has ever been found to tell us the fate of the three +brave men, and {145} the names of Andrée and his companions are added +to the long list of those who have given their lives for the +advancement of human knowledge. + +With the opening of the present century the progress of polar +exploration was rapid. Peary continued his explorations towards the +north of Greenland, and, in 1906, by reaching latitude 87° 6', he +wrested from Nansen the coveted record of Farthest North. At the same +time Captain Sverdrup (the commander of the _Fram_), the Duke of the +Abruzzi and many others were carrying out scientific expeditions in +polar waters. The voyage made in 1904 by Captain Roald Amundsen, a +Norwegian, later on to be world-famous as the discoverer of the South +Pole, is of especial interest, for he succeeded in carrying his little +ship from the Atlantic to the Pacific by way of Bering Strait--the only +vessel that has ever actually made the North-West Passage. But the +great prize fell to Captain Peary. On September 6, 1909, the world +thrilled with the announcement that Peary had reached the Pole. His +ship, the _Roosevelt_, had sailed in the summer of 1908. Peary +wintered at Etah in the north of Greenland, and in the ensuing year, +accompanied by Captain Bartlett with five white men and {146} seventeen +Eskimos, he set out to reach the Pole by sledge. By arrangement, +Peary's companions accompanied him a certain distance carrying +supplies, and then turned back in successive parties. The final dash +for the Pole was made by the commander himself, accompanied only by a +negro servant and four Eskimos. On April 6, 1909, they reached the +Pole and hoisted there the flag of the United States. To make doubly +certain of their discovery, Peary and his men went some ten miles +beyond the Pole, and eight miles in a lateral direction. They saw +nothing but ice about them, and no indication of the neighbourhood of +any land. + + + + +{147} + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +For the earlier voyages of the English to the Northern seas the first +and principal authority is, of course, the famous collection of +contemporary narratives gathered together by Richard Hakluyt under the +title, _Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of +the English Nation_. Here the reader will find accounts of the +enterprises of Frobisher, Davis, and others as written by members of +the expeditions and persons closely connected therewith. An +interesting presentation of the exploits of Hudson, as revealed in +original documents, is found in _Henry Hudson, the Navigator_, +published by the Hakluyt Society. The journal of Samuel Hearne, +together with many maps and much interesting material, is to be found +among the publications of the Champlain Society, (Toronto, 1911) ably +edited and annotated by the well-known explorer Mr J. B. Tyrrell. +Alexander Mackenzie's own account of his voyages is a classic, and is +readily accessible in public libraries. An account of Mackenzie's +career is found in the 'Makers of Canada' series. Sir John Franklin +left behind him a very graphic description of his first journey to the +polar seas, to which {148} reference has already been made in the text. +For the story of the loss of Franklin and the search for his missing +ships the reader may best consult the works of Sir John Richardson, and +others who participated in the events of the period. + +See also in this series: _The Adventurers of England on Hudson Bay_. + + + + +{149} + +INDEX + +Amundsen, Captain Roald, makes the North-West Passage, 145. + +Anderson, of the Hudson's Bay Company, finds traces of the Franklin +expedition, 129-30. + +Andrée, Prof., his attempt to reach the North Pole in a balloon ends in +tragedy, 143-5. + +Arctic seas, the short way to India and China by, 5-7. + +Athabaska, Lake, geographical position of, 73. + +Athabaska river, 66. + + +Back, Admiral Sir George, with Franklin, 95, 100, 101, 104; rescues +Franklin, 107; explores Backs river, 111. + +Baffin, William, and the North-West Passage, 32. + +Baffin Island, Frobisher's experiences on, 12-14. + +Belcher, Captain Sir Edward, in the search for the Franklin expedition, +124; abandons his ships, 125; court-martial on, 126. + +Bellot, Lieut, of the French navy, sacrifices his life in the search +for Franklin, 124, 125. + +Buchan, Captain, and expedition to the North Pole, 93. + + +Cabot, Sebastian, and the North-West Passage, 5, 6. + +Canada, the Far North of, a description, 1-2, 26-7; resources of, 37-8, +87; barren grounds, 40-1, 46, 55-7; a geographical problem in, 71. + +Cartier, Jacques, 4, 5. + +Chawchinahaw, an Indian chief, treachery of, 40-2. + +Company of the North, hostility to Hudson's Bay Company, 36. + +Cook, Captain, and the Arctic seas, 70. + +Copper in the Far North, 37; attempts to find, and disastrous fate of +the expedition, 38; found by Hearne, 63. + +Coppermine river, attempts to reach, 38, 39; Hearne at, 58; Franklin +at, 96, 100. + +Crozier, Captain, with Franklin, 116; fate of, 129, 132-4. + +Cumberland House, Franklin at, 95. + + +Davis, John, his voyages in search of the North-West Passage, 23-31. + +Dubawnt Lake, description of, 46. + + +Elizabeth, Queen, voyages under, 7; honours Frobisher, 11. + +English Chief, an Indian with Mackenzie, 75, 84. + +'Erebus' and 'Terror' in Franklin's ill-fated expedition, 112, 116; +last seen, 117; last news of and fate, 131, 132-4. + +Eskimos, conflicts with explorers, 13-14, 16; trade with, 25, 28; Davis +on, 28-30; relations with the Indians, 56-7; attacked and massacred, +58-61, 62; and fate of the Franklin expedition, 127-8. + + +Fitzjames, Captain James, with the Franklin expedition, 116, 133. + +Fort Chipewyan erected, 74, 78; Franklin at, 95. + +Fort Churchill, trade at, 38. + +Fort Enterprise, Franklin winters in, 96; a tragic episode, 103-7. + +Fort Prince of Wales, expeditions from, 40, 42, 51, 68. + +Fort Providence, Franklin at, 95. + +Fox, Luke, and the North-West Passage, 32; and Hudson Bay, 34. + +'Fram,' the, and Nansen's theory, 141-3. + +Franklin, Sir John, early training, 91; first Arctic voyage, 93-4; +second, 94; inland journeys, 64, 95-6; a winter at Fort Enterprise, +97-8; traces Arctic coast in canoe, 98; tragic journey back by land to +Fort Enterprise, 99-104; terrible experiences, 104-7; third expedition, +109-110; last and fatal expedition, 89, 113-17; fate of, 127-9. + +Franklin, Lady, her devotion, 90; sends in search of Franklin +expedition, 121, 124, 131. + +Franklin expedition, the, apprehension in Britain concerning, 118-19; +search for, 121-6; news of, 122-3, 127-8, 129-30; tragic records of, +131-5. + +Frobisher, Sir Martin, voyages in search of the North-West Passage, +10-14, 15-23. + +Fur trade, effect of on Arctic exploration, 35. + + +Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, and the North-West Passage, 8-10. + +Gold, search for in Arctic regions, 14, 17, 18, 20. + +Great Bear river, Mackenzie on, 80, 87. + +Great Slave Lake, description of, 66, 77. + +Greeley, Lieut., his attempt to reach the North Pole, 139. + +Greenland, or Frisland, 7, 11; Land of Desolation, 23, + + +Hearne, Samuel, joins the Hudson's Bay Company, 39; expeditions to +Coppermine river, 40-1, 42-51, 51-63, 65-8; and Admiral La Pérouse, 68. + +Hepburn, a sailor with Franklin, 95, 101, 102, 103. + +Hood, Lieut., with Franklin, 95, 100, 101; his tragic death, 102. + +Hudson, Henry, and the North-West Passage, 31-2. + +Hudson Bay explored, 34; convenience of for fur trade, 35; conflicts +between French and English in, 36. + +Hudson's Bay Company founded, 35; objects of, 36; search for copper, +37-8; development, 72. + + +Indians, their treachery, 41, 45; troubles with, 47, 48; designs +against Eskimos, 56-7, 58-61; shyness of, 79; terror of the Far North, +80. + +Indian women, an Indian's estimate of, 53. + + +Kelsey, Henry, inland journey of, 37. + + +Leroux, descends Great Slave river, 75; with Mackenzie, 78, 88. + + +M'Clintock, Captain, finds last records of the Franklin expedition, +131-5. + +M'Clure, Captain, first to make the North-West Passage, 124, 125-6. + +Mackenzie, Alexander, joins North-West Company, 73; journey to the +Arctic ocean by the Mackenzie river, 75-88. + +Marble Island, a grim tale of shipwreck at, 38. + +Markham, Captain, and the North Pole, 139. + +Matonabbee, an Indian chief, succours Hearne, 49; character of, 51; +assists Hearne to reach Coppermine river, 53-4, 56; his opinion of +women, 53. + +Meta Incognita, 14, 16; formal landing of Frobisher on, 17; a fort +erected on, 21. + +Michel, an Indian with Franklin, feeds on his companions and murders +Lieut. Hood, 102-3. + +Muscovy Company, the, and passage to the East by the White Sea, 6; +oppose Frobisher, 10. + + +Nansen, Dr, attempts to reach the Pole by drifting, 140-3. + +North-West Company founded, 72. + +North-West Passage, as a road to Asia, 5-8; advantages of, 9; Sir +Humphrey Gilbert on, 8-10; voyages in search of, 11-21, 23-32; the +passage nearly completed, 110-11, 114-115; the passage made, 126, 145. + +Norton, Moses, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and expeditions to +Coppermine river, 39, 42, 50, 51. + + +Orkneys, the, savage state of the inhabitants of, 15. + + +Parry, Sir William, and the North-West Passage, 109, 113. + +Peace river, course of, 71, 76. + +Peary, Commander R. E., attempts to reach the North Pole, 140; +succeeds, 145-6. + +Penny, Captain, finds traces of the Franklin expedition, 122. + +Polar seas, a fruitful field for scientific investigation, 137; +Nansen's study of a scientific theory, 140-1. + +Pole, North, progress in scientific knowledge creates desire to reach, +137-8. + + +Rae, Dr John, and the search for the Franklin expedition, 121, 127-9. + +Richardson, Sir John, with Franklin, 95, 97, 100, 101, 102, 109-10; +shoots murderer of Lieutenant Hood, 103; finds Franklin in a parlous +state, 103-7; in search for the Franklin expedition, 120-1. + +Ross, Sir James, and the North-West Passage, 111; in search for the +Franklin expedition, 121. + +Ross, Sir John, 111, 118, 121. + + +Simpson, Thomas, and the North-West Passage, 111. + + +Whale Island, why so named, 86. + +Wholdaia Lake, description of, 54-5. + + +York Factory, Franklin at, 95. + + + + + Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty + at the Edinburgh University Press + + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED + +Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +PART I + +THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS + +1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY + By Stephen Leacock. + +2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO + By Stephen Leacock. + + +PART II + +THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE + +3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE + By Charles W. Colby. + +4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA + By William Bennett Munro. + +6. THE GREAT INTENDANT + By Thomas Chapais. + +7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR + By Charles W. Colby. + + +PART III + +THE ENGLISH INVASION + +8. THE GREAT FORTRESS + By William Wood. + +9. THE ACADIAN EXILES + By Arthur G. Doughty. + +10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE + By William Wood. + +11. THE WINNING OF CANADA + By William Wood. + + +PART IV + +THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA + +12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA + By William Wood. + +13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES + By William Wood. + + +PART V + +THE RED MAN IN CANADA + +15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE + By Ethel T. Raymond. + + +PART VI + +PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST + +18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY + By Agnes C. Laut. + +19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS + By Lawrence J. Burpee. + +20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH + By Stephen Leacock. + +21. THE RED RIVER COLONY + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST + By Agnes C. Laut. + +23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL + By Agnes C. Laut. + + +PART VII + +THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM + +24. THE FAMILY COMPACT + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37 + By Alfred D. DeCelles. + +26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA + By William Lawson Grant. + +27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT + By Archibald MacMechan. + + +PART VIII + +THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY + +28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION + By A. H. U. Colquhoun. + +29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD + By Sir Joseph Pope. + +30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER + By Oscar D. Skelton. + + +PART IX + +NATIONAL HIGHWAYS + +31. ALL AFLOAT + By William Wood. + +32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS + By Oscar D. Skelton. + + + +TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Adventurers of the Far North, by Stephen Leacock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH *** + +***** This file should be named 30039-8.txt or 30039-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/0/3/30039/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Adventurers of the Far North + A Chronicle of the Frozen Seas + +Author: Stephen Leacock + +Release Date: September 20, 2009 [EBook #30039] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT="The Arctic Council, discussing a plan of search for Sir John Franklin. From the National Portrait Gallery." BORDER="2" WIDTH="658" HEIGHT="482"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 658px"> +The Arctic Council, discussing a plan of search for Sir John Franklin. <BR> +From the National Portrait Gallery. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +ADVENTURERS +<BR> +OF THE FAR NORTH +</H1> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A Chronicle of the Frozen Seas +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +STEPHEN LEACOCK +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +TORONTO +<BR> +GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY +<BR> +1914 +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +<I>Copyright in all Countries subscribing to<BR> +the Berne Convention</I><BR> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pix"></A>ix}</SPAN> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="80%"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="10%">Page</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">I. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap01">THE GREAT ELIZABETHAN NAVIGATORS</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 1</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">II. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap02">HEARNE'S OVERLAND JOURNEY TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 34</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">III. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap03">MACKENZIE DESCENDS THE GREAT RIVER OF THE NORTH</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 70</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">IV. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap04">THE MEMORABLE EXPLOITS OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 89</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">V. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">THE TRAGEDY OF FRANKLIN'S FATE</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 112</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top">VI. </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">EPILOGUE. THE CONQUEST OF THE POLE</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 136</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#biblio">BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 147</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#index">INDEX</A></TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + 149</TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="Pxi"></A>xi}</SPAN> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="80%"> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +THE ARCTIC COUNCIL DISCUSSING A PLAN OF SEARCH FOR +SIR JOHN FRANKLIN</A> <BR> +From the National Portrait Gallery. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + <I>Frontispiece</I> +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-001"> +ROUTES OF EXPLORERS IN THE FAR NORTH</A><BR> + Map by Bartholomew. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> +<I>Facing page</I> 1 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-042"> +SAMUEL HEARNE</A> <BR> + From the Dominion Archives. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 42 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-050"> +FORT CHURCHILL OR PRINCE OF WALES</A><BR> + From a drawing by Samuel Hearne. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 50 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-070"> +SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE</A><BR> + From a painting by Lawrence. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 70 +</TD></TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#img-112"> +SIR JOHN FRANKLIN</A><BR> + From the National Portrait Gallery. +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top"> + " " 112 +</TD></TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="img-001"></A> +<CENTER> +<A HREF="images/img-001.jpg"> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-001t.jpg" ALT="Routes of Explorers in the Far North" BORDER="2" WIDTH="929" HEIGHT="572"> +</A> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 929px"> +Routes of Explorers in the Far North +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P1"></A>1}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE GREAT ELIZABETHAN NAVIGATORS +</H4> + +<P> +The map of Canada offers to the eye and to the imagination a vast +country more than three thousand miles in width. Its eastern face +presents a broken outline to the wild surges of the Atlantic. Its +western coast commands from majestic heights the broad bosom of the +Pacific. Along its southern boundary is a fertile country of lake and +plain and woodland, loud already with the murmur of a rising industry, +and in summer waving with the golden wealth of the harvest. +</P> + +<P> +But on its northern side Canada is set fast against the frozen seas of +the Pole and the desolate region of barren rock and ice-bound island +that is joined to the polar ocean by a common mantle of snow. For +hundreds and hundreds of miles the vast fortress of ice rears its +battlements of shining glaciers. The unending sunshine of the Arctic +summer falls upon untrodden snow. The cold light of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P2"></A>2}</SPAN> +aurora +illumines in winter an endless desolation. There is no sound, save +when at times the melting water falls from the glistening sides of some +vast pinnacle of ice, or when the leaden sea forces its tide between +the rock-bound islands. Here in this vast territory civilization has +no part and man no place. Life struggles northward only to die out in +the Arctic cold. The green woods of the lake district and the blossoms +of the prairies are left behind. The fertility of the Great West gives +place to the rock-strewn wilderness of the barren grounds. A stunted +and deformed vegetation fights its way to the Arctic Circle. Rude +grasses and thin moss cling desperately to the naked rock. Animal life +pushes even farther. The seas of the frozen ocean still afford a +sustenance. Even mankind is found eking out a savage livelihood on the +shores of the northern sea. But gradually all fades, until nothing is +left but the endless plain of snow, stretching towards the Pole. +</P> + +<P> +Yet this frozen northern land and these forbidding seas have their +history. Deeds were here done as great in valour as those which led to +the conquest of a Mexico or the acquisition of a Peru. But unlike the +captains and conquerors of the South, the explorers have +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P3"></A>3}</SPAN> +come and +gone and left behind no trace of their passage. Their hopes of a land +of gold, their vision of a new sea-way round the world, are among the +forgotten dreams of the past. Robbed of its empty secret, the North +still stretches silent and untenanted with nothing but the splendid +record of human courage to illuminate its annals. +</P> + +<P> +For us in our own day, the romance that once clung about the northern +seas has drifted well nigh to oblivion. To understand it we must turn +back in fancy three hundred years. We must picture to ourselves the +aspect of the New World at the time when Elizabeth sat on the throne of +England, and when the kingdoms of western Europe, Britain, France, and +Spain, were rising from the confusion of the Middle Ages to national +greatness. The existence of the New World had been known for nearly a +hundred years. But it still remained shadowed in mystery and +uncertainty. It was known that America lay as a vast continent, or +island, as men often called it then, midway between Europe and the +great empires of the East. Columbus, and after him Verrazano and +others, had explored its eastern coast, finding everywhere a land of +dense forests, peopled here and there with naked savages that fled at +their +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P4"></A>4}</SPAN> +approach. The servants of the king of Spain had penetrated +its central part and reaped, in the spoils of Mexico, the reward of +their savage bravery. From the central isthmus Balboa had first seen +the broad expanse of the Pacific. On this ocean the Spaniard Pizarro +had been borne to the conquest of Peru. Even before that conquest +Magellan had passed the strait that bears his name, and had sailed +westward from America over the vast space that led to the island +archipelago of Eastern Asia. Far towards the northern end of the great +island, the fishermen of the Channel ports had found their way in +yearly sailings to the cod banks of Newfoundland. There they had +witnessed the silent procession of the great icebergs that swept out of +the frozen seas of the north, and spoke of oceans still unknown, +leading one knew not whither. The boldest of such sailors, one Jacques +Cartier, fighting his way westward had entered a great gulf that yawned +in the opening side of the continent, and from it he had advanced up a +vast river, the like of which no man had seen. Hundreds of miles from +the gulf he had found villages of savages, who pointed still westward +and told him of wonderful countries of gold and silver that lay beyond +the palisaded settlement of Hochelaga. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P5"></A>5}</SPAN> + +<P> +But the discoveries of Columbus and those who followed him had not +solved but had only opened the mystery of the western seas. True, a +way to the Asiatic empire had been found. The road discovered by the +Portuguese round the base of Africa was known. But it was long and +arduous beyond description. Even more arduous was the sea-way found by +Magellan: the whole side of the continent must be traversed. The +dreadful terrors of the straits that separate South America from the +Land of Fire must be essayed: and beyond that a voyage of thirteen +thousand miles across the Pacific, during which the little caravels +must slowly make their way northward again till the latitude of Cathay +was reached, parallel to that of Spain itself. For any other sea-way +to Asia the known coast-line of America offered an impassable barrier. +In only one region, and that as yet unknown, might an easier and more +direct way be found towards the eastern empires. This was by way of +the northern seas, either round the top of Asia or, more direct still +perhaps, by entering those ice-bound seas that lay beyond the Great +Banks of Newfoundland and the coastal waters visited by Jacques +Cartier. Into the entrance of these waters the ships of the Cabots +flying the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P6"></A>6}</SPAN> +English flag had already made their way at the close of +the fifteenth century. They seem to have reached as far, or nearly as +far, as the northern limits of Labrador, and Sebastian Cabot had said +that beyond the point reached by their ships the sea opened out before +them to the west. No further exploration was made, indeed, for +three-quarters of a century after the Cabots, but from this time on the +idea of a North-West Passage and the possibility of a great achievement +in this direction remained as a tradition with English seamen. +</P> + +<P> +It was natural, then, that the English sailors of the sixteenth century +should turn to the northern seas. The eastern passage, from the German +Ocean round the top of Russia and Asia, was first attempted. As early +as the reign of Edward the Sixth, a company of adventurers, commonly +called the Muscovy Company, sailed their ships round the north of +Norway and opened a connection with Russia by way of the White Sea. +But the sailing masters of the company tried in vain to find a passage +in this direction to the east. Their ships reached as far as the Kara +Sea at about the point where the present boundary of European Russia +separates it from Siberia. Beyond this extended countless leagues of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P7"></A>7}</SPAN> +impassable ice and the rock-bound desolation of Northern Asia. +</P> + +<P> +It remained to seek a passage in the opposite direction by way of the +Arctic seas that lay above America. To find such a passage and with it +a ready access to Cathay and the Indies became one of the great +ambitions of the Elizabethan age. There is no period when great things +might better have been attempted. It was an epoch of wonderful +national activity and progress: the spirit of the nation was being +formed anew in the Protestant Reformation and in the rising conflict +with Spain. It was the age of Drake, of Raleigh, of Shakespeare, the +time at which were aroused those wide ambitions which were to give +birth to the British Empire. +</P> + +<P> +In thinking of the exploits of these Elizabethan sailors in the Arctic +seas, we must try to place ourselves at their point of view, and +dismiss from our minds our own knowledge of the desolate and hopeless +region against which their efforts were directed. The existence of +Greenland, often called Frisland, and of Labrador was known from the +voyages of the Cabots and the Corte-Reals. It was known that between +these two coasts the sea swept in a powerful current out of the north. +Of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P8"></A>8}</SPAN> +what lay beyond nothing was known. There seemed no reason why +Frobisher, or Davis, or Henry Hudson might not find the land trend away +to the south again and thus offer, after a brief transit of the +dangerous waters of the north, a smooth and easy passage over the +Pacific. +</P> + +<P> +Perhaps we can best understand the hopes and ambitions of the time if +we turn to the writings of the Elizabethans themselves. One of the +greatest of them, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, afterwards lost in the northern +seas, wrote down at large his reasons for believing that the passage +was feasible and that its discovery would be fraught with the greatest +profit to the nation. In his <I>Discourse to prove a North-West Passage +to Cathay</I>, Gilbert argues that all writers from Plato down have spoken +of a great island out in the Atlantic; that this island is America +which must thus have a water passage all round it; that the ocean +currents moving to the west across the Atlantic and driven along its +coast, as Cartier saw, past Newfoundland, evidently show that the water +runs on round the top of America. A North-West Passage must therefore +exist. Of the advantages to be derived from its discovery Gilbert was +in no doubt. +</P> + +<BR> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P9"></A>9}</SPAN> + +<P CLASS="block"> +It were the only way for our princes [he wrote] to possess themselves +of the wealth of all the east parts of the world which is infinite. +Through the shortness of the voyage, we should be able to sell all +manner of merchandise brought from thence far better cheap than either +the Portugal or Spaniard doth or may do. Also we might sail to divers +very rich countries, both civil and others, out of both their +jurisdiction [that of the Portuguese and Spaniards], where there is to +be found great abundance of gold, silver, precious stones, cloth of +gold, silks, all manner of spices, grocery wares, and other kinds of +merchandise of an inestimable price. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +Gilbert also speaks of the possibility of colonizing the regions thus +to be discovered. The quaint language in which he describes the +chances of what is now called 'imperial expansion' is not without its +irony: +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +We might inhabit some part of those countries [he says], and settle +there such needy people of our country which now trouble the +commonwealth, and through want here at home are enforced to commit +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P10"></A>10}</SPAN> +outrageous offences whereby they are daily consumed with the gallows. +We shall also have occasion to set poor men's children to learn +handicrafts and thereby to make trifles and such like, which the +Indians and those people do much esteem: by reason whereof there should +be none occasion to have our country cumbered with loiterers, +vagabonds, and such like idle persons. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +Undoubtedly Gilbert's way of thinking was also that of many of the +great statesmen and sailors of his day. Especially was this the case +with Sir Martin Frobisher, a man, we are told, 'thoroughly furnished +with knowledge of the sphere and all other skills appertaining to the +art of navigation.' The North-West Passage became the dream of +Frobisher's ambition. Year after year he vainly besought the queen's +councillors to sanction an expedition. But the opposition of the +powerful Muscovy Company was thrown against the project. Frobisher, +although supported by the influence of the Earl of Warwick, agitated +and argued in vain for fifteen years, till at last in 1574 the +necessary licence was granted and the countenance of the queen was +assured to the enterprise. Even then about two years +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P11"></A>11}</SPAN> +passed +before the preparations could be completed. +</P> + +<P> +Frobisher's first expedition was on a humble scale. His company +numbered in all thirty-five men. They embarked in two small barques, +the <I>Gabriel</I> and the <I>Michael</I>, neither of them of more than +twenty-five tons, and a pinnace of ten tons. They carried food for a +year. The ships dropped down the Thames on June 7, 1576, and as they +passed Greenwich, where the queen's court was, the little vessels made +a brave show by the discharge of their ordnance. Elizabeth waved her +hand from a window to the departing ships and sent one of her gentlemen +aboard to say that she had 'a good liking of their doings.' From such +small acts of royal graciousness has often sprung a wonderful devotion. +</P> + +<P> +Frobisher's little ships struck boldly out on the Atlantic. They ran +northward first, and crossed the ocean along the parallel of sixty +degrees north latitude. Favourable winds and strong gales bore them +rapidly across the sea. On July 11, they sighted the southern capes of +Greenland, or Frisland, as they called it, that rose like pinnacles of +steeples, snow-crowned and glittering on the horizon. They essayed a +landing, but the masses of shore ice and the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P12"></A>12}</SPAN> +drifting fog baffled +their efforts. Here off Cape Desolation the full fury of the Arctic +gales broke upon their ships. The little pinnace foundered with all +hands. The <I>Michael</I> was separated from her consort in the storm, and +her captain, losing heart, made his way back to England to report +Frobisher cast away. But no terror of the sea could force Frobisher +from his purpose. With his single ship the <I>Gabriel</I>, its mast sprung, +its top-mast carried overboard in the storm, he drove on towards the +west. He was 'determined,' so writes a chronicler of his voyages, 'to +bring true proof of what land and sea might be so far to the +northwestwards beyond any that man hath heretofore discovered.' His +efforts were rewarded. On July 28, a tall headland rose on the +horizon, Queen Elizabeth's Foreland, so Frobisher named it. As the +<I>Gabriel</I> approached, a deep sound studded with rocky islands at its +mouth opened to view. Its position shows that the vessel had been +carried northward and westward past the coast of Labrador and the +entrance of Hudson Strait. The voyagers had found their way to the +vast polar island now known as Baffin Island. Into this, at the point +which the ship had reached, there extends a deep inlet, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P13"></A>13}</SPAN> +called +after its discoverer, Frobisher's Strait. Frobisher had found a new +land, and its form, with a great sea passage running westward and land +both north and south of it, made him think that this was truly the +highway to the Orient. He judged that the land seen to the north was +part of Asia, reaching out and overlapping the American continent. For +many days heavy weather and fog and the danger of the drifting ice +prevented a landing. The month of August opened with calm seas and +milder weather. Frobisher and his men were able to land in the ship's +boat. They found before them a desolate and uninviting prospect, a +rock-bound coast fringed with islands and with the huge masses of +grounded icebergs. +</P> + +<P> +For nearly a month Frobisher's ship stood on and off the coast. Fresh +water was taken on board. In a convenient spot the ship was beached +and at low tide repairs were made and leaks were stopped in the +strained timbers of her hull. In the third week, canoes of savages +were seen, and presently the natives were induced to come on board the +<I>Gabriel</I> and barter furs for looking-glasses and trinkets. The +savages were 'like Tartars with long black hair, broad faces, and flat +noses.' They seemed friendly and well-disposed. Five of the English +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P14"></A>14}</SPAN> +sailors ventured to join the natives on land, contrary to the +express orders of the captain. They never returned, nor could any of +the savages be afterwards induced to come within reach. One man only, +paddling in the sea in his skin canoe, was enticed to the ship's side +by the tinkling of a little bell, and so seized and carried away. But +his own sailors, though he vainly searched the coast, Frobisher saw no +more. After a week's delay, the <I>Gabriel</I> set sail (on August 26) for +home, and in spite of terrific gales was safely back at her anchorage +at Harwich early in October. +</P> + +<P> +Contrary to what we should suppose, the voyage was viewed as a +brilliant success. The queen herself named the newly found rocks and +islands Meta Incognita. Frobisher was at once 'specially famous for +the great hope he brought of a passage to Cathay.' A strange-looking +piece of black rock that had been carried home in the <I>Gabriel</I> was +pronounced by a metallurgist, one Baptista Agnello, to contain gold; +true, Agnello admitted in confidence that he had 'coaxed nature' to +find the precious metal. But the rumour of the thing was enough. The +cupidity of the London merchants was added to the ambitions of the +court. There was no trouble about finding +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P15"></A>15}</SPAN> +ships and immediate +funds for a second expedition. +</P> + +<P> +The new enterprise was carried out in the following year (1577). The +<I>Gabriel</I> and the <I>Michael</I> sailed again, and with them one of the +queen's ships, the <I>Aid</I>. This time the company included a number of +soldiers and gentlemen adventurers. The main object was not the +discovery of the passage but the search for gold. +</P> + +<P> +The expedition sailed out of Harwich on May 31, 1577, following the +route by the north of Scotland. A week's sail brought the ships 'with +a merrie wind' to the Orkneys. Here a day or so was spent in obtaining +water. The inhabitants of these remote islands were found living in +stone huts in a condition almost as primitive as that of American +savages. 'The good man, wife, children, and other members of the +family,' wrote Master Settle, one of Frobisher's company, 'eat and +sleep on one side of the house and the cattle on the other, very +beastly and rude.' From the Orkneys the ships pursued a very northerly +course, entering within the Arctic Circle and sailing in the perpetual +sunlight of the polar day. Near Iceland they saw huge pine trees +drifting, roots and all, across the ocean. Wild storms +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P16"></A>16}</SPAN> +beset them +as they passed the desolate capes of Greenland. At length, on July 16, +the navigators found themselves off the headlands of Meta Incognita. +</P> + +<P> +Here Frobisher and his men spent the summer. The coast and waters were +searched as far as the inclement climate allowed. The savages were +fierce and unfriendly. A few poor rags of clothing found among the +rocks bespoke the fate of the sailors of the year before. Fierce +conflicts with the natives followed. Several were captured. One woman +so hideous and wrinkled with age that the mariners thought her a witch +was released in pious awe. A younger woman, with a baby at her back, +was carried captive to the English ships. The natives in return +watched their opportunity and fell fiercely on the English as occasion +offered, leaping headlong from the rocks into the sea rather than +submit to capture. +</P> + +<P> +To the perils of conflict was added the perpetual danger of moving ice. +Even in the summer seas, great gales blew and giant masses of ice drove +furiously through the strait. No passage was possible. In vain +Frobisher landed on both the northern and the southern sides and tried +to penetrate the rugged country. All about the land was barren and +forbidding. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P17"></A>17}</SPAN> +Mountains of rough stone crowned with snow blocked +the way. No trees were seen and no vegetation except a scant grass +here and there upon the flatter spaces of the rocks. +</P> + +<P> +But neither the terrors of the ice nor the fear of the savages could +damp the ardour of the explorers. The landing of Frobisher and his men +on Meta Incognita was carried out with something of the pomp, dear to +an age of chivalrous display, that marked the landing of Columbus on +the tropic island of San Salvador. The captain and his men moved in +marching order: they knelt together on the barren rock to offer thanks +to God and to invoke a blessing on their queen. Great cairns of stone +were piled high here and there, as a sign of England's sovereignty, +while as they advanced against the rugged hills of the interior, the +banner of their country was proudly carried in the van. Their thoughts +were not of glory only. It was with the ardour of treasure-seekers +that they fell to their task, forgetting in the lust for gold the chill +horror of their surroundings; and, when the Arctic sunlight glittered +on the splintered edges of the rocks, the crevices of the barren stone +seemed to the excited minds of the explorers to be filled with virgin +gold, carried by subterranean +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P18"></A>18}</SPAN> +streams. The three ships were +loaded deep with worthless stone, a fitting irony on their quest. +Then, at the end of August, they were turned again eastward for +England. Tempest and fog enveloped their passage. The ships were +driven asunder. Each thought the others lost. But, by good fortune, +all safely arrived, the captain's ship landing at Milford Haven, the +others at Bristol and Yarmouth. +</P> + +<P> +Fortunately for Frobisher the worthless character of the freight that +he brought home was not readily made clear by the crude methods of the +day. For the next summer found him again off the shores of Meta +Incognita eagerly searching for new mines. This time he bore with him +a large company and ample equipment. Fifteen ships in all sailed under +his command. Among his company were miners and artificers. The frames +of a house, ready to set up, were borne in the vessels. Felton, a +ship's captain, and a group of Frobisher's gentlemen were to be left +behind to spend the winter in the new land. +</P> + +<P> +From the first the voyage was inauspicious. The ships had scarcely +entered the straits before a great storm broke upon them. Land and sea +were blotted out in driving snow. The open water into which they had +sailed was soon +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P19"></A>19}</SPAN> +filled with great masses of ice which the tempest +cast furiously against the ships. To their horror the barque +<I>Dionise</I>, rammed by the ice, went down in the swirling waters. With +her she carried all her cargo, including a part of the timbers of the +house destined for the winter's habitation. But the stout courage of +the mariners was undismayed. All through the evening and the night +they fought against the ice: with capstan bars, with boats' oars, and +with great planks they thrust it from the ships. Some of the men +leaped down upon the moving floes and bore with might and main against +the ships to break the shock. At times the little vessels were lifted +clear out of the sea, their sides torn with the fierce blows of the +ice-pack, their seams strained and leaking. All night they looked for +instant death. But, with the coming of the morning, the wind shifted +to the west and cleared the ice from the sea, and God sent to the +mariners, so runs their chronicle, 'so pleasant a day as the like we +had not of a long time before, as after punishment consolation.' +</P> + +<P> +But their dangers were not ended. As the ships stood on and off the +land, they fell in with a great berg of ice that reared its height four +hundred feet above the masts, and lay +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P20"></A>20}</SPAN> +extended for a half mile in +length. This they avoided. But a few days later, while they were +still awaiting a landing, a great mist rolled down upon the seas, so +that for five days and nights all was obscurity and no ship could see +its consorts. Current and tide drove the explorers to and fro till +they drifted away from the mouth of Frobisher Strait southward and +westward. Then another great sound opened before them to the west. +This was the passage of Hudson Strait, and, had Frobisher followed it, +he would have found the vast inland sea of Hudson Bay open to his +exploration. But, intent upon his search for ore, he fought his way +back to the inhospitable waters that bear his name. There at an island +which had been christened the Countess of Warwick's Island, the fleet +was able to assemble by August 1. But the ill-fortune of the +enterprise demanded the abandonment of all idea of settlement. +Frobisher and his men made haste to load their vessels with the +worthless rock which abounded in the district. In one 'great black +island alone' there was discovered such a quantity of it that 'if the +goodness might answer the plenty thereof, it might reasonably suffice +all the gold-gluttons of the world.' In leaving Meta Incognita, +Frobisher and his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P21"></A>21}</SPAN> +companions by no means intended that the +enterprise should be definitely abandoned. Such timbers of the house +as remained they buried for use next year. A little building, or fort, +of stone was erected, to test whether it would stand against the frost +of the Arctic winter. In it were set a number of little toys, bells, +and knives to tempt the cupidity of the Eskimos, who had grown wary and +hostile to the newcomers. Pease, corn, and grain were sown in the +scant soil as a provision for the following summer. On the last day of +August, the fleet departed on its homeward voyage. The passage was +long and stormy. The ships were scattered and found their way home as +best they might, some to one harbour and some to another. But by the +beginning of October, the entire fleet was safely back in its own +waters. +</P> + +<P> +The expectations of a speedy return to Meta Incognita were doomed to +disappointment. The ore that the ships carried proved to be but +worthless rock, and from the commercial point of view the whole +expedition was a failure. Frobisher was never able to repeat his +attempt to find the North-West Passage. In its existence his faith +remained as firm as ever. But, although his three voyages resulted in +no discoveries of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P22"></A>22}</SPAN> +profit to England, his name should stand high on +the roll of honour of great English sea-captains. He brought to bear +on his task not only the splendid courage of his age, but also the +earnest devotion and intense religious spirit which marked the best men +of the period of the Reformation. The first article of Frobisher's +standing orders to his fleet enjoined his men to banish swearing, dice, +and card-playing and to worship God twice a day in the service of the +Church of England. The watchword of the fleet, to be called out in fog +or darkness as a means of recognition was 'Before the World was God,' +and the answer shouted back across the darkness, 'After God came Christ +His Son.' At all convenient times and places, sermons were preached to +the company of the fleet by Frobisher's chaplain, Master Wolfall, a +godly man who had left behind in England a 'large living and a good +honest woman to wife and very towardly children,' in order to spread +the Gospel in the new land. Frobisher's personal bravery was of the +highest order. We read how in the rage of a storm he would venture +tasks from which even his boldest sailors shrank in fear. Once, when +his ship was thrown on her beam ends and the water poured into the +waist, the commander worked his way along +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P23"></A>23}</SPAN> +the lee side of the +vessel, engulfed in the roaring surges, to free the sheets. With these +qualities Martin Frobisher combined a singular humanity towards both +those whom he commanded and natives with whom he dealt. It is to be +regretted that a man of such high character and ability should have +spent his efforts on so vain a task. +</P> + +<P> +Although the gold mines of Meta Incognita had become discredited, it +was not long before hope began to revive in the hearts of the English +merchants. The new country produced at least valuable sealskins. +There was always the chance, too, that a lucky discovery of a Western +Passage might bring fabulous wealth to the merchant adventurers. It +thus happened that not many years elapsed before certain wealthy men of +London and the West Country, especially one Master William Sanderson, +backed by various gentlemen of the court, decided to make another +venture. They chose as their captain and chief pilot John Davis, who +had already acquired a reputation as a bold and skilful mariner. In +1585 Davis, in command of two little ships, the <I>Sunshine</I> and the +<I>Moonshine</I>, set out from Dartmouth. The memory of this explorer will +always be associated with the great +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P24"></A>24}</SPAN> +strait or arm of the sea which +separates Greenland from the Arctic islands of Canada, and which bears +his name. To these waters, his three successive voyages were directed, +and he has the honour of being the first on the long roll of navigators +whose watchword has been 'Farther North,' and who have carried their +ships nearer and nearer to the pole. +</P> + +<P> +Davis started by way of the English Channel and lay storm-bound for +twelve days under the Scilly Islands, a circumstance which bears +witness to the imperfect means of navigation of the day and to the +courage of seamen. The ships once able to put to sea, the voyage was +rapid, and in twenty days Davis was off the south-west coast of +Greenland. All about the ships were fog and mist, and a great roaring +noise which the sailors thought must be the sea breaking on a beach. +They lay thus for a day, trying in vain for soundings and firing guns +in order to know the whereabouts of the ships. They lowered their +boats and found that the roaring noise came from the grinding of the +ice pack that lay all about them. Next day the fog cleared and +revealed the coast, which they said was the most deformed rocky and +mountainous land that ever they saw. This was Greenland. The +commander, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P25"></A>25}</SPAN> +suiting a name to the miserable prospect before him, +called it the Land of Desolation. +</P> + +<P> +Davis spent nearly a fortnight on the coast. There was little in the +inhospitable country to encourage his exploration. Great cliffs were +seen glittering as with gold or crystal, but the ore was the same as +that which Frobisher had brought from Meta Incognita and the voyagers +had been warned. Of vegetation there was nothing but scant grass and +birch and willow growing like stunted shrubs close to the ground. +Eskimos were seen plying along the coast in their canoes of seal skin. +They called to the English sailors in a deep guttural speech, low in +the throat, of which nothing was intelligible. One of them pointed +upwards to the sun and beat upon his breast. By imitating this +gesture, which seemed a pledge of friendship, the sailors were able to +induce the natives to approach. They presently mingled freely with +Davis's company. The captain shook hands with all who came to him, and +there was a great show of friendliness on both sides. A brisk trade +began. The savages eagerly handed over their garments of sealskin and +fur, their darts, oars, and everything that they had, in return for +little trifles, even for pieces of paper. They seemed to the English +sailors a very tractable +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P26"></A>26}</SPAN> +people, void of craft and double dealing. +Seeing that the English were eager to obtain furs, they pointed to the +hills inland, as if to indicate that they should go and bring a large +supply. But Davis was anxious for further exploration, and would not +delay his ships. On August 1, the wind being fair, he put to sea, +directing his course to the north-west. In five days he reached the +land on the other side of Davis Strait. This was the shore of what is +now called Baffin Island, in latitude 66° 40', and hence considerably +to the north of the strait which Frobisher had entered. At this season +the sea was clear of ice, and Davis anchored his ships under a great +cliff that glittered like gold. He called it Mount Raleigh, and the +sound which opened out beside it Exeter Sound. A large headland to the +south was named Cape Walsingham in honour of the queen's secretary. +Davis and his men went ashore under Mount Raleigh, where they saw four +white bears of 'a monstrous bigness,' three of which they killed with +their guns and boar-spears. There were low shrubs growing among the +cliffs and flowers like primroses. But the whole country as far as +they could see was without wood or grass. Nothing was in sight except +the open iceless sea to the east and on the land side +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P27"></A>27}</SPAN> +great +mountains of stone. Though the land offered nothing to their search, +the air was moderate and the weather singularly mild. The broad sheet +of open water, of the very colour of the ocean itself, buoyed up their +hopes of the discovery of the Western Passage. Davis turned his ships +to the south, coasting the shore. Here and there signs of man were +seen, a pile of stones fashioned into a rude wall and a human skull +lying upon the rock. The howling of wolves, as the sailors thought it, +was heard along the shore; but when two of these animals were killed +they were seen to be dogs like mastiffs with sharp ears and bushy +tails. A little farther on sleds were found, one made of wood and sawn +boards, the other of whalebone. Presently the coast-line was broken +into a network of barren islands with great sounds between. When Davis +sailed southward he reached and passed the strait that had been the +scene of Frobisher's adventures and, like Frobisher himself, also +passed by the opening of Hudson Strait. Davis was convinced that +somewhere on this route was the passage that he sought. But the winds +blew hard from the west, rendering it difficult to prosecute his +search. The short season was already closing in, and it was dangerous +to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P28"></A>28}</SPAN> +linger. Reluctantly the ships were turned homeward, and, +though separated at sea, the <I>Sunshine</I> and the <I>Moonshine</I> arrived +safely at Dartmouth within two hours of each other. +</P> + +<P> +While this first expedition had met with no conspicuous material +success, Davis was yet able to make two other voyages to the same +region in the two following seasons. In his second voyage, that of +1586, he sailed along the edge of the continent from above the Arctic +Circle to the coast of Labrador, a distance of several hundred miles. +His search convinced him that if a passage existed at all it must lie +somewhere among the great sounds that opened into the coast, one of +which, of course, proved later on to be the entrance to Hudson Bay. +Moreover, Davis began to see that, owing to the great quantity of +whales in the northern waters, and the ease with which seal-skins and +furs could be bought from the natives, these ventures might be made a +source of profit whether the Western Passage was found or not. In his +second voyage alone he bought from the Eskimos five hundred sealskins. +The natives seem especially to have interested him, and he himself +wrote an account of his dealings with them. They were found to be +people of good stature, well proportioned in body, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P29"></A>29}</SPAN> +with broad +faces and small eyes, wide mouths, for the most part unbearded, and +with great lips. They were, so Davis said, 'very simple in their +conversation, but marvellous thievish.' They made off with a boat that +lay astern of the <I>Moonshine</I>, cut off pieces from clothes that were +spread out to dry, and stole oars, spears, swords, and indeed anything +within their reach. Articles made of iron seemed to offer an +irresistible temptation: in spite of all pledges of friendship and of +the lifting up of hands towards the sun which the Eskimos renewed every +morning, they no sooner saw iron than they must perforce seize upon it. +To stop their pilfering, Davis was compelled to fire off a cannon among +them, whereat the savages made off in wild terror. But in a few hours +they came flocking back again, holding up their hands to the sun and +begging to be friends. 'When I perceived this,' said Davis, 'it did +but minister unto me an occasion of laughter to see their simplicity +and I willed that in no case should they be any more hardly used, but +that our own company should be more vigilant to keep their things, +supposing it to be very hard in so short a time to make them know their +own evils.' +</P> + +<P> +The natives ate all their meat raw, lived +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P30"></A>30}</SPAN> +mostly on fish and 'ate +grass and ice with delight.' They were rarely out of the water, but +lived in the nature of fishes except when 'dead sleep took them,' and +they lay down exhausted in a warm hollow of the rocks. Davis found +among them copper ore and black and red copper. But Frobisher's +experience seems to have made him loath to hunt for mineral treasure. +</P> + +<P> +On his last voyage (1587) Davis made a desperate attempt to find the +desired passage by striking boldly towards the Far North. He skirted +the west shore of Greenland and with favourable winds ran as far north +as 72° 12', thus coming into the great sheet of polar water now called +Baffin Bay. This was at the end of the month of June. In these +regions there was perpetual day, the sun sweeping in a great circle +about the heavens and standing five degrees above the horizon even at +midnight. To the northward and westward, as far as could be seen, +there was nothing but open sea. Davis thought himself almost in sight +of the goal. Then the wind turned and blew fiercely out of the north. +Unable to advance, Davis drove westward across the path of the gale. +At forty leagues from Greenland, he came upon a sheet of ice that +forced him to turn back +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P31"></A>31}</SPAN> +towards the south. 'There was no ice +towards the north,' he wrote, in relating his experience, 'but a great +sea, free, large, very salt and blue and of an unsearchable depth. It +seemed most manifest that the passage was free and without impediment +towards the north.' +</P> + +<P> +When Davis returned home, he was still eager to try again. But the +situation was changed. Walsingham, who had encouraged his enterprise, +was dead, and the whole energy of the nation was absorbed in the great +struggle with Spain. Davis sailed no more to the northern seas. With +each succeeding decade it became clear that the hopes aroused by the +New World lay not in finding a passage by the ice-blocked sounds of the +north, but in occupying the vast continent of America itself. Many +voyages were indeed attempted before the hope of a northern passage to +the Indies was laid aside. Weymouth, Knight, and others followed in +the track of Frobisher and Davis. But nothing new was found. The +sea-faring spirit and the restless adventure which characterized the +Elizabethan period outlived the great queen. The famous voyage of +Henry Hudson in 1610 revealed the existence of the great inland sea +which bears his name. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P32"></A>32}</SPAN> +Hudson, already famous as an explorer and +for his discovery of the Hudson river, was sent out by Sir John +Wolstenholme and Sir Dudley Digges to find the North-West Passage. The +story of his passage of the strait, his discovery of the great bay, the +mutiny of his men and his tragic and mysterious fate forms one of the +most thrilling narratives in the history of exploration. But it +belongs rather to the romantic story of the great company whose +corporate title recalls his name and memory, than to the present +narrative. +</P> + +<P> +After Hudson came the exploits of Bylot, one of his pilots, and a +survivor of the tragedy, and of William Baffin, who tried to follow +Davis's lead in searching for the Western Passage in the very confines +of the polar sea. Finally there came (1631) the voyage of Captain Luke +Fox, who traversed the whole western coast of Hudson Bay and proved +that from the main body of its waters there was no outlet to the +Pacific. The hope of a North-West Passage in the form of a wide and +glittering sea, an easy passage to Asia, was dead. Other causes were +added to divert attention from the northern waters. The definite +foundation of the colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts Bay opened the +path to new +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P33"></A>33}</SPAN> +hopes and even wider ambitions of Empire. Then, as +the seventeenth century moved on its course, the shadow of civil strife +fell dark over England. The fierce struggle of the Great Rebellion +ended for a time all adventure overseas. When it had passed, the days +of bold sea-farers gazing westward from the decks of their little +caravels over the glittering ice of the Arctic for a pathway to the +Orient were gone, and the first period of northern adventure had come +to an end. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P34"></A>34}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +HEARNE'S OVERLAND JOURNEY TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN +</H4> + +<P> +In course of time the inaccurate knowledge and vague hopes of the early +navigators were exchanged for more definite ideas in regard to the +American continent. The progress of discovery along the Pacific side +of the continent and the occupation by the Spaniards of the coast of +California led to a truer conception of the immense breadth of North +America. Voyages across the Pacific to the Philippines revealed the +great distance to be traversed in order to reach the Orient by the +western route. At the same time the voyages of Captain Fox and his +contemporary Captain James had proved Hudson Bay to be an enclosed sea. +In consequence, for about a century no further attempt was made to find +a North-West Passage. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime the English came into connection with the Far North in +a different way. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P35"></A>35}</SPAN> +The early explorers had brought home the news of +the extraordinary wealth of America in fur-bearing animals. Soon the +fur trade became the most important feature of the settlements on the +American coast, and from both New England and New France enormous +quantities of furs were exported to Europe. This commerce was with the +Indians, and everything depended upon a ready and convenient access to +the interior. Thus it came about that when the peculiar configuration +of Hudson Bay was known to combine an access to the remotest parts of +the continent with a short sea passage to Europe, its shores naturally +offered themselves as the proper scene of the trade in furs. The great +rivers that flowed into the bay—the Severn, the Nelson, the Albany, +the Rupert—offered a connection in all directions with the dense +forests and the broad plains of the interior. +</P> + +<P> +The two competing nations both found their way to the great bay, the +English by sea through Hudson Strait, the French overland by the +portage way from the upper valley of the Ottawa. So it happened that +there was established by royal charter in 1670 that notable body whose +corporate title is 'The Governor and Company of Adventurers of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P36"></A>36}</SPAN> +England, trading into Hudson's Bay.' The company was founded primarily +to engage in the fur trade. But it was also pledged by its charter to +promote geographical discovery, and both the honour of its sovereign +rights and the promptings of its own commercial interest induced it to +expand its territory of operations to the greatest possible degree. +During its early years, necessity compelled it to cling to the coast. +Its operations were confined to forts at the mouth of the Nelson, the +Churchill, and other rivers to which the Indian traders annually +descended with their loads of furs. Moreover, the hostility of the +French, who had founded the rival Company of the North, cramped the +activities of the English adventurers. During the wars of King William +and Queen Anne, the territory of the bay became the scene of armed +conflict. Expeditions were sent overland from Canada against the +English company. The little forts were taken and retaken, and the +echoes of the European struggle that was fought at Blenheim and at +Malplaquet woke the stillness of the northern woods of America. But +after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the whole country of the Bay was +left to the English. +</P> + +<P> +The Hudson's Bay Company were, therefore, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P37"></A>37}</SPAN> +enabled to expand their +operations. By establishing forts farther and farther in the interior +they endeavoured to come into more direct relation with the sources of +their supply. They were thus early led to surmise the great potential +wealth of the vast region that lay beyond their forts, and to become +jealous of their title thereto. Their aversion to making public the +knowledge of their territory lent to their operations an air of mystery +and secrecy, and their enemies accused them of being hostile to the +promotion of discovery. For their own purposes, however, the company +were willing to have their territory explored as the necessities of +their expanding commerce demanded. As early as the close of the +seventeenth century (1691) a certain Henry Kelsey, in the service of +the company, had made his way from York Fort to the plains of the +Saskatchewan. After the Treaty of Utrecht had brought peace and a +clear title to the basin of the bay, the company endeavoured to obtain +more accurate knowledge of their territory and resources. +</P> + +<P> +It had long been rumoured that valuable mines of copper lay in the Far +North. The early explorers spoke of the Eskimos as having copper ore. +Indians who came from the north-west to trade at Fort Churchill +reported the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P38"></A>38}</SPAN> +existence of a great mountain of copper beside a +river that flowed north into the sea; in proof of this, they exhibited +ornaments and weapons rudely fashioned from the metal. It is probable +that attempts were made quite early in the century by the servants of +the company to reach this 'Coppermine River' by advancing into the +interior. But more serious attempts were made by sea voyages along the +western shore of the bay. Such an expedition was sent out from England +under Governor Knight of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Captains Barlow +and Vaughan. In 1719 their two ships, the <I>Albany</I> and the +<I>Discovery</I>, sailed from England, and were never seen again. Not until +half a century later was the story of their shipwreck on Marble Island +in the north of Hudson Bay and the protracted fate of the survivors +learned from savages who had been witnesses of the grim tragedy. Other +expeditions were sent northward from time to time, but without success +either in finding copper or in finding a passage westward through the +Arctic, which always remained at least an ostensible object of the +search. +</P> + +<P> +It so happened that in 1768 the Northern Indians brought down to +Churchill such striking specimens of copper ore that the interest of +the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P39"></A>39}</SPAN> +governor, Moses Norton, was aroused to the highest point. A +man of determined character, he took ship straightway to England and +obtained from the directors of the company permission to send an +expedition through the interior from Fort Churchill to the Coppermine +river. The accomplishment of this task he entrusted to one Samuel +Hearne, whose overland journey, successfully carried out in the years +1769 to 1772, was to prove one of the great landmarks in the +exploration of the Far North. +</P> + +<P> +Hearne, a youth of twenty-four years, had been trained in a rugged +school. He had gone to sea at the age of eleven and at this tender age +had taken part in his first sea-fight. He served as a naval midshipman +during the Seven Years' War. At its conclusion he became a mate on one +of the ships of the Hudson's Bay Company, in which position his +industry and ingenuity distinguished him among his associates. For +some years Hearne was employed in the fur trade north of the Churchill, +and gained a thorough knowledge of the coast of the bay. For the +expedition inland Norton needed especially a man able to record with +scientific accuracy the exact positions which he reached. Norton's +choice fell upon Hearne. +</P> + +<P> +The young man was instructed to make his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P40"></A>40}</SPAN> +way to the Athabaska +country and thence to find if he could the river of the north whence +the copper came, and to trace the river to the sea. He was to note the +position of any mines, to prepare the way for trade with the Indians, +and to find out from travel or enquiry whether there was a water +passage through the continent. Two white men (a sailor and a landsman) +were sent in Hearne's service. He had as guides an Indian chief, +Chawchinahaw, with a small band of his followers. On November 6, 1769, +the little party set out, honoured by a salute of seven guns from the +huge fortress of Fort Prince of Wales, the massive ruins of which still +stand as one of the strangest monuments of the continent. +</P> + +<P> +The country which the explorer was to traverse in this and his +succeeding journeys may be ranked among the most inhospitable regions +of the earth. The northern limit of the great American forest runs +roughly in a line north-westward from Churchill to the mouth of the +Mackenzie river. East and north of this line is the country of the +barren grounds, for the most part a desolate waste of rock. It is +broken by precipitous watercourses and wide lakes, and has no +vegetation except the mosses and grasses which support great wandering +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P41"></A>41}</SPAN> +herds of caribou. A few spruce trees and hardy shrubs struggle +northward from the limits of the great woods. Even these die out in +the bitter climate, and then the explorer sees about him nothing but +the wide waste of barren rock and running water or in winter the +endless mantle of the northern snow. +</P> + +<P> +It is not strange that Hearne's first attempt met with complete +failure. His Indian companions had, indeed, no intention of guiding +him to the Athabaska country. They deliberately kept to the north of +the woods, along the edge of the barren grounds, where Hearne and his +companions were exposed to the intense cold which set in a few days +after their departure. When they camped at night only a few poor +shrubs could be gathered to make a fire, and the travellers were +compelled to scoop out holes in the snow to shelter their freezing +bodies against the bitter blast. The Indians, determined to prevent +the white men from reaching their goal, provided very little game. +Hearne and his two servants were reduced to a ration of half a +partridge a day for each man. Each day the Indian chief descanted at +length upon the horrors of cold and famine that still lay before them. +Each day, with the obstinate pluck of his race, Hearne struggled on. +Thus +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P42"></A>42}</SPAN> +for nearly two hundred miles they made their way out into the +snow-covered wilderness. At length a number of the Indians, determined +to end the matter, made off in the night, carrying with them a good +part of the supplies. The next day Chawchinahaw himself announced that +further progress was impossible. He and his braves made off to the +west, inviting Hearne with mocking laughter to get home as best he +might. The three white men with a few Indians, not of Chawchinahaw's +band, struggled back through the snow to Fort Prince of Wales. The +whole expedition had lasted five weeks. +</P> + +<P> +In spite of this failure, neither Governor Norton nor Hearne himself +was discouraged. In less than three months (on February 23, 1770) +Hearne was off again for the north. Convinced that white men were of +no use to him, he had the hardihood to set out accompanied only by +Indians, three from the northern country and three belonging to what +were called at Churchill the Home Guard, or Southern Indians. There +was no salute from the fort this time, for the cannon on its ramparts +were buried deep in snow. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-042"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-042.jpg" ALT="Samuel Hearne. From an engraving in the Dominion Archives." BORDER="2" WIDTH="478" HEIGHT="657"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 478px"> +Samuel Hearne. <BR> +From an engraving in the Dominion Archives. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Hearne's second expedition, though more protracted than the first, was +doomed also to failure. The little party followed on the former +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P43"></A>43}</SPAN> +trail along the Seal river, and thence, with the first signs of opening +spring, struck northwards over the barren grounds. Leaving the woods +entirely behind, Hearne found himself in the broken and desolate +country between Fort Churchill and the three or four great rivers, +still almost unknown, that flow into the head-waters of Chesterfield +Inlet. In the beginning of June, as the snow began to melt, progress +grew more and more difficult. Snowshoes became a useless encumbrance, +and on the 10th of the month even the sledges were abandoned. Every +man must now shoulder a heavy load. Hearne himself staggered under a +pack which included a bag of clothes, a box of papers, a hatchet and +other tools, and the clumsy weight of his quadrant and its stand. This +article was too precious to be entrusted to the Indians, for by it +alone could the position of the explorers be recorded. The party was +miserably equipped. Unable to carry poles with them into a woodless +region, they found their one wretched tent of no service and were +compelled to lie shelterless with alternations of bitter cold and +drenching rain. For food they had to depend on such fish and game as +could be found. In most cases it was eaten raw, as they had nothing +with which to make a fire. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P44"></A>44}</SPAN> +Worse still, for days together, food +failed them. Hearne relates that for four days at the end of June he +tramped northward, making twenty miles a day with no other sustenance +than water and such support as might be drawn from an occasional pipe +of tobacco. Intermittent starvation so enfeebled his digestion that +the eating of food when found caused severe pain. Once for seven days +the party had no other food than a few wild berries, some old leather, +and some burnt bones. On such occasions as this, Hearne tells us, his +Indians would examine their wardrobe to see what part could be best +spared and stay their hunger with a piece of rotten deer skin or a pair +of worn-out moccasins. As they made their way northward, the party +occasionally crossed small rivers running north and east, but of so +little depth that they were able to ford them. Presently, however, one +great river proved too deep to cross on foot. It ran north-east. +Hearne's Indians called it the Cathawachaga, and the Canadian explorer +Tyrrell identifies it with the river now called the Kazan. Here the +party fell in with a band of Indians who carried them across the river +in their canoes. On the northern side of the Cathawachaga, Hearne and +his men rested for a week, finding +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P45"></A>45}</SPAN> +a few deer and catching fish. +As the guides now said that in the country beyond there were other +large rivers, Hearne bought a canoe from one of the Indians, and gave +in exchange for it a knife which had cost a penny in England. +</P> + +<P> +In July the travellers moved on north-westward with better fortune. +Deer became plentiful. Bands of roving Indian hunters now attached +themselves to the exploring party. Hearne's guide declared that it +would be impossible to reach the Coppermine that season, and that they +must spend a winter in the Indian country. The truth was that Hearne's +followers had no intention of going farther to the north, but preferred +to keep company with the bands of hunters. It was useless for Hearne +to protest. He and his Indians drifted along to the west with the +hunting parties, now so numerous that by the end of July about seventy +deer-skin tents were pitched so as to form a little village. There +were about six hundred persons in the party. Each morning as they +broke camp and set out on the march 'the whole ground for a large space +around,' wrote Hearne, 'seemed to be alive with men, women, children, +and dogs.' +</P> + +<P> +The country through which Hearne travelled, or wandered, in this +mid-summer of 1770, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P46"></A>46}</SPAN> +between the rivers Kazan and Dubawnt, was +barren indeed. There were no trees and no vegetation except moss and +the plant called by the Indians wish-a-capucca—the 'Labrador tea' that +is found everywhere in the swamps of the northern forests. Animal life +was, however, abundant. The caribou roaming the barren grounds in the +summer, to graze on the moss, were numerous. There was ample food for +all the party, and the animals were, indeed, slaughtered recklessly, +merely for the skins and the more delicate morsels of the flesh. +</P> + +<P> +The Dubawnt river midway in its course expands into Dubawnt Lake, a +great sheet of water some sixty-five miles long and forty miles broad. +It lies in the same latitude as the south of Greenland. No more +desolate scene can be imagined than the picture revealed by modern +photographs of the country. The low shores of the lake offer an +endless prospect of barren rock and broken stone. In the century and a +half that have elapsed since Hearne's journey, only one or two intrepid +explorers have made their way through this region. It still lies and +probably will lie for centuries unreclaimed and unreclaimable for the +uses of civilization. +</P> + +<P> +Hearne and his Indian hunters moved +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P47"></A>47}</SPAN> +westward and southward, +passing in a circle round the west shore of Lake Dubawnt, though at a +distance of some miles from it. The luckless travellers had now but +little chance of reaching the object of their search. They were +hundreds of miles away even from the head waters of the Coppermine. +The season was already late: the Indian guides were quite unmanageable, +while the natives whom Hearne met clamoured greedily for European +wares, ammunition and medicine, and cried out in disgust at his +inability to supply their wants. +</P> + +<P> +Then came an accident, fortunate perhaps, that compelled Hearne to +abandon his enterprise. While he was taking his noon observations, +which showed him to be in latitude 63° 10' north, he left his quadrant +standing and sat down on the rocks to eat his dinner. A sudden gust of +wind dashed the delicate instrument to the ground, where it lay in +fragments. This capped the climax. Unable any longer to ascertain his +exact whereabouts, with no trustworthy guidance and no prospect of +winter supplies or equipment, Hearne turned back towards the south. +This was on August 12, after a journey of nearly six months into the +unknown north. +</P> + +<P> +The return occupied three months and a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P48"></A>48}</SPAN> +half. They were filled +with hardship. On the very first day of the long march, a band of +Indians from the north, finding Hearne defenceless, plundered him of +wellnigh all he had. 'Nothing can exceed,' wrote Hearne, 'the cool +deliberation of the villains. A committee of them entered my tent. +The ringleader seated himself on my left hand. They first begged me to +lend them my skipertogan[<A NAME="chap02fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap02fn1">1</A>] to fill a pipe of tobacco. After smoking +two or three pipes, they asked me for several articles which I had not, +and among others for a pack of cards; but, on my answering that I had +not any of the articles they mentioned, one of them put his hand on my +baggage and asked if it was mine. Before I could answer in the +affirmative, he and the rest of his companions (six in number) had all +my treasure spread on the ground. One took one thing and one another, +till at last nothing was left but the empty bag, which they permitted +me to keep.' At Hearne's urgent request, a few necessary articles were +restored to him. From his Indian guides also the marauders took all +they had except their guns, a little ammunition, and a few tools. +</P> + +<P> +Thus miserably equipped, Hearne and his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P49"></A>49}</SPAN> +followers set out for +home. Their only tent consisted of a blanket thrown over three long +sticks. They had no winter clothing, neither snow-shoes nor sleds, and +their food was such as could be found by the way. The month of +September was unusually severe, and when the winter set in, the party +suffered intensely from the cold, while the want of snow-shoes made +their march increasingly difficult. The marvel is that Hearne ever +reached the fort at all. He would not have done so very probably had +it not been his fortune to fall in with an Indian chief named +Matonabbee, a man of strange and exceptional character, to whom he owed +not only his return to Fort Prince of Wales, but his subsequent +successful journey to the Coppermine. +</P> + +<P> +This Indian chief, when he fell in with Hearne (September 20, 1770), +was crossing the barren grounds on his way to the fort with furs. As a +young man, Matonabbee had resided for years among the English. He had +some knowledge of the language, and was able to understand that a +certain merit would attach to the rescue of Hearne from his +predicament. Moreover, the chief had himself been to the Coppermine +river, and it was partly owing to his account of it that Governor +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P50"></A>50}</SPAN> + +Norton had sent Hearne into the barren grounds. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-050"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-050.jpg" ALT="Fort Churchill or Prince of Wales. Drawn by Samuel Hearne." BORDER="2" WIDTH="688" HEIGHT="515"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 688px"> +Fort Churchill or Prince of Wales. <BR> +Drawn by Samuel Hearne. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Matonabbee hastened to relieve the young explorer's sufferings. He +provided him with warm deer-skins and, from his ample supplies, +prepared a great feast for the good cheer of his new acquaintance. An +orgy of eating followed, dear to the Indian heart, and after this, +without fire-water to drink, the Indians sang and danced about the +fires of the bivouac. Matonabbee and Hearne travelled together for +several days towards the fort, making only about twelve miles a day. +The Indian then directed Hearne to go eastward to a little river where +wood enough could be found for snow-shoes and sledges, while he himself +went forward at such a slow pace as to allow Hearne and his party to +overtake him. This was done and Hearne, now better equipped, rejoined +Matonabbee, after which they continued together for a fortnight, making +good progress over the snow. As they drew near the fort their +ammunition was almost spent and the game had almost disappeared. By +Matonabbee's advice, Hearne, accompanied by four Indians, left the main +party in order to hasten ahead as rapidly as possible. The daylight +was now exceedingly short, but the moon and the aurora borealis +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P51"></A>51}</SPAN> +illuminated the brilliant waste of snow. The weather was intensely +cold. One of Hearne's dogs was frozen to death. But in spite of +hardship the advance party reached Fort Prince of Wales safe and sound +on November 25, 1770. Matonabbee arrived a few days later. +</P> + +<P> +Strange as it may seem, Hearne was off again in less than a fortnight +on his third quest of the Coppermine. The time that he had spent in +Matonabbee's company had given him a great opinion of the character of +the chief; 'the most sociable, kind, and sensible Indian I have ever +met'—so Hearne described him. The chief himself had offered to lead +Hearne to the great river of the north. Governor Norton willingly +furnished ammunition, supplies, and a few trading goods. The +expedition started in the depth of winter. But this time, with better +information to guide them, the travellers made no attempt to strike +directly northward. Instead, they moved towards the west so as to +cross the lower reaches of the barren grounds as soon as possible and +proceed northward by way of the basin of the Great Slave Lake, where +they would find a wooded country reaching far to the north. A glance +at the map will show the immensity of the task before them. The +distance from Fort Churchill +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P52"></A>52}</SPAN> +to the Slave Lake, even as the crow +flies, is some seven hundred miles, and from thence to the Arctic sea +four hundred and fifty, and the actual journey is longer by reason of +the sinuous course which the explorer must of necessity pursue. The +whole of this vast country was as yet unknown: no white man had looked +upon the Mackenzie river nor upon the vast lakes from which it flows. +It speaks well for the quiet intrepidity of Hearne that he was ready +alone to penetrate the trackless waste of an unknown country, among a +band of savages and amid the rigour of the northern winter. +</P> + +<P> +The journey opened gloomily enough. The month of December was spent in +toiling painfully over the barren grounds. The sledges were +insufficient, and Hearne as well as his companions had to trudge under +the burden of a heavy load. At best some sixteen or eighteen miles +could be traversed in the short northern day. Intense cold set in. +Game seemed to have vanished, and Christmas found the party plodding +wearily onward, foodless, moving farther each day from the little +outpost of civilization that lay behind them on the bleak shores of +Hudson Bay. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +I must confess [wrote Hearne in his +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P53"></A>53}</SPAN> +journal] that I never spent so +dull a Christmas; and when I recollected the merry season which was +then passing, and reflected on the immense quantities and great variety +of delicacies which were then expending in every part of Christendom, I +could not refrain from wishing myself again in Europe, if it had only +been to have had an opportunity of alleviating the extreme hunger that +I suffered with the refuse of the table of one of my acquaintances. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +At the end of the month (December 1770), they reached the woods, a +thick growth of stunted pine and poplar with willow bushes growing in +the frozen swamps. Here they joined a large party of Matonabbee's +band, for the most part women and children. The women were by no means +considered by the chief as a hindrance to the expedition. Indeed, he +attributed Hearne's previous failure to their absence. 'Women,' he +once told his English friend, 'were made for labour; one of them can +carry or haul as much as two men can do; they pitch our tents, make and +mend our clothing, and in fact there is no such thing as travelling in +this country for any length of +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P54"></A>54}</SPAN> +time without their assistance. +Women,' he added, 'though they do everything are maintained at a +trifling expense; for as they always stand cook, the very licking of +their fingers in scarce times is sufficient for their subsistence.' +Acting on these salutary opinions, the chief was a man of eight wives, +and Hearne was shocked later on to find the Indian willing to add to +his little flock by force without the slightest compunction. +</P> + +<P> +The two opening months of the year 1771 were spent in travelling +westward towards Wholdaia Lake. The country was wooded, though here +and there, the observer, standing on the higher levels, could see the +barren grounds to the northward. The cold was intense, especially when +a frozen lake or river exposed the travellers to the full force of the +wind. But game was plentiful. At intervals the party halted and +killed caribou in such quantities that three and four days were +sometimes spent in camp in a vain attempt to eat the spoils of the +chase. The Indians, Hearne remarked, slaughtered the game recklessly, +with no thought of the morrow. +</P> + +<P> +Wholdaia Lake was reached on March 2. This is a long sheet of water +lying some thirty miles north of the parallel of sixty degrees. At +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P55"></A>55}</SPAN> +the point where Hearne crossed it on the ice, it was twenty-seven +miles broad; its length appears to be four or five times as great. It +is still almost unknown, for it lies far beyond the confines of present +settlement and has been seen only by explorers. +</P> + +<P> +From Wholdaia Lake the course was continued westward. The weather was +moderate. There was abundant game, the skies overhead were bright, and +the journey assumed a more agreeable aspect. Here and there bands of +roving Indians were seen, as also were encampments of hunters engaged +in snaring deer in the forest. In the middle of April, the party +rested for ten days in camp beside a little lake which marked the +westward limit of their march. From here on, the course was to lie +northward again. The Indians were therefore employed in gathering +staves and birch-bark to be used for tent poles and canoes when the +party should again reach the barren grounds on their northern route. +</P> + +<P> +The opening of May found the party at Lake Clowey, whose waters run +westward to the Great Slave Lake. Here they again halted, and the +Indians built birch-bark canoes out of the material they had carried +from the woods. In traversing the barren grounds, where both the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P56"></A>56}</SPAN> +direction and the nature of the rivers render them almost useless for +navigation, the canoe plays a part different from that which is +familiar throughout the rest of Canada. During the greater part of the +journey, often for a stretch of a hundred miles at a time, the canoe is +absolutely useless, or worse, since it must be carried. Here and +there, however, for the crossing of the larger rivers, it is +indispensable. Large numbers of Indians were assembling at Clowey Lake +during Hearne's stay there, and were likewise engaged in building +canoes. A considerable body of them, hearing that Matonabbee and his +band were on the way to the Coppermine, eagerly agreed to travel with +them. It seemed to them an excellent opportunity for making a combined +attack on their hereditary enemy, the Eskimos at the mouth of the +river. The savages thereupon set themselves to make wooden shields +about three feet long with which to ward off the arrows of the Eskimos. +</P> + +<P> +On May 20, a new start was made to the north. Matonabbee and his great +company of armed Indians now assumed the appearance of a war party, and +hurried eagerly towards the enemy's country. Two days after leaving +Lake Clowey, they passed out of the woods on +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P57"></A>57}</SPAN> +to the barren +grounds. To facilitate their movements most of the women were +presently left behind together with the children and dogs. A number of +the braves, weary already of the prospect of the long march, turned +back, but Matonabbee, Hearne, and about one hundred and fifty Indians +held on with all speed towards the north. Their path as traced on a +modern map runs by way of Clinton-Colden and Aylmer lakes and thence +northward to the mouth of the Coppermine. By the latter part of June +the ice was breaking up, and on the 22nd the party made use of their +canoes (which had been carried for over a month) in order to cross a +great river rejoicing in the ponderous name of the Congecathawachaga. +On the farther side, they met a number of Copper Indians who were +delighted to learn of Matonabbee's hostile design against the Eskimos. +They eagerly joined the party, celebrating their accession by a great +feast. +</P> + +<P> +The Copper Indians expressed their pleasure at learning from Hearne +that the great king their father proposed to send ships to visit them +by the northern sea. They had never seen a white man before and +examined Hearne with great curiosity, disapproving strongly of the +colour of his skin and comparing his hair to a stained buffalo tail. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P58"></A>58}</SPAN> + +<P> +The whole party moved on together. The weather was bad, with +alternating sleet and rain, and the path broken and difficult. July 4 +found them at the Stony Mountains, a rugged and barren set of hills +that seemed from a distance like a pile of broken stones. Nine days +more of arduous travel brought the warriors in sight of their goal. +From the elevation of the low hills that rose above its banks, Hearne +was able to look upon the foaming waters of the Coppermine, as it +plunged over the broken stones of its bed in a series of cascades. A +few trees, or rather a few burnt stumps, fringed the banks, but the +trees which here and there remained unburned were so crooked and +dwarfish as merely to heighten the desolation of the scene. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately on their arrival at the Coppermine, Matonabbee and his +Indians began to make their preparations for an attack upon the +Eskimos, who were known to frequent the mouth of the river. Spies were +sent out in advance towards the sea, and the remainder of the Indians +showed an unwonted and ominous energy in building fires and roasting +meat so that they might carry with them a supply so large as to make it +unnecessary to alarm the Eskimos by the sound of the guns of the +hunters +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P59"></A>59}</SPAN> +in search of food. Hearne occupied himself with surveying +the river. He was sick at heart at the scene of bloodshed which he +anticipated, but was powerless to dissuade his companions from their +design. Two days later (July 15, 1771), the spies brought back word +that a camp of Eskimos, five tents in all, had been seen on the further +side of the river. It was distant about twelve miles and favourably +situated for a surprise. Matonabbee and his braves were now filled +with the fierce eagerness of the savage; they crossed hurriedly to the +west side of the river, where each Indian painted the shield that he +carried with rude daubs of red and black, to imitate the spirits of the +earth and air on whom he relied for aid in the coming fight. +Noiselessly the Indians proceeded along the banks of the river, +trailing in a serpentine course among the rocks so as to avoid being +seen upon the higher ground. They seemed to Hearne to have been +suddenly transformed from an undisciplined rabble into a united band. +Northern and Copper Indians alike were animated by a single purpose and +readily shared with one another the weapons of their common stock. The +advance was made in the middle of the night, but at this season of the +year the whole +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P60"></A>60}</SPAN> +scene was brilliant with the light of the midnight +sun. The Indians stole to within two hundred yards of the place +indicated by the guides. From their ambush among the rocks they could +look out upon the tents of their sleeping victims. The camp of the +Eskimos stood on a broad ledge of rock at the spot where the +Coppermine, narrowed between lofty walls of red sandstone, roars +foaming over a cataract some three hundred yards in extent. +</P> + +<P> +The Indians, sure of their prey, paused a few moments to make final +preparations for the onslaught. They cast aside their outer garments, +bound back their hair from their eyes, and hurriedly painted their +foreheads and faces with a hideous coating of red and black. Then with +weapons in hand they rushed forth upon their sleeping foe. +</P> + +<P> +Hearne, unable to leave the spot, was compelled to witness in all its +details the awful slaughter which followed. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="block"> +In a few seconds [he wrote in his journal] the horrible scene +commenced; it was shocking beyond description; the poor unhappy victims +were surprised in the midst of their sleep, and had neither time nor +power to make any resistance; men, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P61"></A>61}</SPAN> +women, and children, in all +upwards of twenty, ran out of their tents stark naked, and endeavoured +to make their escape; but the Indians, having possession of all the +land-side, to no place could they fly for shelter. One alternative +only remained, that of jumping into the river; but, as none of them +attempted it, they all fell a sacrifice to Indian barbarity. The +shrieks and groans of the poor expiring wretches were truly dreadful. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +But it is needless to linger on the details of the massacre, which +Hearne was thus compelled to witness, and the revolting mutilation of +the corpses which followed it. To Matonabbee and the other Indians the +whole occurrence was viewed as a proper incident of tribal war, and the +feeble protests which Hearne contrived to make only drew down upon him +the expression of their contempt. +</P> + +<P> +After the massacre followed plunder. The Indians tore down the tents +of the Eskimos and with reckless folly threw tents, tent poles, and +great quantities of food into the waters of the cataract. Having made +a feast of fresh fish on the ruins of the camp, they then announced to +Hearne that they were ready to assist him in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P62"></A>62}</SPAN> +going on to the mouth +of the river. The desolate scene was left behind—the broad rock +strewn with mangled bodies of the dead and the broken remnants of their +poor belongings. Half a century later the explorer Franklin visited +the spot and saw the skulls and bones of the Eskimos still lying about. +One of Franklin's Indians, then an aged man, had been a witness of the +scene. +</P> + +<P> +From the hills beside the Bloody Falls, as the cataract is called, the +eye could discern at a distance of some eight miles the open water of +the Arctic and the glitter of the ice beyond. Hearne followed the +river along its precipitous and broken course till he stood upon the +shore of the sea. One may imagine with what emotion he looked out upon +that northern ocean to reach which he had braved the terrors of the +Arctic winter and the famine of the barren grounds. He saw before him +about three-quarters of a mile of open sea, studded with rocks and +little islands: beyond that the clear white of the ice-pack stretched +to the farthest horizon. Hearne viewed this scene in the bright +sunlight of the northern day: but while he still lingered, thick fog +and drizzling rain rolled in from the sea and shut out the view. For +the sake of form, as he said, he +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P63"></A>63}</SPAN> +erected a pile of stones and took +possession of the coast in the name of the Hudson's Bay Company. Then, +filled with the bitterness of a vain quest, Hearne turned his face +towards the south to commence his long march to the settlements. +</P> + +<P> +Up to this point nothing had been seen of the supposed mountains of +copper which formed the principal goal of Hearne's undertaking. The +eagerness of the Indians had led them to hasten directly to the camp of +the Eskimos regardless of all else. But on the second day of the +journey home, the guides led Hearne to the site of this northern +Eldorado. It lay among the hills beside the Coppermine river at a spot +thirty miles from the sea, and almost directly south of the mouth of +the river. The prospect was strange. Some mighty force, as of an +earthquake, seemed to have rent asunder the solid rock and strewn it in +a confused and broken heap of boulders. Through these a rivulet ran to +join the Coppermine. Here, said the Indians, was copper so great in +quantity that it could be gathered as easily as one might gather stones +at Churchill. Filled with a new eagerness, Hearne and his companions +searched for four hours among the rocks. Here and there a few +splinters of native +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P64"></A>64}</SPAN> +copper were seen. One piece alone, weighing +some four pounds, offered a slight reward for their quest. This Hearne +carried away with him, convinced now that the mountain of copper and +the inexhaustible wealth of the district were mere fictions created by +the cupidity of the savages or by the natural mystery surrounding a +region so grim and inaccessible as the rocky gorge by which the +Coppermine rushes to the cold seas of the north. +</P> + +<P> +After Hearne's visit no explorer reached the lower waters of the +Coppermine till Captain (afterwards Sir John) Franklin made his +memorable and marvellous overland journey of 1821. Since Franklin's +time the region has been crossed only two or three times by explorers. +They agree in stating that loose copper and copper ore are freely +found. But it does not seem that, since 1771, any white man has ever +looked upon the valley of the great boulders which the Indians +described to Hearne as containing a fabulous wealth of copper. The +solitary piece of metal which he brought home is still preserved by the +Hudson's Bay Company. +</P> + +<P> +There is no need to follow in detail the long journey which Hearne had +to take in order to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P65"></A>65}</SPAN> +return to the fort. The march lasted nearly a +year, during which he was exposed to the same hardship, famine and +danger as on his way to the sea. The route followed on the return was +different. The party ascended the valley of the Coppermine as far as +Point Lake, a considerable body of water visited later by Franklin, and +distant one hundred and sixty miles from the sea. This was reached on +September 3, 1771. Four months were spent in travelling almost +directly south. They passed over a rugged country of stone and marsh, +buried deep in snow, with here and there a clump of stunted pine or +straggling willow. Bitter weather with great gales and deep snow set +in in October. Snow-shoes and sledges were made. Many small lakes and +rivers, now fast frozen, were traversed, but the whole country is still +so little known that Hearne's path can hardly be traced with certainty. +By the middle of November the clumps of trees thickened into the +northern edge of the great forest. The way now became easier. They +had better shelter from the wind, and firewood was abundant. For food +the party carried dried meat from Point Lake, and as they passed into +the thicker woods they were fortunate enough to find a few rabbits and +wood partridges. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P66"></A>66}</SPAN> +Some fish were caught through the ice of the +river. But in nearly two months of walking only two deer were seen. +</P> + +<P> +On Christmas Eve Hearne found himself on the shores of a great frozen +lake, so vast that, as the Indians rightly informed him, it reached +three hundred miles east and west. This is the Great Slave Lake; +Hearne speaks of it as Athaspuscow Lake. The latter name is the same +as that now given to another lake (Athabaska of Canadian maps)—the +word being descriptive and meaning the lake with the beds of reeds. +</P> + +<P> +Hearne and his party crossed the great lake on the ice. A new prospect +now opened. Deer and beaver were plentiful among the islands. Great +quantities of fine fish abounded in the waters under the ice. As they +reached the southern shore, the jumble of rocks and hills and stunted +trees of the barren north was left behind, and the travellers entered a +fine level country, over which wandered great herds of buffalo and +moose. For about forty miles they ascended the course of the Athabaska +river, finding themselves among splendid woods with tall pines and +poplars such as Hearne had never seen. From the Athabaska they struck +eastward, plunging into so dense a forest that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P67"></A>67}</SPAN> +at times the axes +had to be used to clear the way. For two months (January and February +of 1772) they made their way through the northern forest. The month of +March found them clear of the level country of the Athabaska and +entering upon the hilly and broken region which formed the territory of +the Northern Indians. At the end of March the first thaws began, +rendering walking difficult in the bush. In traversing the open lakes +and plains they were frequently exposed to the violent gales of the +equinoctial season. By the middle of April the signs of spring were +apparent. Flocks of waterfowl were seen overhead, flying to the north. +Their course was shaped directly to the east, so that the party were +presently traversing the same route as on their outward journey and +making towards Wholdaia Lake. The month of May opened with fine +weather and great thaws. Such intense heat was experienced in the +first week of this month that for some days a march of twelve miles a +day was all that the travellers could accomplish. Canoes were now +built for the passage of the lakes and rivers. By May 25 the +expedition was clear of all the woods and out on the barren grounds. +They passed the Cathawachaga river, still covered with ice, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P68"></A>68}</SPAN> +on the +last day of May. A month of travel over the barren grounds brought +them on the last day of June 1772 to the desolate but welcome +surroundings of Fort Prince of Wales. Hearne had been absent on his +last journey one year, six months, and twenty-three days. From his +first journey into the wilderness until his final return, there had +elapsed two years, seven months, and twenty-four days. +</P> + +<P> +Hearne was not left without honour. The Hudson's Bay Company retained +him in their service at various factories, and three years after his +famous expedition they made him governor of Fort Prince of Wales. +During his service there he had the melancholy celebrity of +surrendering the great fort (unfortunately left without men enough to +defend it) to a French fleet under Admiral La Pérouse. Among the +spoils of the captors was Hearne's manuscript journal, which the +generous victors returned on the sole condition that it should be +published as soon as possible. Hearne returned to England in 1787, and +was chiefly busied with revising and preparing his journal until his +death in 1792. +</P> + +<P> +No better appreciation of his work has been written than the words with +which he concludes the account of his safe return after his years +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P69"></A>69}</SPAN> + +of wandering. 'Though my discoveries,' he writes, 'are not likely to +prove of any material advantage to the nation at large, or indeed to +the Hudson's Bay Company, yet I have the pleasure to think that I have +fully complied with the orders of my masters, and that it has put a +final end to all disputes concerning a North-West Passage through +Hudson's Bay.' +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02fn1"></A> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +[<A HREF="#chap02fn1text">1</A>] Bag for flint and steel, tobacco, etc. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P70"></A>70}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +MACKENZIE DESCENDS THE GREAT RIVER OF THE NORTH +</H4> + +<P> +The next great landmark in the exploration of the Far North is the +famous voyage of Alexander Mackenzie down the river which bears his +name, and which he traced to its outlet into the Arctic ocean. This +was in 1789. By that time the Pacific coast of America and the coast +of Siberia over against it had already been explored. Even before +Hearne's journey the Danish navigator Bering, sailing in the employ of +the Russian government, had discovered the strait which separates Asia +from America, and which commemorates his name. Four years after +Hearne's return (1776) the famous navigator Captain Cook had explored +the whole range of the American coast to the north of what is now +British Columbia, had passed Bering Strait and had sailed along the +Arctic coast as far as Icy Cape. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-070"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-070.jpg" ALT="Sir Alexander Mackenzie. From the painting by Sir T. Lawrence." BORDER="2" WIDTH="475" HEIGHT="616"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 475px"> +Sir Alexander Mackenzie. <BR> +From the painting by Sir T. Lawrence. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +The general outline of the north of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P71"></A>71}</SPAN> +continent of America, and +at any rate the vast distance to be traversed to reach the Pacific from +the Atlantic, could now be surmised with some accuracy. But the +internal geography of the continent still contained an unsolved +mystery. It was known that vast bodies of fresh water far beyond the +basin of the Saskatchewan and the Columbia emptied towards the north. +Hearne had revealed the existence of the Great Slave Lake, and the +advance of daring fur-traders into the north had brought some knowledge +of the great stream called the Peace, which rises far in the mountains +of the west, and joins its waters to Lake Athabaska. It was known that +this river after issuing from the Athabaska Lake moved onwards, as a +new river, in a vast flood towards the north, carrying with it the +tribute of uncounted streams. These rivers did not flow into the +Pacific. Nor could so great a volume of water make its way to the sea +through the shallow torrent of the Coppermine or the rivers that flowed +north-eastward over the barren grounds. There must exist somewhere a +mighty river of the north running to the frozen seas. +</P> + +<P> +It fell to the lot of Alexander Mackenzie to find the solution of this +problem. The +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P72"></A>72}</SPAN> +circumstances which led to his famous journey arose +out of the progress of the fur trade and its extension into the Far +West. The British possession of Canada in 1760 had created a new +situation. The monopoly enjoyed by the Hudson's Bay Company was rudely +disturbed. Enterprising British traders from Montreal, passing up the +Great Lakes, made their way to the valley of the Saskatchewan and, +whether legally or not, contrived to obtain an increasing share of the +furs brought from the interior. These traders were at first divided +into partnerships and small groups, but presently, for the sake of +co-operation and joint defence, they combined (1787) into the powerful +body known as the North-West Company, which from now on entered into +desperate competition with the great corporation that had first +occupied the field. The Hudson's Bay Company and its rival sought to +carry their operations as far inland as possible in order to tap the +supplies at their source. They penetrated the valleys of the +Assiniboine, the Red, and the Saskatchewan rivers, and founded, among +others, the forts which were destined to become the present cities of +Winnipeg, Brandon, and Edmonton. The annals of North-West Canada +during the next thirty-three years are made up of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P73"></A>73}</SPAN> +recital of +the commercial rivalry, and at times the actual conflict under arms, of +the two great trading companies. +</P> + +<P> +It was in the service of the North-West Company that Alexander +Mackenzie made his famous journey. He had arrived in Canada in 1779. +After five years spent in the counting-house of a trading company at +Montreal, he had been assigned for a year to a post at Detroit, and in +1785 had been elevated to the dignity of a bourgeois or partner in the +North-West Company. In this capacity Alexander Mackenzie was sent out +to the Athabaska district to take control, in that vast and scarcely +known region, of the posts of the traders now united into the +North-West Company. +</P> + +<P> +A glance at the map of Canada will show the commanding geographical +position occupied by Lake Athabaska, in a country where the waterways +formed the only means of communication. It receives from the south and +west the great streams of the Athabaska and the Peace, which thus +connect it with the prairies of the Saskatchewan valley and with the +Rocky Mountains. Eastward a chain of lakes and rivers connects it and +the forest country which lies about it with the barren grounds and the +forts on Hudson Bay, while to the north, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P74"></A>74}</SPAN> +issuing from Lake +Athabaska, a great and unknown river led into the forests, moving +towards an unknown sea. +</P> + +<P> +It was Mackenzie's first intention to make Lake Athabaska the frontier +of the operations of his company. Acting under his instructions, his +cousin Roderick Mackenzie, who served with him, selected a fine site on +a cape on the south side of the lake and erected the post that was +named Fort Chipewyan. Beautifully situated, with good timber and +splendid fisheries and easy communication in all directions, the fort +rapidly became the central point of trade and travel in the far +north-west. But it was hardly founded before Mackenzie had already +conceived a wider scheme. Chipewyan should be the emporium but not the +outpost of the fur trade; using it as a base, he would descend the +great unknown waterway which led north, and thus bring into the sphere +of the company's operations the whole region between Lake Athabaska and +the northern sea. Alexander Mackenzie's object was, in name at least, +commercial—the extension of the trade of the North-West Company. But +in reality, his incentive was that instinctive desire to widen the +bounds of geographical knowledge, and to roll back the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P75"></A>75}</SPAN> +mystery of +unknown lands and seas which had already raised Hearne to eminence, and +which later on was to lead Franklin to his glorious disaster. +</P> + +<P> +It was on Wednesday, June 3, 1789, that Alexander Mackenzie's little +flotilla of four birch-bark canoes set out across Lake Athabaska on its +way to the north. In Mackenzie's canoe were four French-Canadian +voyageurs, two of them accompanied by their wives, and a German. Two +other canoes were filled with Indians, who were to act as guides and +interpreters. At their head was a notable brave who had been one of +the band of Matonabbee, Hearne's famous guide. From his frequent +visits to the English post at Fort Churchill he had acquired the name +of the 'English Chief.' Another canoe was in charge of Leroux, a +French-Canadian in the service of the company, who had already +descended the Slave river, as far as the Great Slave Lake. Leroux and +his men carried trading goods and supplies. +</P> + +<P> +The first part of the journey was by a route already known. The +voyageurs paddled across the twenty miles of water which here forms the +breadth of Lake Athabaska, entered a river running from the lake, and +followed its +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P76"></A>76}</SPAN> +winding stream. They encamped at night seven miles +from the lake. The next morning at four o'clock the canoes were on +their way again, descending the winding river through a low forest of +birch and willow. After a paddle of ten miles, a bend in the little +river brought the canoes out upon the broad stream of the Peace river, +its waters here being upwards of a mile wide and running with a strong +current to the north. On our modern maps this great stream after it +leaves Lake Athabaska is called the Slave river: but it is really one +and the same mighty river, carrying its waters from the valleys of +British Columbia through the gorges of the Rocky Mountains, passing +into the Great Slave Lake, and then, under the name of the Mackenzie, +emptying into the Arctic. +</P> + +<P> +In the next five days Mackenzie's canoes successfully descended the +river to the Great Slave Lake, a distance of some two hundred and +thirty-five miles. The journey was not without its dangers. The Slave +river has a varied course: at times it broadens out into a great sheet +of water six miles across, flowing with a gentle current and carrying +the light canoes gently upon its unruffled surface. In other places it +is confined into a narrow channel, breaks into swift eddies and pours +in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P77"></A>77}</SPAN> +boiling rapids over the jagged rocks. Over the upper rapids of +the river, Mackenzie and his men were able to run their canoes fully +laden; but lower down were long and arduous portages, rendered +dangerous by the masses of broken ice still clinging to the banks of +the river. As they neared the Great Slave Lake boisterous gales from +the north-east lashed the surface of the river into foam and brought +violent showers of rain. But the voyageurs were trained men, +accustomed to face the dangers of northern navigation. +</P> + +<P> +A week of travel brought them on June 9 to the Great Slave Lake. It +was still early in the season. The rigour of winter was not yet +relaxed. As far as the eye could see the surface of the lake presented +an unbroken sheet of ice. Only along the shore had narrow lanes of +open water appeared. The weather was bitterly cold, and there was no +immediate prospect of the break-up of the ice. +</P> + +<P> +For a fortnight Mackenzie and his party remained at the lake, skirting +its shores as best they could, and searching among the bays and islands +of its western end for the outlet towards the north which they knew +must exist. Heavy rain, alternating with bitter cold, caused them much +hardship. At times it froze so +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P78"></A>78}</SPAN> +hard that a thin sheet of new ice +covered even the open water of the lake. But as the month advanced the +mass of old ice began slowly to break; strong winds drove it towards +the north, and the canoes were presently able to pass, with great +danger and difficulty, among the broken floes. Mackenzie met a band of +Yellow Knife Indians, who assured him that a great river ran out of the +west end of the lake, and offered a guide to aid him in finding the +channel among the islands and sandbars of the lake. Convinced that his +search would be successful, Mackenzie took all the remaining supplies +into his canoes and sent back Leroux to Chipewyan with the news that he +had gone north down the great river. But even after obtaining his +guide Mackenzie spent four days searching for the outlet It was not +till the end of the month of June that his search was rewarded, and, at +the extreme south-west, the lake, after stretching out among islands +and shallows, was found to contract into the channel of a river. +</P> + +<P> +The first day of July saw Mackenzie's canoes floating down the stream +that bears his name. From now on, progress became easier. At this +latitude and season the northern day gave the voyageurs twenty hours of +sunlight in each day, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P79"></A>79}</SPAN> +and with smooth water and a favouring +current the descent was rapid. Five days after leaving the Great Slave +Lake the canoes reached the region where the waters of the Great Bear +Lake, then still unknown, drain into the Mackenzie. The Indians of +this district seemed entirely different from those known at the trading +posts. At the sight of the canoes and the equipment of the voyageurs +they made off and hid among the rocks and trees beside the river. +Mackenzie's Indians contrived to make themselves understood, by calling +out to them in the Chipewyan language, but the strange Indians showed +the greatest reluctance and apprehension, and only with difficulty +allowed Mackenzie's people to come among them. Mackenzie notes the +peculiar fact that they seemed unacquainted with tobacco, and that even +fire-water was accepted by them rather from fear of offending than from +any inclination. Knives, hatchets and tools, however, they took with +great eagerness. On learning of Mackenzie's design to go on towards +the north they endeavoured with every possible expression of horror to +induce him to turn back. The sea, they said, was so far away that +winter after winter must pass before Mackenzie could hope to reach it: +he would be an old man +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P80"></A>80}</SPAN> +before he could complete the voyage. More +than this, the river, so they averred, fell over great cataracts which +no one could pass; he would find no animals and no food for his men. +The whole country was haunted by monsters. Mackenzie was not to be +deterred by such childish and obviously interested terrors. His +interpreters explained that he had no fear of the horrors that they +depicted, and, by a heavy bribe, consisting of a kettle, an axe, and a +knife, he succeeded in enlisting the services of one of the Indians as +a guide. That the terror of the Far North professed by these Indians, +or at any rate the terror of going there in strange company, was not +wholly imaginary was made plain from the conduct of the guide. When +the time came to depart he showed every sign of anxiety and fear: he +sought in vain to induce his friends to take his place: finding that he +must go, he reluctantly bade farewell to his wife and children, cutting +off a lock of his hair and dividing it into three parts, which he +fastened to the hair of each of them. +</P> + +<P> +On July 5, the party set out with their new guide, and on the same +afternoon passed the mouth of the Great Bear river, which joins the +Mackenzie in a flood of sea-green water, fresh, but coloured like that +of the ocean. Below +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P81"></A>81}</SPAN> +this point, they passed many islands. The +banks of the river rose to high mountains covered with snow. The +country, so the guide said, was here filled with bears, but the +voyageurs saw nothing worse than mosquitoes, which descended in clouds +upon the canoes. As the party went on to the north, the guide seemed +more and more stricken with fear and consumed with the longing to +return to his people. In the morning after breaking camp nothing but +force would induce him to embark, and on the fourth night, during the +confusion of a violent thunder-storm, he made off and was seen no more. +</P> + +<P> +The next day, however, Mackenzie supplied his place, this time by +force, from a band of roving Indians. The new guide told him that the +sea was not far away, and that it could be reached in ten days. As the +journey continued the river was broken into so many channels and so +dotted with islands, that it was almost impossible to decide which was +the main waterway. The guide's advice was evidently influenced by his +desire to avoid the Eskimos, and, like his predecessor, to keep away +from the supposed terrors of the North. The shores of the river were +now at times low, though usually lofty mountains could be seen about +ten miles +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P82"></A>82}</SPAN> +away. Trees were still present, especially fir and +birch, though in places both shores of the river were entirely bare, +and the islands were mere banks of sand and mud to which great masses +of ice adhered. An observation taken on July 10 showed that the +voyageurs had reached latitude 67° 47' north. From the extreme +variation of the compass, and from other signs, Mackenzie was now +certain that he was approaching the northern ocean. He was assured +that in a few days more of travel he could reach its shores. But in +the meantime his provisions were running low. His Indian guide, a prey +to fantastic terrors, endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose, +while his canoe men, now far beyond the utmost limits of the country +known to the fur trade, began to share the apprehensions of the guide, +and clamoured eagerly for return. Mackenzie himself was of the opinion +that it would not be possible for him to return to Chipewyan while the +rivers were still open, and that the approach of winter must surprise +him in these northern solitudes. But in spite of this he could not +bring himself to turn back. With his men he stipulated for seven days; +if the northern ocean were not found in that time he would turn south +again. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P83"></A>83}</SPAN> + +<P> +The expedition went forward. On July 10, they made a course of +thirty-two miles, the river sweeping with a strong current through a +low, flat country, a mountain range still visible in the west and +reaching out towards the north. At the spot where they pitched their +tents at night on the river bank they could see the traces of an +encampment of Eskimos. The sun shone brilliantly the whole night, +never descending below the horizon. Mackenzie sat up all night +observing its course in the sky. At a quarter to four in the morning, +the canoes were off again, the river winding and turning in its course +but heading for the north-west. Here and there on the banks they saw +traces of the Eskimos, the marks of camp fires, and the remains of +huts, made of drift-wood covered with grass and willows. This day the +canoes travelled fifty-four miles. The prospect about the travellers +was gloomy and dispiriting. The low banks of the river were now almost +treeless, except that here and there grew stunted willow, not more than +three feet in height. The weather was cloudy and raw, with gusts of +rain at intervals. The discontent of Mackenzie's companions grew +apace: the guide was evidently at the end of his knowledge; while the +violent rain, the biting cold +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P84"></A>84}</SPAN> +and the fear of an attack by hostile +savages kept the voyageurs in a continual state of apprehension. July +12 was marked by continued cold, and the canoes traversed a country so +bare and naked that scarcely a shrub could be seen. At one place the +land rose in high banks above the river, and was bright with short +grass and flowers, though all the lower shore was now thick with ice +and snow, and even in the warmer spots the soil was only thawed to a +depth of four inches. Here also were seen more Eskimo huts, with +fragments of sledges, a square stone kettle, and other utensils lying +about. +</P> + +<P> +Mackenzie was now at the very delta of the great river, where it +discharges its waters, broken into numerous and intricate channels, +into the Arctic ocean. On Sunday, July 12, the party encamped on an +island that rose to a considerable eminence among the flat and dreary +waste of broken land and ice in which the travellers now found +themselves. The channels of the river had here widened into great +sheets of water, so shallow that for stretches of many miles, east and +west, the depth never exceeded five feet. Mackenzie and 'English +Chief,' his principal follower, ascended to the highest ground on the +island, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P85"></A>85}</SPAN> +from which they were able to command a wide view in all +directions. To the south of them lay the tortuous and complicated +channels of the broad river which they had descended; east and north +were islands in great number; but on the westward side the eye could +discern the broad field of solid ice that marked the Arctic ocean. +</P> + +<P> +Mackenzie had reached the goal of his endeavours. His followers, when +they learned that the open sea, the <I>mer d'ouest</I> as they called it, +was in sight, were transformed; instead of sullen ill-will they +manifested the highest degree of confidence and eager expectation. +They declared their readiness to follow their leader wherever he wished +to go, and begged that he would not turn back without actually reaching +the shore of the unknown sea. But in reality they had already reached +it. That evening, when their camp was pitched and they were about to +retire to sleep, under the full light of the unsinking sun, the inrush +of the Arctic tide, threatening to swamp their baggage and drown out +their tents, proved beyond all doubt that they were now actually on the +shore of the ocean. +</P> + +<P> +For three days Mackenzie remained beside the Arctic ocean. Heavy gales +blew in from +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P86"></A>86}</SPAN> +the north-west, and in the open water to the westward +whales were seen. Mackenzie and his men, in their exultation at this +final proof of their whereabouts, were rash enough to start in pursuit +in a canoe. Fortunately, a thick curtain of fog fell on the ocean and +terminated the chase. In memory of the occurrence, Mackenzie called +his island Whale Island. On the morning of July 14, 1789, Mackenzie, +convinced that his search had succeeded, ordered a post to be erected +on the island beside his tents, on which he carved the latitude as he +had calculated it (69° 14' north), his own name, the number of persons +who were with him and the time that was spent there. +</P> + +<P> +This day Mackenzie spent in camp, for a great gale, blowing with rain +and bitter cold, made it hazardous to embark. But on the next morning +the canoes were headed for the south, and the return journey was begun. +It was time indeed. Only about five hundred pounds weight of supplies +was now left in the canoes—enough, it was calculated, to suffice for +about twelve days. As the return journey might well occupy as many +weeks, the fate of the voyageurs must now depend on the chances of +fishing and the chase. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P87"></A>87}</SPAN> + +<P> +As a matter of fact the ascent of the river, which Mackenzie conducted +with signal success and almost without incident, occupied two months. +The weather was favourable. The wild gales which had been faced in the +Arctic delta were left behind, and, under mild skies and unending +sunlight, and with wild fowl abundant about them, the canoes were urged +steadily against the stream. The end of the month of July brought the +explorers to the Great Bear river; from this point an abundance of +berries on the banks of the stream—the huckleberry, the raspberry and +the saskatoon—afforded a welcome addition to their supplies. As they +reached the narrower parts of the river, where it flowed between high +banks, the swift current made paddling useless and compelled the men to +haul the canoes with the towing line. At other times steady strong +winds from the north enabled them to rig their sails and skim without +effort over the broad surface of the river. Mackenzie noted with +interest the varied nature and the fine resources of the country of the +upper river. At one place petroleum, having the appearance of yellow +wax, was seen oozing from the rocks; at another place a vast seam of +coal in the river bank was observed to be burning. On August 22 the +canoes were +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P88"></A>88}</SPAN> +driven over the last reaches of the Mackenzie with a +west wind strong and cold behind them, and were carried out upon the +broad bosom of the Great Slave Lake. The voyageurs were once more in +known country. The navigation of the lake, now free from ice, was +without difficulty, and the canoes drove at a furious rate over its +waters. On August 24 three canoes were sighted sailing on the lake, +and were presently found to contain Leroux and his party, who had been +carrying on the fur trade in that district during Mackenzie's absence. +</P> + +<P> +The rest of the journey offered no difficulty. There remained, indeed, +some two hundred and sixty miles of paddle and portage to traverse the +Slave river and reach Fort Chipewyan. But to the stout arms of +Mackenzie's trained voyageurs this was only a summer diversion. On +September 12, 1789, Alexander Mackenzie safely reached the fort. His +voyage had occupied one hundred and two days. Its successful +completion brought to the world its first knowledge of that vast +waterway of the northern country, whose extensive resources in timber +and coal, in mineral and animal wealth, still await development. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P89"></A>89}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE MEMORABLE EXPLOITS OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN +</H4> + +<P> +The generation now passing away can vividly recall, as one of the +deepest impressions of its childhood, the profound and sustained +interest excited by the mysterious fate of Sir John Franklin. His +splendid record by sea and land, the fact that he was one of 'Nelson's +men' and had fought at Copenhagen and Trafalgar, his feats as an +explorer in the unknown wilds of North America and the torrid seas of +Australasia, and, more than these, his high Christian courage and his +devotion to the flag and country that he served—all had made of +Franklin a hero whom the nation delighted to honour. His departure in +1846 with his two stout ships the <I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I> and a total +company of one hundred and thirty-four men, including some of the +ablest naval officers of the day, was hailed with high hopes that the +mysterious north would at length be +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P90"></A>90}</SPAN> +robbed of its secret. Then, +as the years passed and the ships never returned, and no message from +the explorers came out of the silent north, the nation, defiant of +difficulty and danger, bent its energies towards the discovery of their +fate. No less than forty-two expeditions were sent out in search of +the missing ships. The efforts of the government were seconded by the +munificence of private individuals, and by the generosity of naval +officers who gladly gave their services for no other reward than the +honour of the enterprise. The energies of the rescue parties were +quickened by the devotion of Lady Franklin, who refused to abandon +hope, and consecrated her every energy and her entire fortune to the +search for her lost husband. Her conduct and her ardent appeals awoke +a chivalrous spirit at home and abroad; men such as Kane, Bellot, +M'Clintock and De Haven volunteered their services in the cause. At +length, as with the passage of years anxiety deepened into despair, and +as little by little it was learned that all were lost, the brave story +of the death of Franklin and his men wrote itself in imperishable +letters on the hearts of their fellow-countrymen. It found no parallel +till more than half a century later, when another and a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P91"></A>91}</SPAN> +similar +tragedy in the silent snows of the Antarctic called forth again the +mingled pride and anguish with which Britain honours the memory of +those fallen in her cause. +</P> + +<P> +John Franklin belonged to the school of naval officers trained in the +prolonged struggle of the great war with France. He entered the Royal +Navy in 1800 at fourteen years of age, and within a year was engaged on +his ship, the <I>Polyphemus</I>, in the great sea-fight at Copenhagen. +During the brief truce that broke the long war after 1801, Franklin +served under Flinders, the great explorer of the Australasian seas. On +his way home in 1803 he was shipwrecked in Torres Strait, and, with +ninety-three others of the company of H.M.S. <I>Porpoise</I>, was cast up on +a sandbar, seven hundred and fifty miles from the nearest port. The +party were rescued, Franklin reached England, and at once set out on a +voyage to the China seas in the service of the East India Company. +During the voyage the merchant fleet with which he sailed offered +battle to a squadron of French men-of-war, which fled before them. The +next year saw Franklin serving as signal midshipman on board the +<I>Bellerophon</I> at Trafalgar. He remained in active service during the +war, served in America, and was +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P92"></A>92}</SPAN> +wounded in the British attempt to +capture New Orleans. After the war Franklin, now a lieutenant, found +himself, like so many other naval officers, unable, after the stirring +life of the past fifteen years, to settle into the dull routine of +peace service. Maritime discovery, especially since his voyage with +Flinders, had always fascinated his mind, and he now offered himself +for service in that Arctic region with which his name will ever be +associated. +</P> + +<P> +The long struggle of the war had halted the progress of discoveries in +the northern seas. But on the conclusion of peace the attention of the +nation, and of naval men in particular, was turned again towards the +north. The Admiralty naturally sought an opportunity of giving +honourable service to their officers and men. Great numbers of them +had been thrown out of employment. Some migrated to the colonies or +even took service abroad. At the same time the writings of Captain +Scoresby, a whaling captain of scientific knowledge who published an +account of the Greenland seas, and the influence of such men as Sir +John Barrow, the secretary of the Admiralty, did much to create a +renewal of public interest in the north. It was now recognized that +the North-West Passage offered no commercial +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P93"></A>93}</SPAN> +attractions. But it +was felt that it would not be for the honour of the nation that the +splendid discoveries of Hearne, Cook and Mackenzie should remain +uncompleted. To trace the Arctic water-way from the Atlantic to the +Pacific became now a supreme object, not of commercial interest, but of +geographical research and of national pride. To this was added the +fact that the progress of physical and natural science was opening up +new fields of investigation for the explorers of the north. +</P> + +<P> +Franklin first sailed north in 1818, as second in command of the first +Arctic expedition of the nineteenth century. Two brigs, H.M.S. +<I>Dorothea</I> under Captain Buchan, and H.M.S. <I>Trent</I> under Lieutenant +John Franklin, set out from the Thames with a purpose which in audacity +at least has never been surpassed. The new sentiment of supreme +confidence in the navy inspired by the conquest of the seas is evinced +by the fact that these two square-rigged sailing ships, clumsy and +antiquated, built up with sundry extra beams inside and iron bands +without, were directed to sail straight north across the North Pole and +down the world on the other side. They did their best. They went +churning northward through the foaming seas, and when they found that +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P94"></A>94}</SPAN> +the ice was closing in on them, and that they were being blown +down upon it in a gale as on to a lee shore, the order was given to put +the helm up and charge full speed at the ice. It was the only possible +way of escape, and it meant either sudden and awful death under the ice +floes or else the piling up of the ships safe on top of them—'taking +the ice' as Arctic sailors call it. The <I>Dorothea</I> and the <I>Trent</I> +went driving at the ice with such a gale of snow about them that +neither could see the other as they ran. They 'took the ice' with a +mighty crash, amid a wild confusion of the elements, and when the storm +cleared the two old hulls lay shattered but safe on the surface of the +ice-pack. The whole larboard side of the <I>Dorothea</I> was smashed, but +they brought her somehow to Spitzbergen, and there by wonderful +patching enabled her to sail home. +</P> + +<P> +The next year (1819) Lieutenant Franklin was off again on an Arctic +journey, the record of which, written by himself, forms one of the most +exciting stories of adventure ever written. The design this time was +to follow the lead of Hearne and Mackenzie. Beginning where their +labours ended, Franklin proposed to embark on the polar sea in canoes +and follow the coast line. Franklin left England at the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P95"></A>95}</SPAN> +end of +May. He was accompanied by Dr Richardson, a naval surgeon, afterwards +Sir John Richardson, and second only to Franklin himself as an explorer +and writer, Midshipman Back, later on to be Admiral Sir George Back, +Midshipman Hood, and one Hepburn, a stout-hearted sailor of the Royal +Navy. They sailed in the Hudson's Bay Company ship <I>Prince of Wales</I>, +and passed through the straits to York Factory. Thence by canoe they +went inland, up the Hayes river, through Lake Winnipeg and thence up +the Saskatchewan to Cumberland House, a Hudson's Bay fort established +by Samuel Hearne a few years after his famous journey. From York +Factory to Cumberland House was a journey of six hundred and ninety +miles. But this was only a beginning. During the winter of 1819-20 +Franklin and his party made their way from Cumberland House to Fort +Chipewyan on Lake Athabaska, a distance, by the route traversed, of +eight hundred and fifty-seven miles. From this fort the party, +accompanied by Canadian voyageurs and Indian guides, made their way, in +the summer of 1820, to Fort Providence, a lonely post of the North-West +Company lying in latitude 62° on the northern shore of the Great Slave +Lake. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P96"></A>96}</SPAN> + +<P> +These were the days of rivalry, and even open war, between the two +great fur companies, the Hudson's Bay and the North-West. The +Admiralty had commended Franklin's expeditions to the companies, who +were to be requisitioned for the necessary supplies. But the disorders +of the fur trade, and the demoralization of the Indians, owing to the +free distribution of ardent spirits by the rival companies, rendered it +impossible for the party to obtain adequate supplies and stores. +Undeterred by difficulties, Franklin set out from Fort Providence to +make his way to the Arctic seas at the mouth of the Coppermine. The +expedition reached the height of land between the Great Slave Lake and +the Coppermine, on the borders of the country which had been the scene +of Hearne's exploits. The northern forest is here reduced to a thin +growth of stunted pine and willow. It was now the end of August. The +brief northern summer was drawing to its close. It was impossible to +undertake the navigation of the Arctic coast till the ensuing summer. +Franklin and his party built some rude log shanties which they called +Fort Enterprise. Here, after having traversed over two thousand miles +in all from York Factory, they spent their second winter in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P97"></A>97}</SPAN> +north. It was a season of great hardship. With the poor materials at +their hand it was impossible to make their huts weatherproof. The wind +whistled through the ill-plastered seams of the logs. So intense was +the winter cold that the trees about the fort froze hard to their +centres. In cutting firewood the axes splintered as against stone. In +the officers' room the thermometer, sixteen feet from the log fire, +marked as low as fifteen degrees below zero in the day and forty below +at night. For food the party lived on deer's meat with a little fish, +tea twice a day (without sugar), and on Sunday a cup of chocolate as +the luxury of the week to every man. But, undismayed by cold and +hardship, they kept stoutly at their work. Richardson investigated the +mosses and lichens beneath the snow and acquainted himself with the +mineralogy of the neighbourhood. Franklin and the two lieutenants +carried out observations, their fingers freezing with the cold of +forty-six below zero at noon of the brief three-hour day in the heart +of winter. Sunday was a day of rest. The officers dressed in their +best attire. Franklin read the service of the Church of England to his +assembled company. For the French-Canadian Roman Catholics, Franklin +did the best he +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P98"></A>98}</SPAN> +could; he read to them the creed of the Church of +England in French. In the leisure part of the day a bundle of London +newspapers was perused again and again. +</P> + +<P> +The winter passed safely; the party now entered upon the most arduous +part of their undertaking. Canoes were built and dragged on improvised +sledges to the Coppermine. Franklin descended the river, surveying its +course as he went. He passed by the scene of the massacre witnessed by +Hearne, and found himself, late in July of 1821, on the shores of the +Arctic. The distance from Fort Enterprise was three hundred and +thirty-four miles, for one hundred and seventeen of which the canoes +and baggage had been hauled over snow and ice. +</P> + +<P> +Franklin and his followers, in two canoes, embarked on the polar sea +and traced the course of the coast eastward for five hundred and fifty +miles. The sailors were as men restored to their own element. But the +Canadian voyageurs were filled with dread at the great waves of the +open ocean. All that Franklin saw of the Arctic coast encouraged his +belief that the American continent is separated by stretches of sea +from the great masses of land that had been already discovered in the +Arctic. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P99"></A>99}</SPAN> +The North-West Passage, ice-blocked and useless, was +still a geographical fact. Eager in the pursuit of his investigations +he went on eastward as long as he dared—too long in fact. Food was +running low. His voyageurs had lost heart, appalled at the immense +spaces of ice and sea through which their frail canoes went onward into +the unknown. Reluctantly, Franklin decided to turn back. But it was +too late to return by water. The northern gales drove the ice in +against the coast. Franklin and his men, dragging and carrying one of +the canoes, took to the land, in order to make their way across the +barren grounds. By this means they hoped to reach the upper waters of +the Coppermine and thence Fort Enterprise, where supplies were to have +been placed for them during the summer. Their journey was disastrous. +Bitter cold set in as they marched. Food failed them. Day after day +they tramped on, often with blinding snow in their faces, with no other +sustenance than the bitter weed called <I>tripe de roche</I> that can here +and there be scraped from the rocks beneath the snow. At times they +found frozen remnants of deer that had been killed by wolves, a few +bones with putrid meat adhering to them. These they eagerly devoured. +But +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P100"></A>100}</SPAN> +often day after day passed without even this miserable +sustenance. At night they lay down beside a clump of willows, trying, +often in vain, to make a fire of the green twigs dragged from under the +snow. So great was their famine, Franklin says, that the very +sensation of hunger passed away, leaving only an exhaustion too great +for words. Lieutenant Back, gaunt and emaciated, staggered forward +leaning on a stick, refusing to give in. Richardson could hardly walk, +while Lieutenant Hood, emaciated to the last degree, was helped on by +his comrades as best they could. The Canadians and Indians suffered +less in body, but, lacking the stern purpose of the officers, they were +distraught with the horror of the death that seemed to await them. In +their fear they had refused to carry the canoe, and had smashed it and +thrown it aside. In this miserable condition the party reached, on +September 26, the Coppermine river, to find it flowing still unfrozen +in an angry flood which they could not cross. In vain they ranged the +banks above and below. Below them was a great lake; beside and above +them a swift, deep current broken by rapids. There was no crossing. +They tried to gather willow faggots, and bind them into a raft. But +the green wood sank so +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P101"></A>101}</SPAN> +easily that only one man could get upon +the raft: to paddle or pole it in the running water was impossible. A +line was made of strips of skin, and Richardson volunteered to swim the +river so as to haul the raft across with the line. The bitter cold of +the water paralysed his limbs. He was seen to sink beneath the leaping +waters. His companions dragged him back to the bank, where for hours +he lay as if lifeless beside the fire of willow branches, so emaciated +that he seemed a mere skeleton when they took off his wet clothing. +His comrades gazed at him with a sort of horror. Thus for days they +waited. At last, with infinite patience, one of the Canadians made a +sort of canoe with willow sticks and canvas. In this, with a line +attached, they crossed the river one by one. +</P> + +<P> +They were now only forty miles from Fort Enterprise. But their +strength was failing. Hood could not go on. The party divided. +Franklin and Back went forward with most of the men, while Richardson +and sailor Hepburn volunteered to stay with Hood till help could be +sent. The others left them in a little tent, with some rounds of +ammunition and willow branches gathered for the fire. A little further +on the march, three of Franklin's followers, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P102"></A>102}</SPAN> +too exhausted to go +on, dropped out, proposing to make their way back to Richardson and +Hood. +</P> + +<P> +The little party at the tent in the snow waited in vain. Days passed, +and no help came. One of the three men who had left Franklin, an +Indian called Michel, joined them, saying that the others had gone +astray in the snow. But he was strange and sullen, sleeping apart and +wandering off by himself to hunt. Presently, from the man's strange +talk and from some meat which he brought back from his hunting and +declared to be part of a wolf, Richardson realized the awful truth that +Michel had killed his companions and was feeding on their bodies. A +worse thing followed. Richardson and Hepburn, gathering wood a few +days later, heard the report of a gun from beside the fire where they +had left Lieutenant Hood, who was now in the last stage of exhaustion. +They returned to find Michel beside the dead body of their comrade. He +had been shot through the back of the head. Michel swore that Hood had +killed himself. Richardson knew the truth, but both he and Hepburn +were too enfeebled by privation to offer fight to the armed and +powerful madman. The three set out for Fort Enterprise, Michel +carrying a loaded gun, two +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P103"></A>103}</SPAN> +pistols and a bayonet, muttering to +himself and evidently meditating a new crime. Richardson, a man of +iron nerve, forestalled him. Watching his opportunity, he put a pistol +to the Indian's head and blew his brains out. +</P> + +<P> +Richardson and Hepburn dragged themselves forward mile by mile, +encouraged by the thought of the blazing fires and the abundant food +that they expected to find at Fort Enterprise. They reached the fort +just in the dusk of an October evening. All about it was silence. +There were no tracks in the newly fallen snow. Only a thin thread of +smoke from the chimney gave a sign of life. Hurriedly they made their +way in. To their horror and dismay they found Franklin and three +companions, two Canadians and an Indian, stretched out in the last +stages of famine. 'No words can convey an idea,' wrote Dr Richardson +later on, 'of the filth and wretchedness that met our eyes on looking +around. Our own misery had stolen upon us by degrees and we were +accustomed to the contemplation of each other's emaciated figures, but +the ghastly countenances, dilated eye-balls, and sepulchral voices of +Captain Franklin and those with him were more than we could bear.' +Franklin, on his part, was equally dismayed at the appearance of +Richardson and Hepburn. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P104"></A>104}</SPAN> +'We were all shocked,' he says in his +journal, 'at beholding the emaciated countenances of the doctor and +Hepburn, as they strongly evidenced their extremely debilitated state. +The alteration in our appearance was equally distressing to them, for +since the swellings had subsided we were little more than skin and +bone. The doctor particularly remarked the sepulchral tone of our +voices, which he requested us to make more cheerful if possible, +unconscious that his own partook of the same key.' +</P> + +<P> +Franklin related to the new-comers how he and his followers had reached +Fort Enterprise, and to their infinite disappointment and grief had +found it perfectly desolate. There was no depot of provisions, as had +been arranged, nor any trace of a letter or other message from the +traders at Fort Providence or from the Indians. Lieutenant Back, who +had reached the fort a little in advance of Franklin, had gone on in +the hope of finding Indian hunters, or perhaps of reaching Fort +Providence and sending relief. They had no food except a little <I>tripe +de roche</I>, and Franklin had thus found himself, as he explained to +Richardson, in the deserted fort with five companions, in a state of +utter destitution. Food there was none. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P105"></A>105}</SPAN> +From the refuse heaps +of the winter before, now buried under the snow, they dug out pieces of +bone and a few deer-skins; on this, with a little <I>tripe de roche</I>, +they endeavoured to subsist. The log house was falling into decay. +The seams gaped and the piercing air entered on every side with the +thermometer twenty below zero. Franklin and his companions had tried +in vain to stop the chinks and to make a fire by tearing up the rough +boards of the floor. But their strength was insufficient. Already for +two weeks before their arrival at Fort Enterprise they had had no meat. +It was impossible that they could have existed long in the miserable +shelter of the deserted fort. Franklin had endeavoured to go on. +Leaving three of his companions, now too exhausted to walk far, he and +the other two, a Canadian and an Eskimo, set out to try to reach help +in the direction of Fort Providence. The snow was deep, and their +strength was so far gone that in six hours they only struggled four +miles on their way. At night they lay down beside one another in the +snow, huddled together for warmth, with a bitter wind blowing over +their emaciated bodies. The next morning, in recommencing their march, +Franklin stumbled and fell, breaking his snow-shoe in the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P106"></A>106}</SPAN> +fall. +Realizing that he could never hope to traverse the one hundred and +eighty-six miles to Fort Providence, he directed his companions to go +on, and he himself made his way back to Fort Enterprise. There he had +remained for a fortnight until found by Richardson and Hepburn. So +weak had Franklin and his three companions become that they could not +find the strength to go on cutting down the log buildings of the fort +to make a fire. Adam, the Indian, lay prostrate in his bunk, his body +covered with hideous swellings. The two Canadians, Peltier and +Samandré, suffered such pain in their joints that they could scarcely +move a step. A herd of deer had appeared on the ice of the river near +by, but none of the men had strength to pursue them, nor could any one +of them, said Franklin, have found the strength to raise a gun and fire +it. +</P> + +<P> +Such had been the position of things when Richardson and Hepburn, +themselves almost in the last stage of exhaustion, found their unhappy +comrades. Richardson was a man of striking energy, of the kind that +knows no surrender. He set himself to gather wood, built up a blazing +fire, dressed as well as he could the swollen body of the Indian, and +tried to bring some order into the filth and squalor +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P107"></A>107}</SPAN> +of the hut. +Hepburn meantime had killed a partridge, which the doctor then divided +among them in six parts, the first fresh meat that Franklin and those +with him had tasted for thirty-one days. This done, 'the doctor,' so +runs Franklin's story, 'brought out his prayer book and testament, and +some prayers and psalms and portions of scripture appropriate to the +situation were read.' +</P> + +<P> +But beyond the consolation of manifesting a brave and devout spirit, +there was little that Richardson could do for his companions. The +second night after his arrival Peltier died. There was no strength +left in the party to lift his body out into the snow. It lay beside +them in the hut, and before another day passed Samandré, the other +Canadian, lay dead beside it. For a week the survivors remained in the +hut, waiting for death. Then at last, and just in time, help reached +them. +</P> + +<P> +On November 7, nearly a month after Franklin's first arrival at the +fort, they heard the sound of a musket and the shouting of men outside. +Three Indians stood before the door. The valiant Lieutenant Back, +after sufferings almost as great as their own, had reached a band of +Indian hunters and had sent three men travelling at top speed with +enough food to +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P108"></A>108}</SPAN> +keep the party alive till further succour could be +brought. Franklin and his friends were saved by one of the narrowest +escapes recorded in the history of northern adventure. Another week +passed before the relief party of the Indians reached them, and even +then Franklin and his companions were so enfeebled by privation that +they could only travel with difficulty, and a month passed before they +found themselves safe and sound within the shelter of Fort Providence +on the Great Slave Lake. There they remained till the winter passed. +A seven weeks' journey took them to York Factory on Hudson Bay, whence +they sailed to England. Franklin's journey overland and on the waters +of the polar sea had covered in all five thousand five hundred and +fifty miles and had occupied nearly three years. +</P> + +<P> +On his return to England Franklin found himself at once the object of a +wide public interest. Already during his absence he had been made a +commander, and the Admiralty now promoted him to the rank of captain, +while the national recognition of his services was shortly afterwards +confirmed by the honour of knighthood. One might think that after the +perils which he had braved and the horrors which he had experienced, +Sir John would have +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P109"></A>109}</SPAN> +been content to retire upon his laurels. But +it was not so. There is something in the snow-covered land of the +Arctic, its isolation from the world and the long silence of its winter +darkness, that exercises a strange fascination upon those who have the +hardihood to brave its perils. It was a moment too when interest in +Arctic discovery and the advancement thereby of scientific knowledge +had reached the highest point yet known. During Franklin's absence +Captain Ross and Lieutenant Parry had been sent by sea into the Arctic +waters. Parry had met with wonderful success, striking from Baffin Bay +through the northern archipelago and reaching half-way to Bering Strait. +</P> + +<P> +Franklin was eager to be off again. The year 1825 saw him start once +more to resume the survey of the polar coast of America. The plan now +was to learn something of the western half of the North American coast, +so as to connect the discoveries of Sir Alexander Mackenzie with those +made by Cook and others through Bering Strait. Franklin was again +accompanied by his gallant friend, Dr Richardson. They passed again +overland through the fur country, where the recent union of the rival +companies had brought about a new era. They descended the Mackenzie +river, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P110"></A>110}</SPAN> +wintered on Great Bear Lake, and descended thence to the +sea. Franklin struck out westward, his party surveying the coast in +open boats. Their journey from their winter quarters to the sea and +along the coast covered a thousand miles, and extended to within one +hundred and sixty miles of the point that had then been reached by +explorers from Bering Strait. At the same time Richardson, going +eastward from the Mackenzie, surveyed the coast as far as the +Coppermine river. Their discoveries thus connected the Pacific waters +with the Atlantic, with the exception of one hundred and sixty miles on +the north-west, where water was known to exist and only ice blocked the +way, and of a line north and south which should bring the discoveries +of Parry into connection with those of Franklin. These two were the +missing links now needed in the chain of the North-West Passage. +</P> + +<P> +But more than twenty years were to elapse before the discoveries thus +made were carried to their completion. Franklin himself, claimed by +other duties, was unable to continue his work in the Arctic, and his +appointment to the governorship of Tasmania called him for a time to +another sphere. Yet, little by little, the exploration of the Arctic +regions was carried +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P111"></A>111}</SPAN> +on, each explorer adding something to what +was already known, and each hoping that the honour of the discovery of +the great passage would fall to his lot. Franklin's comrade Back, now +a captain and presently to be admiral, made his way in 1834 from Canada +to the polar sea down the river that bears his name. Three years later +Simpson, in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, succeeded in +traversing the coast from the Mackenzie to Point Barrow, completing the +missing link in the western end of the chain. John and James Ross +brought the exploration of the northern archipelago to a point that +made it certain that somewhere or other a way through must exist to +connect Baffin Bay with the coastal waters. At last the time came, in +1844, when the British Admiralty determined to make a supreme effort to +unite the explorations of twenty-five years by a final act of +discovery. The result was the last expedition of Sir John Franklin, +glorious in its disaster, and leaving behind it a tale that will never +be forgotten while the annals of the British nation remain. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P112"></A>112}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +THE TRAGEDY OF FRANKLIN'S FATE +</H4> + +<P> +The month of May 1845 found two stout ships, the <I>Erebus</I> and the +<I>Terror</I>, riding at anchor in the Thames. Both ships were already well +known to the British public. They had but recently returned from the +Antarctic seas, where Captain Sir James Ross, in a voyage towards the +South Pole, had attained the highest southern latitude yet reached. +Both were fine square-rigged ships, strengthened in every way that the +shipwrights of the time could devise. Between their decks a warming +and ventilating apparatus of the newest kind had been installed, and, +as a greater novelty still, the attempt was now made for the first time +in history to call in the power of steam for the fight against the +Arctic frost. Each vessel carried an auxiliary screw and an engine of +twenty horse-power. When we remember that a modern steam vessel with a +horse-power of many thousands is still +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P113"></A>113}</SPAN> +powerless against the +northern ice, the <I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I> arouse in us a forlorn +pathos. But in the springtime of 1845 as they lay in the Thames, an +object of eager interest to the flocks of sightseers in the +neighbourhood, they seemed like very leviathans of the deep. Vast +quantities of stores were being loaded into the ships, enough, it was +said, for the subsistence of the one hundred and thirty-four members of +the expedition for three years. For it was now known that Arctic +explorers must be prepared to face the winter, icebound in their ships +through the long polar night. That the winter could be faced with +success had been shown by the experience of Sir William Parry, whose +ships, the <I>Fury</I> and the <I>Hecla</I>, had been ice-bound for two winters +(1821-23), and still more by that of Captain John Ross, who brought +home the crew of the <I>Victory</I> safe and sound in 1833, after four +winters in the ice. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-112"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-112.jpg" ALT="Sir John Franklin. From the National Portrait Gallery." BORDER="2" WIDTH="473" HEIGHT="607"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 473px"> +Sir John Franklin. <BR> +From the National Portrait Gallery. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +All England was eager with expectancy over the new expedition. It was +to be commanded by Sir John Franklin, the greatest sailor of the day, +who had just returned from his five years in Van Diemen's Land and +carried his fifty-nine winters as jauntily as a midshipman. The era +was auspicious. A new reign under a +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P114"></A>114}</SPAN> +queen already beloved had +just opened. There was every hope of a long, some people said a +perpetual, peace: it seemed fitting that the new triumphs of commerce +and science, of steam and the magnetic telegraph, should replace the +older and cruder glories of war. +</P> + +<P> +The expedition was well equipped for scientific research, but its main +object was the discovery of the North-West Passage. We have already +seen what this phrase had come to mean. It had now no reference to the +uses of commerce. The question was purely one of geography. The ocean +lying north of America was known to be largely occupied by a vast +archipelago, between which were open sounds and seas, filled for the +greater part of the year with huge packs of ice. In the Arctic winter +all was frozen into an unending plain of snow, broken by distorted +hummocks of ice, and here and there showing the frowning rocks of a +mountainous country swept clean by the Arctic blast. In the winter +deep night and intense cold settled on the scene. But in the short +Arctic summer the ice-pack moved away from the shores. Lanes of water +extended here and there, and sometimes, by the good fortune of a gale, +a great sheet of open sea with blue tossing waves gladdened the heart +of the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P115"></A>115}</SPAN> +sailor. Through this region somewhere a water-way must +exist from east to west. The currents of the sea and the drift-wood +that they carried proved it beyond a doubt. Exploration had almost +proved it also. Ships and boats had made their way from Bering Strait +to the Coppermine. North of this they had gone from Baffin Bay through +Lancaster Sound and on westward to a great sea called Melville Sound, a +body of water larger than the Irish Sea. The two lines east and west +overlapped widely. All that was needed now was to find a channel north +and south to connect the two. This done, the North-West Passage, the +will-o'-the-wisp of three hundred and fifty years, had been found. +</P> + +<P> +A glance at the map will make clear the instructions given to Sir John +Franklin. He was to go into the Arctic by way of Baffin Bay, and to +proceed westward along the parallel of 74° 15' north latitude, which +would take him through the already familiar waters of Lancaster Sound +and Barrow Strait, leading into Melville Sound. This line he was to +follow as far as Cape Walker in longitude 98°, from which point it was +known that waters were to be found leading southward. Beyond this +position Franklin was left to his own +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P116"></A>116}</SPAN> +discretion, his +instructions being merely to penetrate to the southward and westward in +a course as direct to Bering Strait as the position of the land and the +condition of the ice should allow. +</P> + +<P> +The <I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I> sailed from England on June 19, 1845. +The officers and sailors who manned their decks were the very pick of +the Royal Navy and the merchant service, men inured to the perils of +the northern ocean, and trained in the fine discipline of the service. +Captain Crozier of the <I>Terror</I> was second in command. He had been +with Ross in the Antarctic. Commander Fitzjames, Lieutenants +Fairholme, Gore and others were tried and trained men. The ships were +so heavily laden with coal and supplies that they lay deep in the +water. Every inch of stowage had been used, and even the decks were +filled up with casks. A transport sailed with them across the Atlantic +carrying further supplies. Thus laden they made their way to the Whale +Fish Islands, near Disco, on the west coast of Greenland. Here the +transport unloaded its stores and set sail for England. It carried +with it five men of Franklin's company, leaving one hundred and +twenty-nine in the ill-fated expedition. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P117"></A>117}</SPAN> + +<P> +The ships put out from the coast of Greenland on, or about, July 12, +1845, to make their way across Baffin Bay to Lancaster Sound, a +distance of two hundred and twenty miles. In these waters are found +the great floes of ice which Davis had first seen, called by Arctic +explorers the 'middle ice.' The <I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I> spent a +fortnight in attempting to make the passage across, and here they were +seen for the last time at sea. A whaling ship, the <I>Prince of Wales</I>, +sighted the two vessels on July 26. A party of Franklin's officers +rowed over to the ship and carried an invitation to the master to dine +with Sir John on the next day. But the boat had hardly returned when a +fine breeze sprang up, and with a clear sea ahead the <I>Erebus</I> and the +<I>Terror</I> were put on their course to the west without even taking time +to forward letters to England. +</P> + +<P> +Thus the two ships vanished into the Arctic ice, never to be seen of +Englishmen again. The summer of 1845 passed; no news came: the winter +came and passed away; the spring and summer of 1846, and still no +message. England, absorbed in political struggles at home—the Corn +Law Repeal and the vexed question of Ireland—had still no anxiety over +Franklin. No message could have come except +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P118"></A>118}</SPAN> +by the chance of a +whaling ship or in some roundabout way through the territories of the +Hudson's Bay Company, after all but a slender chance. The summer of +1846 came and went and then another winter, and now with the opening of +the new year, 1847, the first expression of apprehension began to be +heard. It was remembered how deeply laden the ships had been. The +fear arose that perhaps they had foundered with all hands in the open +waters of Baffin Bay, leaving no trace behind. Even the naval men +began to shake their heads. Captain Sir John Ross wrote to the +Admiralty to express his fear that Franklin's ships had been frozen in +in such a way that their return was impossible. The Admiralty took +advice. The question was gravely discussed with the leading Arctic +seamen of the day. It was decided that until two years had elapsed +from the time of departure (May 1845 to May 1847) no measures need be +taken for the relief of the <I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I>. The date came +and passed. Anxiety was deepening. The Admiralty decided to act. +Great stores of pemmican, some eight tons, together with suitable boats +and experienced crews, were sent in June 1847 to Hudson Bay, ready for +an expedition along the northern coast. A ship +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P119"></A>119}</SPAN> +was sent with +supplies to meet Franklin in Bering Strait, and two more vessels were +strengthened and equipped to be ready to follow on the track of the +<I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I> in 1848. As this last year advanced and +winter passed into summer, a shudder of apprehension was felt +throughout the nation. It was felt now that some great disaster had +happened, or even now was happening. It was known that Franklin's +expedition had carried food for at best three years: the three years +had come and gone. Franklin's men, if anywhere alive, must be +suffering all the horrors of starvation in the frozen fastness of the +Arctic. +</P> + +<P> +We may imagine the awful pictures that rose up before the imagination +of the friends and relatives, the wives and children, of the one +hundred and twenty-nine gallant men who had vanished in the <I>Erebus</I> +and the <I>Terror</I>—visions of ships torn and riven by the heaving ice, +of men foodless and shelterless in the driving snow, looking out vainly +from the bleak shores of some rocky coast for the help that never +came—awful pictures indeed, yet none more awful than the grim reality. +</P> + +<P> +A generous frenzy seized upon the nation. The cry went up from the +heart of the people that Franklin must be found; he and his men +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P120"></A>120}</SPAN> +must be rescued—they would not speak of them as dead. Ships must be +sent out with all the equipment that science could devise and the +wealth of a generous nation could supply. Ships were sent out. Year +after year ships fought their way from Baffin Bay to the islands of the +north. Ships sailed round the distant Horn and through the Pacific to +Bering Strait. Down the Mackenzie and the great rivers of the north, +the canoes of the voyageurs danced in the rapids and were paddled +swiftly over the wider stretches of moving water. Over the frozen snow +the sledges toiled against the storm. And still no word of Franklin, +till all the weary outline of the frozen coast was traced in their +wanderings: till twenty-one thousand miles of Arctic sea and shore had +been tracked out. Thus the great epic of the search for Franklin ran +slowly to its close. With each year the hope that was ever deferred +made the heart sick. Anxiety deepened into dread, and even dread gave +way to the cruel certainty of despair. Not till twelve years had +passed was the search laid aside: not until, little by little, the +evidence was found that told all that we know of the fate of the +<I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I>. +</P> + +<P> +First in the field was Richardson, the gallant +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P121"></A>121}</SPAN> +friend and comrade +of Franklin's former journeys. He would not believe that Franklin had +failed. He knew too well the temper of the man. Franklin had been +instructed to strike southward from the Arctic seas to the American +coast. On that coast he would be found. Thither went Sir John +Richardson, taking with him a man of like metal to himself, one John +Rae, a Hudson's Bay man, fashioned in the north. Down the Mackenzie +they went and then eastward along the coast searching for traces of the +<I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I>. For two years they searched, tracing their +way from the Mackenzie to the Coppermine. But no vestige of Franklin +did they find. The queen's ships were searching too. Sir James Ross, +with the <I>Enterprise</I> and the <I>Investigator</I>, went into Lancaster +Sound. The <I>Plover</I> and the <I>Herald</I> went to Bering Strait. The +<I>North Star</I> went in at Wolstenholme Sound. The <I>Resolute</I>, the +<I>Assistance</I>, the <I>Sophia</I>—a very flock of admiralty ships—spread +their white wings for the Arctic seas. The Hudson's Bay Company sent +Sir John Ross, a tried explorer, in the yacht <I>Felix</I>. Lady Franklin, +the sorrow-stricken wife of the lost commander, sent out Captain +Forsyth in the <I>Prince Albert</I>. One Robert Spedden sailed his private +yacht, the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P122"></A>122}</SPAN> +<I>Nancy Dawson</I>, in through Bering Strait; and Henry +Grinnell of New York (be his name honoured), sent out two expeditions +at his own charge. By water and overland there went out, between 1847 +and 1851, no less than twenty-one expeditions searching for the +<I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I>. +</P> + +<P> +Thus passed six years from the time when Franklin sailed out of the +Thames, and still no trace, no vestige had been found to tell the story +of his fate. Then at last news came, the first news of the <I>Erebus</I> +and the <I>Terror</I> since they were sighted by the whaling ship in 1845. +The news in a way was neither good nor bad. But it showed that at +least the melancholy forebodings of those who said that the heavily +laden ships must have foundered before they reached the Arctic were +entirely mistaken. Captain Penny, master of the <I>Lady Franklin</I>, had +sailed under Admiralty orders in 1850, and had followed on the course +laid down in Franklin's instructions. He returned in 1851, bringing +news that on Beechey Island, a little island lying on the north side of +Barrow Strait, he had found the winter quarters that must have been +occupied by the expedition in 1845-46, the first winter after its +departure. There were the remains of a large storehouse, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P123"></A>123}</SPAN> +a +workshop and an observatory; a blacksmith's forge was found, with many +coal bags and cinders lying about, and odds and ends of all sorts, +easily identified as coming from the lost ships. Most ominous of all +was the discovery of over six hundred empty cans that had held +preserved meat, the main reliance of the expedition. These were found +regularly piled in little mounds. The number of them was far greater +than Franklin's men would have consumed during the first winter, and, +to make the conclusion still clearer, the preparation was of a brand of +which the Admiralty since 1845 had been compelled to destroy great +quantities, owing to its having turned putrid in the tins. It was +plain that the food supply of the <I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I> must have +been seriously depleted, and the dangers of starvation have set in long +before three years were completed. +</P> + +<P> +Three graves were found on Beechey Island with head-boards marking the +names and ages of three men of the crew who had died in the winter. +Near a cape of the island was a cairn built of stone. It was evidently +intended to hold the records of the expedition. Yet, strange to say, +neither in the cairn nor anywhere about it was a single document to be +found. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P124"></A>124}</SPAN> + +<P> +The greatest excitement now prevailed. Hope ran high that at least +some survivors of the men of the <I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I> might be +found, even if the ships themselves had been lost. The Admiralty +redoubled its efforts. Already Captains Collinson and M'Clure had been +sent out (in 1850) to sail round the Horn, and were on their way into +the Arctic region via Bering Strait. To these were now added a +squadron under Captain Sir Edward Belcher consisting of the +<I>Assistance</I> with a steam tender named the <I>Pioneer</I>, the <I>Resolute</I> +with its tender the <I>Intrepid</I>, and the <I>North Star</I>. Stations were to +be made at Beechey Island and at two other points in the region now +indicated as the scene of Sir John Franklin's operations. From these +sledge and boat parties were to be sent out in all directions. At the +same time Lady Franklin dispatched the <I>Albert</I> under Captain Kennedy +and Lieutenant Bellot, an officer of the French navy who had given his +services to the cause. +</P> + +<P> +Once again hope was doomed to disappointment. The story of the +expeditions was an almost unbroken record of disaster. Captain +M'Clure, in the <I>Investigator</I>, separated from his consort, and +vanished into the northern ice; for three years nothing was heard of +his vessel. +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P125"></A>125}</SPAN> +The gallant Bellot, attempting to carry dispatches +over the ice, sealed his devotion with his life. Belcher's ships the +<I>Assistance</I> and the <I>Resolute</I>, with their two tenders, froze fast in +the ice. Despite the earnest protests of some of his officers, Belcher +abandoned them, and, in the end, was able to return home. The +Admiralty had to face the loss of four good ships with large quantities +of stores. It had been better perhaps had they remained lost. One of +the abandoned ships, the <I>Resolute</I>, its hatches battened down, floated +out of the ice, and was found by an American whaler, masterless, +tossing in the open waters of Baffin Bay. Belcher may have been right +in abandoning his ships to save the crews, but his judgment and even +his courage were severely questioned, and unhappy bitterness was +introduced where hitherto there had been nothing but the record of +splendid endeavour and mutual help. The only bright spot was seen in +the achievement of Captain, afterwards Sir Robert, M'Clure, who +reappeared with his crew safe and sound after four winters in the +Arctic. He had made his way in the <I>Investigator</I> (1850 to 1853) from +Bering Strait to within sight of Melville Sound. He had spent three +winters in the ice, the last two years in one and the same spot, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P126"></A>126}</SPAN> +fast frozen, to all appearances, for ever. With supplies dangerously +low and his crew weakened by exposure and privation, M'Clure +reluctantly left his ship. He and his men fortunately reached the +ships of Sir Edward Belcher, having thus actually made the North-West +Passage. +</P> + +<P> +The disasters of 1853-54 cast a deeper gloom than ever over the search +for Franklin. Moreover, the rising clouds in the East and presently +the outbreak of the Crimean War prevented further efforts. Ships and +men were needed elsewhere than in the northern seas. It began to look +as if failure was now final, and that nothing more could be done. +Following naval precedent, a court-martial had been held to investigate +the action of Captain Sir Edward Belcher. 'The solemn silence,' wrote +Captain M'Clure afterwards, 'with which the venerable president of the +court returned Captain Belcher his sword, with a bare acquittal, best +conveyed the painful feelings which wrung the hearts of all +professional men upon that occasion; and all felt that there was no +hope of the mystery of Franklin's fate being cleared up in our time +except by some unexpected miracle.' +</P> + +<P> +The unexpected happened. Strangely enough, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P127"></A>127}</SPAN> +it was just at this +juncture that a letter sent by Dr John Rae from the Hudson Bay country +brought to England the first authentic news of the fate of Franklin's +men. Rae had been sent overland from the north-west shores of Hudson +Bay to the coast of the Arctic at the point where the Back or Great +Fish river runs in a wide estuary to the sea. He had wintered on the +isthmus (now called after him) which separates Regent's Inlet from +Repulse Bay, and in the spring of 1854 had gone westward with sledges +towards the mouth of the Back. On his way he fell in with Eskimos, who +told him that several years before a party of about forty white men had +been seen hauling a boat and sledges over the ice. This was on the +west side of the island called King William's Land. None of the men, +so the savages said, could speak to them in their own language; but +they made signs to show that they had lost their ships, and that they +were trying to make their way to where deer could be found. All the +men looked thin, and the Eskimos thought they had very little food. +They had bought some seal's flesh from the savages. They hauled their +sledges and the boat along with drag-ropes, at which all were tugging +except one very tall big man, who seemed to be a chief and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P128"></A>128}</SPAN> +walked +by himself. Later on in the same season, so the Eskimos said, they had +found the bodies of a lot of men lying on the ice, and had seen some +graves and five dead bodies on an island at the mouth of a river. Some +of the bodies were lying in tents. The big boat had been turned over +as if to make a shelter, and under it were dead men. One that lay on +the island was the body of the chief; he had a telescope strapped over +his shoulders, and his gun lay underneath him. The savages told Dr Rae +that they thought that the last survivors of the white men must have +been feeding on the dead bodies, as some of these were hacked and +mutilated and there was flesh in the kettles. There were signs that +some of the party might have escaped; for on the ground there were +fresh bones and feathers of geese, showing that the men were still +alive when the wild fowl came north, which would be about the end of +May. There was a quantity of gunpowder and ammunition lying around, +and the Eskimos thought that they had heard shots in the neighbourhood, +though they had seen no living men, but only the corpses on the ice. A +great number of relics—telescopes, guns, compasses, spoons, forks, and +so on—were gathered by the natives, and of these Dr Rae +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P129"></A>129}</SPAN> + +forwarded a large quantity to England. They left no doubt as to the +identity of the unfortunate victims. There was a small silver plate +engraved 'Sir John Franklin, K.C.B.', and a spoon with a crest and the +initials F.R.M.C. (those of Captain Crozier), and a great number of +articles easily recognized as coming from the <I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I>. +</P> + +<P> +One may well imagine the intense interest which Dr Rae's discoveries +aroused in England. Rae had been unable, it is true, to make his way +to the actual scene of the disaster as described by the Eskimos, but it +was now felt that at last certain tidings had been received of the +death of Franklin and his men. Dr Rae and his party received the ten +thousand pounds which the government had offered to whosoever should +bring correct news of the fate of the expedition. +</P> + +<P> +In all except a few hearts hope was now abandoned. It was felt that +all were dead. Anxious though the government was to obtain further +details of the tragedy, it was not thought proper at such a national +crisis as the Crimean War to dispatch more ships to the Arctic. +Something, however, was done. A chief factor of the Hudson's Bay +Company, named Anderson, was sent overland in 1855 to explore +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P130"></A>130}</SPAN> +the +mouth of the Back river. He found in and around Montreal Island, at +the mouth of the river, numerous relics of the disaster. A large +quantity of chips and shavings seemed to indicate the place where the +savages had broken up the boat. But no documents or papers were found +nor any bodies of the dead. Anderson had no interpreter, and could +only communicate by signs with the savages whom he found alone on the +island. But he gathered from them that the white men had all died for +want of food. +</P> + +<P> +For two years nothing more was done. Then, as the war cloud passed +away, the unsolved mystery began again to demand solution. Some faint +hope too struggled to life. It was argued that perhaps some of the +white men were still alive. The imagination conjured up a ghastly +picture of a few survivors, still alive when, with the coming of the +wild fowl, life and warmth returned. With what horror must they have +turned their backs upon the hideous scene of their sufferings, leaving +the dead as they lay, and preferring to leave unwritten the chronicle +of an experience too awful to relate. There, penned in between the +barren grounds and the sea, they might have somehow continued to live: +there they might still be found. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P131"></A>131}</SPAN> + +<P> +It was through the personal efforts of Lady Franklin, who devoted +thereto the last remnant of her fortune, that the final expedition was +sent out in 1857. The yacht <I>Fox</I> was commanded by Captain M'Clintock. +He had already spent many years in the Arctic. Touched by the poignant +grief of Lady Franklin, he gave his service gratuitously in a last +effort to trace the fate of the missing men. Other officers gave their +services and even money to the search. The little <I>Fox</I> sailed in +1857, to search the waters between Beechey Island and the mouth of the +Back. When she returned to England two years later she brought back +with her the first, and the last, direct information ever received from +the <I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I>. In a cairn on the west coast of King +William's Island was found a document placed there from Franklin's +ships. It was dated May 28, 1847 (two years after the ships left +England). It read: 'H.M. Ships <I>Erebus</I> and <I>Terror</I> wintered in the +ice lat. 70° 5' N. long., 98° 23' west, having wintered in 1845-46 at +Beechey Island after having ascended Wellington Channel to Lat. 77° and +returned by the west side of Cornwallis Island. Sir John Franklin +commanding the expedition. All well.' +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P132"></A>132}</SPAN> + +<P> +This showed that Franklin had, as already gathered, explored the +channels west and north from Lancaster Sound, and finding no way +through had wintered on Beechey Island (1845-46). Striking south from +there his ships had been caught in the open ice-pack, where they had +passed their second winter. At the time of writing, Franklin must have +been looking eagerly forward to their coming liberation and the +prosecution of their discoveries towards the American coast. +</P> + +<P> +But the document did not end there. It had evidently been placed in +the cairn in May of 1847; a year later the cairn had been reopened and +to the document a note had been appended, written in fine writing round +the edge of the original. The torn edge of the paper leaves part of +the date missing. It runs '... 848. H.M. Ships <I>Erebus</I> and <I>Terror</I> +were deserted on the 22 of April, 5 leagues NNW. of this ... been beset +since 12th Sept. 1846. The officers and crews consisting of 105 souls +under the command ... tain F. R. M. Crozier landed here in Lat. 69° 37' +42" Long. 98° 41'.' +</P> + +<P> +No words could convey better than these simple lines the full horror of +the disaster: two winters frozen in the ice-pack till the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P133"></A>133}</SPAN> +lack of +food and the imminence of starvation compelled the officers and men to +leave the ships long before the summer season and try to make their way +over ice and snow to the south! And Franklin? The other edge of the +paper contained in the same writing a note that ran: 'Sir John Franklin +died on the 11th June 1847 and the total loss by death to the +expedition has been to date 9 officers and 14 men. F. R. M. Crozier, +Captain and Senior Officer. James Fitzjames, Captain H.M.S. +<I>Erebus</I>.' At one corner of the paper are the final words that, taken +along with the stories of the Eskimos, explained the last chapter of +the tragedy—'and start to-morrow 26th for Back's Fish River.' +</P> + +<P> +M'Clintock did all that could be done. He and his party traced out the +coast on both sides of King William's Island, and, having reached the +mouth of the Back river, he traced the course of Crozier and his +perishing companions step by step backwards over the scene of the +disaster. The Eskimos whom he met told him of the freezing in of the +two great ships: how the white men had abandoned them and walked over +the ice: how one ship had been crushed in the ice a few months later +and had gone down: and how the other ship +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P134"></A>134}</SPAN> +had lain a wreck for +years and years beside the coast of King William's Island. One aged +woman who had visited the scene told M'Clintock's party that there had +been on the wrecked ship the dead body of a tall man with long teeth +and large bones. +</P> + +<P> +The searchers themselves found more direct testimony still. A few +miles south of Cape Herschel lay the skeleton of one of Franklin's men, +outstretched on the ground, just as he had fallen on the fatal march, +the head pointing towards the Back river. At another point there was +found a boat with two corpses in it, the one lying in the stern +carefully covered as if by the act of his surviving comrade, the other +lying in the bow, two loaded muskets standing upright beside the body. +A great number of relics that marked the path of Crozier's men were +found along the shore of King William's Island. In one place a +plundered cairn was discovered. But, strangely enough, no document or +writing to tell anything of the fate of the survivors after they +started on their last march. That all perished by the way there can be +little doubt. But it is altogether probable that before the final +catastrophe overtook them they had endeavoured to place somewhere a +record of their achievements and their +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P135"></A>135}</SPAN> +sufferings. Such a record +may still lie buried among the stones of the desolate region where they +died, and it may well be that some day the chance discovery of an +explorer will bring it to light. But it can tell us little more than +we already know by inference of the tragic but inspiring disaster that +overwhelmed the men of the <I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I>. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P136"></A>136}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +EPILOGUE. THE CONQUEST OF THE POLE +</H4> + +<P> +It is no part of the present narrative to follow in detail the +explorations and discoveries made in the polar seas in recent times. +After the great episode of the loss of Franklin, and the search for his +ships, public interest in the North-West Passage may be said to have +ended. The journey made by Sir Robert M'Clure and his men, after +abandoning their ship, had proved that such a water-way existed, but +the knowledge of the northern regions acquired in the attempt to find +the survivors of the <I>Erebus</I> and the <I>Terror</I> made it clear that the +passage was valueless, not merely for commerce, but even for the uses +of exploration. For the time being a strong reaction set in, and +popular opinion condemned any further expenditure of life and money in +the frozen regions of the Arctic. But, although the sensational aspect +of northern discovery had thus largely disappeared, a new incentive +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P137"></A>137}</SPAN> +began to make itself increasingly felt; the progress of physical +science, the rapid advance in the knowledge of electricity and +magnetism, and the rise of the science of biology were profoundly +altering the whole outlook of the existing generation towards the globe +that they inhabited. The sea itself, like everything else, became an +object of scientific study. Its currents and its temperature, its +relation to the land masses which surrounded it, acquired a new +importance in the light of geological and physical research. The polar +waters offered a fruitful field for the new investigations. In place +of the adventurous explorers of Frobisher's day, searching for fabled +empires and golden cities, there appeared in the seas of the north the +inquisitive man of science, eagerly examining the phenomena of sea and +sky, to add to the stock of human knowledge. Very naturally there grew +up under such conditions an increasing desire to reach the Pole itself, +and to test whether the theoretical conclusions of the astronomer were +borne out by the actual observations of one standing upon the apex of +the spinning earth. The attempt to reach the Pole became henceforth +the great preoccupation of Arctic discovery. From this time on the +story of what has been done in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P138"></A>138}</SPAN> +the northern seas belongs not to +Canada but to the world at large. The voyages of such men as +Frobisher, Davis and Hudson, and the journeys of men like Hearne and +Mackenzie led to the opening up of this vast country and belong to +Canadian history. But in recent Arctic discovery the point of interest +had never been found in the lands about the northern seas, but only in +the Arctic ocean itself and in the effort to penetrate farther and +farther north. Little by little this effort was rewarded. A series of +intrepid explorers forced their way onward until at last the Pole +itself was reached and the frozen North had yielded up its hollow +mystery. +</P> + +<P> +The struggle to reach the Pole was the form in which Arctic exploration +came to life again after the paralysing effect of the Franklin tragedy. +Some of the Franklin relief expeditions had reached very high +latitudes, and, shortly after the great tragedy, the exploring ships of +Dr Kane and Dr Hayes, and the <I>Polaris</I> under Captain Hall, had all +passed the eightieth parallel and been within less than ten degrees of +the Pole. The idea grew that there might be an open polar sea, +navigable at times to the very apex of the world. In 1875 the <I>Alert</I> +and the <I>Discovery</I>, two ships of the British Navy, +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P139"></A>139}</SPAN> +were sent out +with the express purpose of reaching the North Pole. They sailed up +the narrow waters that separate Greenland from the large islands lying +west of it. The <I>Alert</I> wintered as far north as latitude 82° 24'. A +sledge party that was sent out under Captain Markham went as far as +latitude 83° 20', and the expedition returned with the proud +distinction of having carried its flag northward beyond all previous +explorations. But other nations were not to lag behind. An American +expedition (1881) under Lieutenant Greeley, carried on the exploration +of the extreme north of Greenland and of the interior of Grinnell Land +that lies west of it. Two of Greeley's men, Lieutenant Lockwood and a +companion, followed the Greenland coast northward in a sledge and +passed Markham's latitude, reaching 83° 24' north, which remained for +many years as the highest point attained. Greeley's expedition became +the subject of a tragedy almost comparable to the great Franklin +disaster. The vessels sent with supplies failed to reach their +destination. For four years Greeley and his men remained in the Arctic +regions. Of the twenty-three men in the party only six were found +alive when Captain Schley of the United States Navy at last brought +relief. +</P> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P140"></A>140}</SPAN> + +<P> +After the Greeley expedition the fight towards the Pole was carried on +by a series of gallant explorers, none of whom, strange to narrate, +were British. Commander R. E. Peary, of the United States Navy, came +prominently before the world as an Arctic navigator in the last decade +of the nineteenth century. In 1892 he crossed northern Greenland in +the extreme latitude of 81° 37', a feat of the highest order. +</P> + +<P> +Still more striking was the work of Dr Fridtjof Nansen, which attracted +the attention of the whole world. Nansen had devoted profound study to +the question of the northern drift of the polar waters. It had often +been observed that drift-wood and wreckage seemed, in many places, to +float towards the Pole. Trees that fall in the Siberian forests and +float down the great rivers to the northern sea are frequently found +washed up on the shores of Greenland, having apparently passed over the +Pole itself. A strong current flows northward through Bering Strait, +and it is a matter of record that an American vessel, the <I>Jeanette</I>, +which stuck fast in the ice near Wrangel Land in 1879, drifted slowly +northward with the ice for two years, and made its way in this fashion +some four hundred miles towards the +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P141"></A>141}</SPAN> +Pole. Dr Nansen formed the +bold design of carrying a ship under steam into one of the currents of +the Far North, allowing it to freeze in, and then trusting to the polar +drift to do the rest. The adventures of Nansen and his men in this +enterprise are so well known as scarcely to need recital. A stout +wooden vessel of four hundred tons, the <I>Fram</I> (or the <I>Forwards</I>), was +specially constructed to withstand the grip of the polar ice. In 1893 +she sailed from Norway and made her way by the Kara Sea to the New +Siberian Islands. In October, the <I>Fram</I> froze into the ice and there +she remained for three years, drifting slowly forwards in the heart of +the vast mass. Her rudder and propeller were unshipped and taken +inboard, her engine was taken to pieces and packed away, while on her +deck a windmill was erected to generate electric power. In this +situation, snugly on board their stout ship, Nansen and his crew +settled down into the unbroken night of the Arctic winter. The ice +that surrounded them was twelve feet thick, and escape from it, even +had they desired it, would have been impossible. They watched eagerly +the direction of their drift, worked out by observation of the stars. +For the first few weeks, propelled by northern winds, the <I>Fram</I> moved +southwards. Then +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P142"></A>142}</SPAN> +slowly the northern current began to make +itself felt, but during the whole of this first winter the <I>Fram</I> only +moved a few miles onward towards her goal. All the next summer the +ship remained fast frozen and drifted about two hundred miles. With +her rate of progress and direction, Nansen reckoned that she would +reach, not the Pole, but Spitzbergen, and would take four and a half +years more to do it. All through the next winter the <I>Fram</I> moved +slowly northwards and westwards. In the spring of 1895 she was still +about five hundred miles from the Pole, and her present path would miss +it by about three hundred and fifty miles. Nansen resolved upon an +enterprise unparalleled in hardihood. He resolved to take with him a +single companion, to leave the <I>Fram</I> and to walk over the ice to the +Pole, and thence as best he might to make his way, not back to his ship +again (for that was impossible), but to the nearest known land. The +whole distance to be covered was almost a thousand miles. Dr Nansen +and Lieutenant Johansen left the <I>Fram</I> on March 13, 1895, to make this +attempt. They failed in their enterprise. To struggle towards the +Pole over the pack-ice, at times reared in rough hillocks and at times +split with lanes of open water, proved +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P143"></A>143}</SPAN> +a feat beyond the power of +man. Nansen and his companion got as far as latitude 86° 13', a long +way north of all previous records. By sheer pluck and endurance they +managed to make their way southward again. They spent the winter on an +Arctic island in a hut of stone and snow, and in June of the next year +(1896) at last reached Franz Joseph Land, where they fell in with a +British expedition. They reached Norway in time to hear the welcome +news that the <I>Fram</I>, after a third winter in the ice, had drifted into +open sea again and had just come safely into port. +</P> + +<P> +Equally glorious, but profoundly tragic, was the splendid attempt of +Professor Andrée to reach the Pole in a balloon, which followed on the +heels of Nansen's enterprise. Andrée, who was a professor in the +Technical School at Stockholm, had been for some years interested in +the rising science of aerial navigation. He judged that by this means +a way might be found to the Pole where all else failed. By the +generous aid of the king of Sweden, Baron Dickson and others, he had a +balloon constructed in Paris which represented the very latest progress +towards the mastery of the air, in the days before the aeroplane and +the light-weight motor had opened a new chapter in +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P144"></A>144}</SPAN> +history. +Andrée's balloon was made of 3360 pieces of silk sewn together with +three miles of seams. It contained 158,000 cubic feet of hydrogen; it +carried beneath it a huge wicker basket that served as a sort of house +for Andrée and his companions, and to the netting of this were lashed +provisions, sledges, frame boats, and other appliances to meet the +needs of the explorers if their balloon was wrecked on the northern +ice. There was no means of propulsion, but three heavy guide ropes, +trailing on the ground, afforded a feeble and uncertain control. The +whole reliance of Andrée was placed, consciously and with full +knowledge of the consequences, on the possibility that a strong and +favouring wind might carry him across the Pole. The balloon was taken +on shipboard to Spitzbergen and there inflated in a tall shed built for +the purpose. Andrée was accompanied by two companions, Strindberg and +Fraenkel. On July 11, 1897, the balloon was cast loose, and, with a +southerly wind and bright sky, it was seen to vanish towards the north. +It is known, from a message sent by a pigeon, that two days later all +was well and the balloon still moving towards its goal. Since then no +message or token has ever been found to tell us the fate of the three +brave men, and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P145"></A>145}</SPAN> +the names of Andrée and his companions are added +to the long list of those who have given their lives for the +advancement of human knowledge. +</P> + +<P> +With the opening of the present century the progress of polar +exploration was rapid. Peary continued his explorations towards the +north of Greenland, and, in 1906, by reaching latitude 87° 6', he +wrested from Nansen the coveted record of Farthest North. At the same +time Captain Sverdrup (the commander of the <I>Fram</I>), the Duke of the +Abruzzi and many others were carrying out scientific expeditions in +polar waters. The voyage made in 1904 by Captain Roald Amundsen, a +Norwegian, later on to be world-famous as the discoverer of the South +Pole, is of especial interest, for he succeeded in carrying his little +ship from the Atlantic to the Pacific by way of Bering Strait—the only +vessel that has ever actually made the North-West Passage. But the +great prize fell to Captain Peary. On September 6, 1909, the world +thrilled with the announcement that Peary had reached the Pole. His +ship, the <I>Roosevelt</I>, had sailed in the summer of 1908. Peary +wintered at Etah in the north of Greenland, and in the ensuing year, +accompanied by Captain Bartlett with five white men and +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P146"></A>146}</SPAN> +seventeen +Eskimos, he set out to reach the Pole by sledge. By arrangement, +Peary's companions accompanied him a certain distance carrying +supplies, and then turned back in successive parties. The final dash +for the Pole was made by the commander himself, accompanied only by a +negro servant and four Eskimos. On April 6, 1909, they reached the +Pole and hoisted there the flag of the United States. To make doubly +certain of their discovery, Peary and his men went some ten miles +beyond the Pole, and eight miles in a lateral direction. They saw +nothing but ice about them, and no indication of the neighbourhood of +any land. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="biblio"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P147"></A>147}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE +</H3> + +<P> +For the earlier voyages of the English to the Northern seas the first +and principal authority is, of course, the famous collection of +contemporary narratives gathered together by Richard Hakluyt under the +title, <I>Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of +the English Nation</I>. Here the reader will find accounts of the +enterprises of Frobisher, Davis, and others as written by members of +the expeditions and persons closely connected therewith. An +interesting presentation of the exploits of Hudson, as revealed in +original documents, is found in <I>Henry Hudson, the Navigator</I>, +published by the Hakluyt Society. The journal of Samuel Hearne, +together with many maps and much interesting material, is to be found +among the publications of the Champlain Society, (Toronto, 1911) ably +edited and annotated by the well-known explorer Mr J. B. Tyrrell. +Alexander Mackenzie's own account of his voyages is a classic, and is +readily accessible in public libraries. An account of Mackenzie's +career is found in the 'Makers of Canada' series. Sir John Franklin +left behind him a very graphic description of his first journey to the +polar seas, to which +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P148"></A>148}</SPAN> +reference has already been made in the text. +For the story of the loss of Franklin and the search for his missing +ships the reader may best consult the works of Sir John Richardson, and +others who participated in the events of the period. +</P> + +<P> +See also in this series: <I>The Adventurers of England on Hudson Bay</I>. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="index"></A> + +<SPAN CLASS="pagenum">{<A NAME="P149"></A>149}</SPAN> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +INDEX +</H3> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Amundsen, Captain Roald, makes the North-West Passage, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Anderson, of the Hudson's Bay Company, finds traces of the Franklin +expedition, <A HREF="#P129">129-30</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Andrée, Prof., his attempt to reach the North Pole in a balloon ends in +tragedy, <A HREF="#P143">143-5</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Arctic seas, the short way to India and China by, <A HREF="#P5">5-7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Athabaska, Lake, geographical position of, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Athabaska river, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Back, Admiral Sir George, with Franklin, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>, <A HREF="#P104">104</A>; rescues +Franklin, <A HREF="#P107">107</A>; explores Backs river, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Baffin, William, and the North-West Passage, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Baffin Island, Frobisher's experiences on, <A HREF="#P12">12-14</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Belcher, Captain Sir Edward, in the search for the Franklin expedition, +<A HREF="#P124">124</A>; abandons his ships, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>; court-martial on, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Bellot, Lieut, of the French navy, sacrifices his life in the search +for Franklin, <A HREF="#P124">124</A>, <A HREF="#P125">125</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Buchan, Captain, and expedition to the North Pole, <A HREF="#P93">93</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cabot, Sebastian, and the North-West Passage, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Canada, the Far North of, a description, <A HREF="#P1">1-2</A>, <A HREF="#P26">26-7</A>; resources of, <A HREF="#P37">37-8</A>, +<A HREF="#P87">87</A>; barren grounds, <A HREF="#P40">40-1</A>, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>, <A HREF="#P55">55-7</A>; a geographical problem in, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cartier, Jacques, <A HREF="#P4">4</A>, <A HREF="#P5">5</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Chawchmahaw, an Indian chief, treachery of, <A HREF="#P40">40-2</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Company of the North, hostility to Hudson's Bay Company, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cook, Captain, and the Arctic seas, <A HREF="#P70">70</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Copper in the Far North, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>; attempts to find, and disastrous fate of +the expedition, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>; found by Hearne, <A HREF="#P63">63</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Coppermine river, attempts to reach, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>; Hearne at, <A HREF="#P58">58</A>; Franklin +at, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Crozier, Captain, with Franklin, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>; fate of, <A HREF="#P129">129</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132-4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Cumberland House, Franklin at, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>. +</P> + + +<P CLASS="index"> +Davis, John, his voyages in search of the North-West Passage, <A HREF="#P23">23-31</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Dubawnt Lake, description of, <A HREF="#P46">46</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Elizabeth, Queen, voyages under, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>; honours Frobisher, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +English Chief, an Indian with Mackenzie, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>, <A HREF="#P84">84</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +'Erebus' and 'Terror' in Franklin's ill-fated expedition, <A HREF="#P112">112</A>, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>; +last seen, <A HREF="#P117">117</A>; last news of and fate, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>, <A HREF="#P132">132-4</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Eskimos, conflicts with explorers, <A HREF="#P13">13-14</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>; trade with, <A HREF="#P25">25</A>, <A HREF="#P28">28</A>; Davis +on, <A HREF="#P28">28-30</A>; relations with the Indians, <A HREF="#P56">56-7</A>; attacked and massacred, +<A HREF="#P58">58-61</A>, <A HREF="#P62">62</A>; and fate of the Franklin expedition, <A HREF="#P127">127-8</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fitzjames, Captain James, with the Franklin expedition, <A HREF="#P116">116</A>, <A HREF="#P133">133</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fort Chipewyan erected, <A HREF="#P74">74</A>, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>; Franklin at, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fort Churchill, trade at, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fort Enterprise, Franklin winters in, <A HREF="#P96">96</A>; a tragic episode, <A HREF="#P103">103-7</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fort Prince of Wales, expeditions from, <A HREF="#P40">40</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fort Providence, Franklin at, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fox, Luke, and the North-West Passage, <A HREF="#P32">32</A>; and Hudson Bay, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +'Fram,' the, and Nansen's theory, <A HREF="#P141">141-3</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Franklin, Sir John, early training, <A HREF="#P91">91</A>; first Arctic voyage, <A HREF="#P93">93-4</A>; +second, <A HREF="#P94">94</A>; inland journeys, <A HREF="#P64">64</A>, <A HREF="#P95">95-6</A>; a winter at Port Enterprise, +<A HREF="#P97">97-8</A>; traces Arctic coast in canoe, <A HREF="#P98">98</A>; tragic journey back by land to +Fort Enterprise, <A HREF="#P99">99-104</A>; terrible experiences, <A HREF="#P104">104-7</A>; third expedition, +<A HREF="#P109">109-110</A>; last and fatal expedition, <A HREF="#P89">89</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113-17</A>; fate of, <A HREF="#P127">127-9</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Franklin, Lady, her devotion, <A HREF="#P90">90</A>; sends in search of Franklin +expedition, <A HREF="#P121">121</A>, <A HREF="#P124">124</A>, <A HREF="#P131">131</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Franklin expedition, the, apprehension in Britain concerning, <A HREF="#P118">118-19</A>; +search for, <A HREF="#P121">121-6</A>; news of, <A HREF="#P122">122-3</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127-8</A>, <A HREF="#P129">129-30</A>; tragic records of, +<A HREF="#P131">131-5</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Frobisher, Sir Martin, voyages in search of the North-West Passage, +<A HREF="#P10">10-14</A>, <A HREF="#P15">15-23</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Fur trade, effect of on Arctic exploration, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, and the North-West Passage, <A HREF="#P8">8-10</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Gold, search for in Arctic regions, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>, <A HREF="#P18">18</A>, <A HREF="#P20">20</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Great Bear river, Mackenzie on, <A HREF="#P80">80</A>, <A HREF="#P87">87</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Great Slave Lake, description of, <A HREF="#P66">66</A>, <A HREF="#P77">77</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Greeley, Lieut., his attempt to reach the North Pole, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Greenland, or Frisland, <A HREF="#P7">7</A>, <A HREF="#P11">11</A>; Land of Desolation, <A HREF="#P23">23</A>, +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hearne, Samuel, joins the Hudson's Bay Company, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>; expeditions to +Coppermine river, <A HREF="#P40">40-1</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42-51</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51-63</A>, <A HREF="#P65">65-8</A>; and Admiral La Pérouse, <A HREF="#P68">68</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hepburn, a sailor with Franklin, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hood, Lieut., with Franklin, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>; his tragic death, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hudson, Henry, and the North-West Passage, <A HREF="#P31">31-2</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hudson Bay explored, <A HREF="#P34">34</A>; convenience of for fur trade, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>; conflicts +between French and English in, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Hudson's Bay Company founded, <A HREF="#P35">35</A>; objects of, <A HREF="#P36">36</A>; search for copper, +<A HREF="#P37">37-8</A>; development, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Indians, their treachery, <A HREF="#P41">41</A>, <A HREF="#P45">45</A>; troubles with, <A HREF="#P47">47</A>, <A HREF="#P48">48</A>; designs +against Eskimos, <A HREF="#P56">56-7</A>, <A HREF="#P58">58-61</A>; shyness of, <A HREF="#P79">79</A>; terror of the Far North, +<A HREF="#P80">80</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Indian women, an Indian's estimate of, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Kelsey, Henry, inland journey of, <A HREF="#P37">37</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Leroux, descends Great Slave river, <A HREF="#P75">75</A>; with Mackenzie, <A HREF="#P78">78</A>, <A HREF="#P88">88</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +M'Clintock, Captain, finds last records of the Franklin expedition, +<A HREF="#P131">131-5</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +M'Clure, Captain, first to make the North-West Passage, <A HREF="#P124">124</A>, <A HREF="#P125">125-6</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Mackenzie, Alexander, joins North-West Company, <A HREF="#P73">73</A>; journey to the +Arctic ocean by the Mackenzie river, <A HREF="#P75">75-88</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Marble Island, a grim tale of shipwreck at, <A HREF="#P38">38</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Markham, Captain, and the North Pole, <A HREF="#P139">139</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Matonabbee, an Indian chief, succours Hearne, <A HREF="#P49">49</A>; character of, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>; +assists Hearne to reach Coppermine river, <A HREF="#P53">53-4</A>, <A HREF="#P56">56</A>; his opinion of +women, <A HREF="#P53">53</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Meta Incognita, <A HREF="#P14">14</A>, <A HREF="#P16">16</A>; formal landing of Frobisher on, <A HREF="#P17">17</A>; a fort +erected on, <A HREF="#P21">21</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Michel, an Indian with Franklin, feeds on his companions and murders +Lieut. Hood, <A HREF="#P102">102-3</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Muscovy Company, the, and passage to the East by the White Sea, <A HREF="#P6">6</A>; +oppose Frobisher, <A HREF="#P10">10</A>. +</P> + + +<P CLASS="index"> +Nansen, Dr, attempts to reach the Pole by drifting, <A HREF="#P140">140-3</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +North-West Company founded, <A HREF="#P72">72</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +North-West Passage, as a road to Asia, <A HREF="#P5">5-8</A>; advantages of, <A HREF="#P9">9</A>; Sir +Humphrey Gilbert on, <A HREF="#P8">8-10</A>; voyages in search of, <A HREF="#P11">11-21</A>, <A HREF="#P23">23-32</A>; the +passage nearly completed, <A HREF="#P110">110-11</A>, <A HREF="#P114">114-115</A>; the passage made, <A HREF="#P126">126</A>, <A HREF="#P145">145</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Norton, Moses, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and expeditions to +Coppermine river, <A HREF="#P39">39</A>, <A HREF="#P42">42</A>, <A HREF="#P50">50</A>, <A HREF="#P51">51</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Orkneys, the, savage state of the inhabitants of, <A HREF="#P15">15</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Parry, Sir William, and the North-West Passage, <A HREF="#P109">109</A>, <A HREF="#P113">113</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Peace river, course of, <A HREF="#P71">71</A>, <A HREF="#P76">76</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Peary, Commander R. E., attempts to reach the North Pole, <A HREF="#P140">140</A>; +succeeds, <A HREF="#P143">143-6</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Penny, Captain, finds traces of the Franklin expedition, <A HREF="#P122">122</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Polar seas, a fruitful field for scientific investigation, <A HREF="#P137">137</A>; +Nansen's study of a scientific theory, <A HREF="#P140">140-1</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Pole, North, progress in scientific knowledge creates desire to +reach, <A HREF="#P137">137-8</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Rae, Dr John, and the search for the Franklin expedition, <A HREF="#P121">121</A>, <A HREF="#P127">127-9</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Richardson, Sir John, with Franklin, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>, <A HREF="#P97">97</A>, <A HREF="#P100">100</A>, <A HREF="#P101">101</A>, <A HREF="#P102">102</A>, <A HREF="#P109">109-10</A>; +shoots murderer of Lieutenant Hood, <A HREF="#P103">103</A>; finds Franklin in a parlous +state, <A HREF="#P103">103-7</A>; in search for the Franklin expedition, <A HREF="#P120">120-1</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ross, Sir James, and the North-West Passage, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>; in search for the +Franklin expedition, <A HREF="#P121">121</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Ross, Sir John, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>, <A HREF="#P118">118</A>, <A HREF="#P121">121</A>. + +<BR> +<P CLASS="index"> +Simpson, Thomas, and the North-West Passage, <A HREF="#P111">111</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Whale Island, why so named, <A HREF="#P86">86</A>. +</P> + +<P CLASS="index"> +Wholdaia Lake, description of, <A HREF="#P54">54-5</A>. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="index"> +York Factory, Franklin at, <A HREF="#P95">95</A>. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty<BR> +at the Edinburgh University Press<BR> +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<HR> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED +</H3> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON +</H4> + +<BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA +</H2> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART I +<BR> +THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Stephen Leacock.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Stephen Leacock.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART II +<BR> +THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Charles W. Colby.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By William Bennett Munro.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +6. THE GREAT INTENDANT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Thomas Chapais.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Charles W. Colby.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART III +<BR> +THE ENGLISH INVASION +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +8. THE GREAT FORTRESS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +9. THE ACADIAN EXILES +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1em">By Arthur G. Doughty.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +11. THE WINNING OF CANADA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART IV +<BR> +THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By W. Stewart Wallace.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART V +<BR> +THE RED MAN IN CANADA +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Louis Aubrey Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Ethel T. Raymond.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART VI +<BR> +PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Agnes C. Laut.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Lawrence J. Burpee.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Stephen Leacock.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +21. THE RED RIVER COLONY +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Louis Aubrey Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Agnes C. Laut.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Agnes C. Laut.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART VII +<BR> +THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +24. THE FAMILY COMPACT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By W. Stewart Wallace.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37 +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Alfred D. DeCelles.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Lawson Grant.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Archibald MacMechan.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART VIII +<BR> +THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By A. H. U. Colquhoun.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Sir Joseph Pope.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Oscar D. Skelton.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PART IX +<BR> +NATIONAL HIGHWAYS +</H3> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +31. ALL AFLOAT +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By William Wood.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS +<SPAN STYLE="margin-left: 1.5em">By Oscar D. Skelton.</SPAN><BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Adventurers of the Far North, by Stephen Leacock + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH *** + +***** This file should be named 30039-h.htm or 30039-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/0/3/30039/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Adventurers of the Far North + A Chronicle of the Frozen Seas + +Author: Stephen Leacock + +Release Date: September 20, 2009 [EBook #30039] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +[Frontispiece: The Arctic Council, discussing a plan of search for Sir +John Franklin. From the National Portrait Gallery.] + + + + + + +ADVENTURERS + +OF THE FAR NORTH + +A Chronicle of the Frozen Seas + + +BY + +STEPHEN LEACOCK + + + +TORONTO + +GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY + +1914 + + + + + _Copyright in all Countries subscribing to + the Berne Convention_ + + + + +{ix} + +CONTENTS + + Page + + I. THE GREAT ELIZABETHAN NAVIGATORS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 + II. HEARNE'S OVERLAND JOURNEY TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN . . . . . 34 + III. MACKENZIE DESCENDS THE GREAT RIVER OF THE NORTH . . . . . 70 + IV. THE MEMORABLE EXPLOITS OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN . . . . . . . 89 + V. THE TRAGEDY OF FRANKLIN'S FATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 + VI. EPILOGUE. THE CONQUEST OF THE POLE . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 + BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 + INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 + + + + +{xi} + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +THE ARCTIC COUNCIL DISCUSSING A PLAN OF SEARCH FOR + SIR JOHN FRANKLIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ + From the National Portrait Gallery. + +ROUTES OF EXPLORERS IN THE FAR NORTH . . . . . . . . _Facing page_ 1 + Map by Bartholomew. + +SAMUEL HEARNE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 42 + From the Dominion Archives. + +FORT CHURCHILL OR PRINCE OF WALES . . . . . . . . . . " " 50 + From a drawing by Samuel Hearne. + +SIR ALEXANDER MACKENZIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 70 + From a painting by Lawrence. + +SIR JOHN FRANKLIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . " " 112 + From the National Portrait Gallery. + + + +[Illustration: Routes of Explorers in the Far North] + + + + +{1} + +CHAPTER I + +THE GREAT ELIZABETHAN NAVIGATORS + +The map of Canada offers to the eye and to the imagination a vast +country more than three thousand miles in width. Its eastern face +presents a broken outline to the wild surges of the Atlantic. Its +western coast commands from majestic heights the broad bosom of the +Pacific. Along its southern boundary is a fertile country of lake and +plain and woodland, loud already with the murmur of a rising industry, +and in summer waving with the golden wealth of the harvest. + +But on its northern side Canada is set fast against the frozen seas of +the Pole and the desolate region of barren rock and ice-bound island +that is joined to the polar ocean by a common mantle of snow. For +hundreds and hundreds of miles the vast fortress of ice rears its +battlements of shining glaciers. The unending sunshine of the Arctic +summer falls upon untrodden snow. The cold light of the {2} aurora +illumines in winter an endless desolation. There is no sound, save +when at times the melting water falls from the glistening sides of some +vast pinnacle of ice, or when the leaden sea forces its tide between +the rock-bound islands. Here in this vast territory civilization has +no part and man no place. Life struggles northward only to die out in +the Arctic cold. The green woods of the lake district and the blossoms +of the prairies are left behind. The fertility of the Great West gives +place to the rock-strewn wilderness of the barren grounds. A stunted +and deformed vegetation fights its way to the Arctic Circle. Rude +grasses and thin moss cling desperately to the naked rock. Animal life +pushes even farther. The seas of the frozen ocean still afford a +sustenance. Even mankind is found eking out a savage livelihood on the +shores of the northern sea. But gradually all fades, until nothing is +left but the endless plain of snow, stretching towards the Pole. + +Yet this frozen northern land and these forbidding seas have their +history. Deeds were here done as great in valour as those which led to +the conquest of a Mexico or the acquisition of a Peru. But unlike the +captains and conquerors of the South, the explorers have {3} come and +gone and left behind no trace of their passage. Their hopes of a land +of gold, their vision of a new sea-way round the world, are among the +forgotten dreams of the past. Robbed of its empty secret, the North +still stretches silent and untenanted with nothing but the splendid +record of human courage to illuminate its annals. + +For us in our own day, the romance that once clung about the northern +seas has drifted well nigh to oblivion. To understand it we must turn +back in fancy three hundred years. We must picture to ourselves the +aspect of the New World at the time when Elizabeth sat on the throne of +England, and when the kingdoms of western Europe, Britain, France, and +Spain, were rising from the confusion of the Middle Ages to national +greatness. The existence of the New World had been known for nearly a +hundred years. But it still remained shadowed in mystery and +uncertainty. It was known that America lay as a vast continent, or +island, as men often called it then, midway between Europe and the +great empires of the East. Columbus, and after him Verrazano and +others, had explored its eastern coast, finding everywhere a land of +dense forests, peopled here and there with naked savages that fled at +their {4} approach. The servants of the king of Spain had penetrated +its central part and reaped, in the spoils of Mexico, the reward of +their savage bravery. From the central isthmus Balboa had first seen +the broad expanse of the Pacific. On this ocean the Spaniard Pizarro +had been borne to the conquest of Peru. Even before that conquest +Magellan had passed the strait that bears his name, and had sailed +westward from America over the vast space that led to the island +archipelago of Eastern Asia. Far towards the northern end of the great +island, the fishermen of the Channel ports had found their way in +yearly sailings to the cod banks of Newfoundland. There they had +witnessed the silent procession of the great icebergs that swept out of +the frozen seas of the north, and spoke of oceans still unknown, +leading one knew not whither. The boldest of such sailors, one Jacques +Cartier, fighting his way westward had entered a great gulf that yawned +in the opening side of the continent, and from it he had advanced up a +vast river, the like of which no man had seen. Hundreds of miles from +the gulf he had found villages of savages, who pointed still westward +and told him of wonderful countries of gold and silver that lay beyond +the palisaded settlement of Hochelaga. + +{5} + +But the discoveries of Columbus and those who followed him had not +solved but had only opened the mystery of the western seas. True, a +way to the Asiatic empire had been found. The road discovered by the +Portuguese round the base of Africa was known. But it was long and +arduous beyond description. Even more arduous was the sea-way found by +Magellan: the whole side of the continent must be traversed. The +dreadful terrors of the straits that separate South America from the +Land of Fire must be essayed: and beyond that a voyage of thirteen +thousand miles across the Pacific, during which the little caravels +must slowly make their way northward again till the latitude of Cathay +was reached, parallel to that of Spain itself. For any other sea-way +to Asia the known coast-line of America offered an impassable barrier. +In only one region, and that as yet unknown, might an easier and more +direct way be found towards the eastern empires. This was by way of +the northern seas, either round the top of Asia or, more direct still +perhaps, by entering those ice-bound seas that lay beyond the Great +Banks of Newfoundland and the coastal waters visited by Jacques +Cartier. Into the entrance of these waters the ships of the Cabots +flying the {6} English flag had already made their way at the close of +the fifteenth century. They seem to have reached as far, or nearly as +far, as the northern limits of Labrador, and Sebastian Cabot had said +that beyond the point reached by their ships the sea opened out before +them to the west. No further exploration was made, indeed, for +three-quarters of a century after the Cabots, but from this time on the +idea of a North-West Passage and the possibility of a great achievement +in this direction remained as a tradition with English seamen. + +It was natural, then, that the English sailors of the sixteenth century +should turn to the northern seas. The eastern passage, from the German +Ocean round the top of Russia and Asia, was first attempted. As early +as the reign of Edward the Sixth, a company of adventurers, commonly +called the Muscovy Company, sailed their ships round the north of +Norway and opened a connection with Russia by way of the White Sea. +But the sailing masters of the company tried in vain to find a passage +in this direction to the east. Their ships reached as far as the Kara +Sea at about the point where the present boundary of European Russia +separates it from Siberia. Beyond this extended countless leagues of +{7} impassable ice and the rock-bound desolation of Northern Asia. + +It remained to seek a passage in the opposite direction by way of the +Arctic seas that lay above America. To find such a passage and with it +a ready access to Cathay and the Indies became one of the great +ambitions of the Elizabethan age. There is no period when great things +might better have been attempted. It was an epoch of wonderful +national activity and progress: the spirit of the nation was being +formed anew in the Protestant Reformation and in the rising conflict +with Spain. It was the age of Drake, of Raleigh, of Shakespeare, the +time at which were aroused those wide ambitions which were to give +birth to the British Empire. + +In thinking of the exploits of these Elizabethan sailors in the Arctic +seas, we must try to place ourselves at their point of view, and +dismiss from our minds our own knowledge of the desolate and hopeless +region against which their efforts were directed. The existence of +Greenland, often called Frisland, and of Labrador was known from the +voyages of the Cabots and the Corte-Reals. It was known that between +these two coasts the sea swept in a powerful current out of the north. +Of {8} what lay beyond nothing was known. There seemed no reason why +Frobisher, or Davis, or Henry Hudson might not find the land trend away +to the south again and thus offer, after a brief transit of the +dangerous waters of the north, a smooth and easy passage over the +Pacific. + +Perhaps we can best understand the hopes and ambitions of the time if +we turn to the writings of the Elizabethans themselves. One of the +greatest of them, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, afterwards lost in the northern +seas, wrote down at large his reasons for believing that the passage +was feasible and that its discovery would be fraught with the greatest +profit to the nation. In his _Discourse to prove a North-West Passage +to Cathay_, Gilbert argues that all writers from Plato down have spoken +of a great island out in the Atlantic; that this island is America +which must thus have a water passage all round it; that the ocean +currents moving to the west across the Atlantic and driven along its +coast, as Cartier saw, past Newfoundland, evidently show that the water +runs on round the top of America. A North-West Passage must therefore +exist. Of the advantages to be derived from its discovery Gilbert was +in no doubt. + + +{9} + +It were the only way for our princes [he wrote] to possess themselves +of the wealth of all the east parts of the world which is infinite. +Through the shortness of the voyage, we should be able to sell all +manner of merchandise brought from thence far better cheap than either +the Portugal or Spaniard doth or may do. Also we might sail to divers +very rich countries, both civil and others, out of both their +jurisdiction [that of the Portuguese and Spaniards], where there is to +be found great abundance of gold, silver, precious stones, cloth of +gold, silks, all manner of spices, grocery wares, and other kinds of +merchandise of an inestimable price. + + +Gilbert also speaks of the possibility of colonizing the regions thus +to be discovered. The quaint language in which he describes the +chances of what is now called 'imperial expansion' is not without its +irony: + + +We might inhabit some part of those countries [he says], and settle +there such needy people of our country which now trouble the +commonwealth, and through want here at home are enforced to commit {10} +outrageous offences whereby they are daily consumed with the gallows. +We shall also have occasion to set poor men's children to learn +handicrafts and thereby to make trifles and such like, which the +Indians and those people do much esteem: by reason whereof there should +be none occasion to have our country cumbered with loiterers, +vagabonds, and such like idle persons. + + +Undoubtedly Gilbert's way of thinking was also that of many of the +great statesmen and sailors of his day. Especially was this the case +with Sir Martin Frobisher, a man, we are told, 'thoroughly furnished +with knowledge of the sphere and all other skills appertaining to the +art of navigation.' The North-West Passage became the dream of +Frobisher's ambition. Year after year he vainly besought the queen's +councillors to sanction an expedition. But the opposition of the +powerful Muscovy Company was thrown against the project. Frobisher, +although supported by the influence of the Earl of Warwick, agitated +and argued in vain for fifteen years, till at last in 1574 the +necessary licence was granted and the countenance of the queen was +assured to the enterprise. Even then about two years {11} passed +before the preparations could be completed. + +Frobisher's first expedition was on a humble scale. His company +numbered in all thirty-five men. They embarked in two small barques, +the _Gabriel_ and the _Michael_, neither of them of more than +twenty-five tons, and a pinnace of ten tons. They carried food for a +year. The ships dropped down the Thames on June 7, 1576, and as they +passed Greenwich, where the queen's court was, the little vessels made +a brave show by the discharge of their ordnance. Elizabeth waved her +hand from a window to the departing ships and sent one of her gentlemen +aboard to say that she had 'a good liking of their doings.' From such +small acts of royal graciousness has often sprung a wonderful devotion. + +Frobisher's little ships struck boldly out on the Atlantic. They ran +northward first, and crossed the ocean along the parallel of sixty +degrees north latitude. Favourable winds and strong gales bore them +rapidly across the sea. On July 11, they sighted the southern capes of +Greenland, or Frisland, as they called it, that rose like pinnacles of +steeples, snow-crowned and glittering on the horizon. They essayed a +landing, but the masses of shore ice and the {12} drifting fog baffled +their efforts. Here off Cape Desolation the full fury of the Arctic +gales broke upon their ships. The little pinnace foundered with all +hands. The _Michael_ was separated from her consort in the storm, and +her captain, losing heart, made his way back to England to report +Frobisher cast away. But no terror of the sea could force Frobisher +from his purpose. With his single ship the _Gabriel_, its mast sprung, +its top-mast carried overboard in the storm, he drove on towards the +west. He was 'determined,' so writes a chronicler of his voyages, 'to +bring true proof of what land and sea might be so far to the +northwestwards beyond any that man hath heretofore discovered.' His +efforts were rewarded. On July 28, a tall headland rose on the +horizon, Queen Elizabeth's Foreland, so Frobisher named it. As the +_Gabriel_ approached, a deep sound studded with rocky islands at its +mouth opened to view. Its position shows that the vessel had been +carried northward and westward past the coast of Labrador and the +entrance of Hudson Strait. The voyagers had found their way to the +vast polar island now known as Baffin Island. Into this, at the point +which the ship had reached, there extends a deep inlet, {13} called +after its discoverer, Frobisher's Strait. Frobisher had found a new +land, and its form, with a great sea passage running westward and land +both north and south of it, made him think that this was truly the +highway to the Orient. He judged that the land seen to the north was +part of Asia, reaching out and overlapping the American continent. For +many days heavy weather and fog and the danger of the drifting ice +prevented a landing. The month of August opened with calm seas and +milder weather. Frobisher and his men were able to land in the ship's +boat. They found before them a desolate and uninviting prospect, a +rock-bound coast fringed with islands and with the huge masses of +grounded icebergs. + +For nearly a month Frobisher's ship stood on and off the coast. Fresh +water was taken on board. In a convenient spot the ship was beached +and at low tide repairs were made and leaks were stopped in the +strained timbers of her hull. In the third week, canoes of savages +were seen, and presently the natives were induced to come on board the +_Gabriel_ and barter furs for looking-glasses and trinkets. The +savages were 'like Tartars with long black hair, broad faces, and flat +noses.' They seemed friendly and well-disposed. Five of the English +{14} sailors ventured to join the natives on land, contrary to the +express orders of the captain. They never returned, nor could any of +the savages be afterwards induced to come within reach. One man only, +paddling in the sea in his skin canoe, was enticed to the ship's side +by the tinkling of a little bell, and so seized and carried away. But +his own sailors, though he vainly searched the coast, Frobisher saw no +more. After a week's delay, the _Gabriel_ set sail (on August 26) for +home, and in spite of terrific gales was safely back at her anchorage +at Harwich early in October. + +Contrary to what we should suppose, the voyage was viewed as a +brilliant success. The queen herself named the newly found rocks and +islands Meta Incognita. Frobisher was at once 'specially famous for +the great hope he brought of a passage to Cathay.' A strange-looking +piece of black rock that had been carried home in the _Gabriel_ was +pronounced by a metallurgist, one Baptista Agnello, to contain gold; +true, Agnello admitted in confidence that he had 'coaxed nature' to +find the precious metal. But the rumour of the thing was enough. The +cupidity of the London merchants was added to the ambitions of the +court. There was no trouble about finding {15} ships and immediate +funds for a second expedition. + +The new enterprise was carried out in the following year (1577). The +_Gabriel_ and the _Michael_ sailed again, and with them one of the +queen's ships, the _Aid_. This time the company included a number of +soldiers and gentlemen adventurers. The main object was not the +discovery of the passage but the search for gold. + +The expedition sailed out of Harwich on May 31, 1577, following the +route by the north of Scotland. A week's sail brought the ships 'with +a merrie wind' to the Orkneys. Here a day or so was spent in obtaining +water. The inhabitants of these remote islands were found living in +stone huts in a condition almost as primitive as that of American +savages. 'The good man, wife, children, and other members of the +family,' wrote Master Settle, one of Frobisher's company, 'eat and +sleep on one side of the house and the cattle on the other, very +beastly and rude.' From the Orkneys the ships pursued a very northerly +course, entering within the Arctic Circle and sailing in the perpetual +sunlight of the polar day. Near Iceland they saw huge pine trees +drifting, roots and all, across the ocean. Wild storms {16} beset them +as they passed the desolate capes of Greenland. At length, on July 16, +the navigators found themselves off the headlands of Meta Incognita. + +Here Frobisher and his men spent the summer. The coast and waters were +searched as far as the inclement climate allowed. The savages were +fierce and unfriendly. A few poor rags of clothing found among the +rocks bespoke the fate of the sailors of the year before. Fierce +conflicts with the natives followed. Several were captured. One woman +so hideous and wrinkled with age that the mariners thought her a witch +was released in pious awe. A younger woman, with a baby at her back, +was carried captive to the English ships. The natives in return +watched their opportunity and fell fiercely on the English as occasion +offered, leaping headlong from the rocks into the sea rather than +submit to capture. + +To the perils of conflict was added the perpetual danger of moving ice. +Even in the summer seas, great gales blew and giant masses of ice drove +furiously through the strait. No passage was possible. In vain +Frobisher landed on both the northern and the southern sides and tried +to penetrate the rugged country. All about the land was barren and +forbidding. {17} Mountains of rough stone crowned with snow blocked +the way. No trees were seen and no vegetation except a scant grass +here and there upon the flatter spaces of the rocks. + +But neither the terrors of the ice nor the fear of the savages could +damp the ardour of the explorers. The landing of Frobisher and his men +on Meta Incognita was carried out with something of the pomp, dear to +an age of chivalrous display, that marked the landing of Columbus on +the tropic island of San Salvador. The captain and his men moved in +marching order: they knelt together on the barren rock to offer thanks +to God and to invoke a blessing on their queen. Great cairns of stone +were piled high here and there, as a sign of England's sovereignty, +while as they advanced against the rugged hills of the interior, the +banner of their country was proudly carried in the van. Their thoughts +were not of glory only. It was with the ardour of treasure-seekers +that they fell to their task, forgetting in the lust for gold the chill +horror of their surroundings; and, when the Arctic sunlight glittered +on the splintered edges of the rocks, the crevices of the barren stone +seemed to the excited minds of the explorers to be filled with virgin +gold, carried by subterranean {18} streams. The three ships were +loaded deep with worthless stone, a fitting irony on their quest. +Then, at the end of August, they were turned again eastward for +England. Tempest and fog enveloped their passage. The ships were +driven asunder. Each thought the others lost. But, by good fortune, +all safely arrived, the captain's ship landing at Milford Haven, the +others at Bristol and Yarmouth. + +Fortunately for Frobisher the worthless character of the freight that +he brought home was not readily made clear by the crude methods of the +day. For the next summer found him again off the shores of Meta +Incognita eagerly searching for new mines. This time he bore with him +a large company and ample equipment. Fifteen ships in all sailed under +his command. Among his company were miners and artificers. The frames +of a house, ready to set up, were borne in the vessels. Felton, a +ship's captain, and a group of Frobisher's gentlemen were to be left +behind to spend the winter in the new land. + +From the first the voyage was inauspicious. The ships had scarcely +entered the straits before a great storm broke upon them. Land and sea +were blotted out in driving snow. The open water into which they had +sailed was soon {19} filled with great masses of ice which the tempest +cast furiously against the ships. To their horror the barque +_Dionise_, rammed by the ice, went down in the swirling waters. With +her she carried all her cargo, including a part of the timbers of the +house destined for the winter's habitation. But the stout courage of +the mariners was undismayed. All through the evening and the night +they fought against the ice: with capstan bars, with boats' oars, and +with great planks they thrust it from the ships. Some of the men +leaped down upon the moving floes and bore with might and main against +the ships to break the shock. At times the little vessels were lifted +clear out of the sea, their sides torn with the fierce blows of the +ice-pack, their seams strained and leaking. All night they looked for +instant death. But, with the coming of the morning, the wind shifted +to the west and cleared the ice from the sea, and God sent to the +mariners, so runs their chronicle, 'so pleasant a day as the like we +had not of a long time before, as after punishment consolation.' + +But their dangers were not ended. As the ships stood on and off the +land, they fell in with a great berg of ice that reared its height four +hundred feet above the masts, and lay {20} extended for a half mile in +length. This they avoided. But a few days later, while they were +still awaiting a landing, a great mist rolled down upon the seas, so +that for five days and nights all was obscurity and no ship could see +its consorts. Current and tide drove the explorers to and fro till +they drifted away from the mouth of Frobisher Strait southward and +westward. Then another great sound opened before them to the west. +This was the passage of Hudson Strait, and, had Frobisher followed it, +he would have found the vast inland sea of Hudson Bay open to his +exploration. But, intent upon his search for ore, he fought his way +back to the inhospitable waters that bear his name. There at an island +which had been christened the Countess of Warwick's Island, the fleet +was able to assemble by August 1. But the ill-fortune of the +enterprise demanded the abandonment of all idea of settlement. +Frobisher and his men made haste to load their vessels with the +worthless rock which abounded in the district. In one 'great black +island alone' there was discovered such a quantity of it that 'if the +goodness might answer the plenty thereof, it might reasonably suffice +all the gold-gluttons of the world.' In leaving Meta Incognita, +Frobisher and his {21} companions by no means intended that the +enterprise should be definitely abandoned. Such timbers of the house +as remained they buried for use next year. A little building, or fort, +of stone was erected, to test whether it would stand against the frost +of the Arctic winter. In it were set a number of little toys, bells, +and knives to tempt the cupidity of the Eskimos, who had grown wary and +hostile to the newcomers. Pease, corn, and grain were sown in the +scant soil as a provision for the following summer. On the last day of +August, the fleet departed on its homeward voyage. The passage was +long and stormy. The ships were scattered and found their way home as +best they might, some to one harbour and some to another. But by the +beginning of October, the entire fleet was safely back in its own +waters. + +The expectations of a speedy return to Meta Incognita were doomed to +disappointment. The ore that the ships carried proved to be but +worthless rock, and from the commercial point of view the whole +expedition was a failure. Frobisher was never able to repeat his +attempt to find the North-West Passage. In its existence his faith +remained as firm as ever. But, although his three voyages resulted in +no discoveries of {22} profit to England, his name should stand high on +the roll of honour of great English sea-captains. He brought to bear +on his task not only the splendid courage of his age, but also the +earnest devotion and intense religious spirit which marked the best men +of the period of the Reformation. The first article of Frobisher's +standing orders to his fleet enjoined his men to banish swearing, dice, +and card-playing and to worship God twice a day in the service of the +Church of England. The watchword of the fleet, to be called out in fog +or darkness as a means of recognition was 'Before the World was God,' +and the answer shouted back across the darkness, 'After God came Christ +His Son.' At all convenient times and places, sermons were preached to +the company of the fleet by Frobisher's chaplain, Master Wolfall, a +godly man who had left behind in England a 'large living and a good +honest woman to wife and very towardly children,' in order to spread +the Gospel in the new land. Frobisher's personal bravery was of the +highest order. We read how in the rage of a storm he would venture +tasks from which even his boldest sailors shrank in fear. Once, when +his ship was thrown on her beam ends and the water poured into the +waist, the commander worked his way along {23} the lee side of the +vessel, engulfed in the roaring surges, to free the sheets. With these +qualities Martin Frobisher combined a singular humanity towards both +those whom he commanded and natives with whom he dealt. It is to be +regretted that a man of such high character and ability should have +spent his efforts on so vain a task. + +Although the gold mines of Meta Incognita had become discredited, it +was not long before hope began to revive in the hearts of the English +merchants. The new country produced at least valuable sealskins. +There was always the chance, too, that a lucky discovery of a Western +Passage might bring fabulous wealth to the merchant adventurers. It +thus happened that not many years elapsed before certain wealthy men of +London and the West Country, especially one Master William Sanderson, +backed by various gentlemen of the court, decided to make another +venture. They chose as their captain and chief pilot John Davis, who +had already acquired a reputation as a bold and skilful mariner. In +1585 Davis, in command of two little ships, the _Sunshine_ and the +_Moonshine_, set out from Dartmouth. The memory of this explorer will +always be associated with the great {24} strait or arm of the sea which +separates Greenland from the Arctic islands of Canada, and which bears +his name. To these waters, his three successive voyages were directed, +and he has the honour of being the first on the long roll of navigators +whose watchword has been 'Farther North,' and who have carried their +ships nearer and nearer to the pole. + +Davis started by way of the English Channel and lay storm-bound for +twelve days under the Scilly Islands, a circumstance which bears +witness to the imperfect means of navigation of the day and to the +courage of seamen. The ships once able to put to sea, the voyage was +rapid, and in twenty days Davis was off the south-west coast of +Greenland. All about the ships were fog and mist, and a great roaring +noise which the sailors thought must be the sea breaking on a beach. +They lay thus for a day, trying in vain for soundings and firing guns +in order to know the whereabouts of the ships. They lowered their +boats and found that the roaring noise came from the grinding of the +ice pack that lay all about them. Next day the fog cleared and +revealed the coast, which they said was the most deformed rocky and +mountainous land that ever they saw. This was Greenland. The +commander, {25} suiting a name to the miserable prospect before him, +called it the Land of Desolation. + +Davis spent nearly a fortnight on the coast. There was little in the +inhospitable country to encourage his exploration. Great cliffs were +seen glittering as with gold or crystal, but the ore was the same as +that which Frobisher had brought from Meta Incognita and the voyagers +had been warned. Of vegetation there was nothing but scant grass and +birch and willow growing like stunted shrubs close to the ground. +Eskimos were seen plying along the coast in their canoes of seal skin. +They called to the English sailors in a deep guttural speech, low in +the throat, of which nothing was intelligible. One of them pointed +upwards to the sun and beat upon his breast. By imitating this +gesture, which seemed a pledge of friendship, the sailors were able to +induce the natives to approach. They presently mingled freely with +Davis's company. The captain shook hands with all who came to him, and +there was a great show of friendliness on both sides. A brisk trade +began. The savages eagerly handed over their garments of sealskin and +fur, their darts, oars, and everything that they had, in return for +little trifles, even for pieces of paper. They seemed to the English +sailors a very tractable {26} people, void of craft and double dealing. +Seeing that the English were eager to obtain furs, they pointed to the +hills inland, as if to indicate that they should go and bring a large +supply. But Davis was anxious for further exploration, and would not +delay his ships. On August 1, the wind being fair, he put to sea, +directing his course to the north-west. In five days he reached the +land on the other side of Davis Strait. This was the shore of what is +now called Baffin Island, in latitude 66 deg. 40', and hence considerably +to the north of the strait which Frobisher had entered. At this season +the sea was clear of ice, and Davis anchored his ships under a great +cliff that glittered like gold. He called it Mount Raleigh, and the +sound which opened out beside it Exeter Sound. A large headland to the +south was named Cape Walsingham in honour of the queen's secretary. +Davis and his men went ashore under Mount Raleigh, where they saw four +white bears of 'a monstrous bigness,' three of which they killed with +their guns and boar-spears. There were low shrubs growing among the +cliffs and flowers like primroses. But the whole country as far as +they could see was without wood or grass. Nothing was in sight except +the open iceless sea to the east and on the land side {27} great +mountains of stone. Though the land offered nothing to their search, +the air was moderate and the weather singularly mild. The broad sheet +of open water, of the very colour of the ocean itself, buoyed up their +hopes of the discovery of the Western Passage. Davis turned his ships +to the south, coasting the shore. Here and there signs of man were +seen, a pile of stones fashioned into a rude wall and a human skull +lying upon the rock. The howling of wolves, as the sailors thought it, +was heard along the shore; but when two of these animals were killed +they were seen to be dogs like mastiffs with sharp ears and bushy +tails. A little farther on sleds were found, one made of wood and sawn +boards, the other of whalebone. Presently the coast-line was broken +into a network of barren islands with great sounds between. When Davis +sailed southward he reached and passed the strait that had been the +scene of Frobisher's adventures and, like Frobisher himself, also +passed by the opening of Hudson Strait. Davis was convinced that +somewhere on this route was the passage that he sought. But the winds +blew hard from the west, rendering it difficult to prosecute his +search. The short season was already closing in, and it was dangerous +to {28} linger. Reluctantly the ships were turned homeward, and, +though separated at sea, the _Sunshine_ and the _Moonshine_ arrived +safely at Dartmouth within two hours of each other. + +While this first expedition had met with no conspicuous material +success, Davis was yet able to make two other voyages to the same +region in the two following seasons. In his second voyage, that of +1586, he sailed along the edge of the continent from above the Arctic +Circle to the coast of Labrador, a distance of several hundred miles. +His search convinced him that if a passage existed at all it must lie +somewhere among the great sounds that opened into the coast, one of +which, of course, proved later on to be the entrance to Hudson Bay. +Moreover, Davis began to see that, owing to the great quantity of +whales in the northern waters, and the ease with which seal-skins and +furs could be bought from the natives, these ventures might be made a +source of profit whether the Western Passage was found or not. In his +second voyage alone he bought from the Eskimos five hundred sealskins. +The natives seem especially to have interested him, and he himself +wrote an account of his dealings with them. They were found to be +people of good stature, well proportioned in body, {29} with broad +faces and small eyes, wide mouths, for the most part unbearded, and +with great lips. They were, so Davis said, 'very simple in their +conversation, but marvellous thievish.' They made off with a boat that +lay astern of the _Moonshine_, cut off pieces from clothes that were +spread out to dry, and stole oars, spears, swords, and indeed anything +within their reach. Articles made of iron seemed to offer an +irresistible temptation: in spite of all pledges of friendship and of +the lifting up of hands towards the sun which the Eskimos renewed every +morning, they no sooner saw iron than they must perforce seize upon it. +To stop their pilfering, Davis was compelled to fire off a cannon among +them, whereat the savages made off in wild terror. But in a few hours +they came flocking back again, holding up their hands to the sun and +begging to be friends. 'When I perceived this,' said Davis, 'it did +but minister unto me an occasion of laughter to see their simplicity +and I willed that in no case should they be any more hardly used, but +that our own company should be more vigilant to keep their things, +supposing it to be very hard in so short a time to make them know their +own evils.' + +The natives ate all their meat raw, lived {30} mostly on fish and 'ate +grass and ice with delight.' They were rarely out of the water, but +lived in the nature of fishes except when 'dead sleep took them,' and +they lay down exhausted in a warm hollow of the rocks. Davis found +among them copper ore and black and red copper. But Frobisher's +experience seems to have made him loath to hunt for mineral treasure. + +On his last voyage (1587) Davis made a desperate attempt to find the +desired passage by striking boldly towards the Far North. He skirted +the west shore of Greenland and with favourable winds ran as far north +as 72 deg. 12', thus coming into the great sheet of polar water now called +Baffin Bay. This was at the end of the month of June. In these +regions there was perpetual day, the sun sweeping in a great circle +about the heavens and standing five degrees above the horizon even at +midnight. To the northward and westward, as far as could be seen, +there was nothing but open sea. Davis thought himself almost in sight +of the goal. Then the wind turned and blew fiercely out of the north. +Unable to advance, Davis drove westward across the path of the gale. +At forty leagues from Greenland, he came upon a sheet of ice that +forced him to turn back {31} towards the south. 'There was no ice +towards the north,' he wrote, in relating his experience, 'but a great +sea, free, large, very salt and blue and of an unsearchable depth. It +seemed most manifest that the passage was free and without impediment +towards the north.' + +When Davis returned home, he was still eager to try again. But the +situation was changed. Walsingham, who had encouraged his enterprise, +was dead, and the whole energy of the nation was absorbed in the great +struggle with Spain. Davis sailed no more to the northern seas. With +each succeeding decade it became clear that the hopes aroused by the +New World lay not in finding a passage by the ice-blocked sounds of the +north, but in occupying the vast continent of America itself. Many +voyages were indeed attempted before the hope of a northern passage to +the Indies was laid aside. Weymouth, Knight, and others followed in +the track of Frobisher and Davis. But nothing new was found. The +sea-faring spirit and the restless adventure which characterized the +Elizabethan period outlived the great queen. The famous voyage of +Henry Hudson in 1610 revealed the existence of the great inland sea +which bears his name. {32} Hudson, already famous as an explorer and +for his discovery of the Hudson river, was sent out by Sir John +Wolstenholme and Sir Dudley Digges to find the North-West Passage. The +story of his passage of the strait, his discovery of the great bay, the +mutiny of his men and his tragic and mysterious fate forms one of the +most thrilling narratives in the history of exploration. But it +belongs rather to the romantic story of the great company whose +corporate title recalls his name and memory, than to the present +narrative. + +After Hudson came the exploits of Bylot, one of his pilots, and a +survivor of the tragedy, and of William Baffin, who tried to follow +Davis's lead in searching for the Western Passage in the very confines +of the polar sea. Finally there came (1631) the voyage of Captain Luke +Fox, who traversed the whole western coast of Hudson Bay and proved +that from the main body of its waters there was no outlet to the +Pacific. The hope of a North-West Passage in the form of a wide and +glittering sea, an easy passage to Asia, was dead. Other causes were +added to divert attention from the northern waters. The definite +foundation of the colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts Bay opened the +path to new {33} hopes and even wider ambitions of Empire. Then, as +the seventeenth century moved on its course, the shadow of civil strife +fell dark over England. The fierce struggle of the Great Rebellion +ended for a time all adventure overseas. When it had passed, the days +of bold sea-farers gazing westward from the decks of their little +caravels over the glittering ice of the Arctic for a pathway to the +Orient were gone, and the first period of northern adventure had come +to an end. + + + + +{34} + +CHAPTER II + +HEARNE'S OVERLAND JOURNEY TO THE NORTHERN OCEAN + +In course of time the inaccurate knowledge and vague hopes of the early +navigators were exchanged for more definite ideas in regard to the +American continent. The progress of discovery along the Pacific side +of the continent and the occupation by the Spaniards of the coast of +California led to a truer conception of the immense breadth of North +America. Voyages across the Pacific to the Philippines revealed the +great distance to be traversed in order to reach the Orient by the +western route. At the same time the voyages of Captain Fox and his +contemporary Captain James had proved Hudson Bay to be an enclosed sea. +In consequence, for about a century no further attempt was made to find +a North-West Passage. + +In the meantime the English came into connection with the Far North in +a different way. {35} The early explorers had brought home the news of +the extraordinary wealth of America in fur-bearing animals. Soon the +fur trade became the most important feature of the settlements on the +American coast, and from both New England and New France enormous +quantities of furs were exported to Europe. This commerce was with the +Indians, and everything depended upon a ready and convenient access to +the interior. Thus it came about that when the peculiar configuration +of Hudson Bay was known to combine an access to the remotest parts of +the continent with a short sea passage to Europe, its shores naturally +offered themselves as the proper scene of the trade in furs. The great +rivers that flowed into the bay--the Severn, the Nelson, the Albany, +the Rupert--offered a connection in all directions with the dense +forests and the broad plains of the interior. + +The two competing nations both found their way to the great bay, the +English by sea through Hudson Strait, the French overland by the +portage way from the upper valley of the Ottawa. So it happened that +there was established by royal charter in 1670 that notable body whose +corporate title is 'The Governor and Company of Adventurers of {36} +England, trading into Hudson's Bay.' The company was founded primarily +to engage in the fur trade. But it was also pledged by its charter to +promote geographical discovery, and both the honour of its sovereign +rights and the promptings of its own commercial interest induced it to +expand its territory of operations to the greatest possible degree. +During its early years, necessity compelled it to cling to the coast. +Its operations were confined to forts at the mouth of the Nelson, the +Churchill, and other rivers to which the Indian traders annually +descended with their loads of furs. Moreover, the hostility of the +French, who had founded the rival Company of the North, cramped the +activities of the English adventurers. During the wars of King William +and Queen Anne, the territory of the bay became the scene of armed +conflict. Expeditions were sent overland from Canada against the +English company. The little forts were taken and retaken, and the +echoes of the European struggle that was fought at Blenheim and at +Malplaquet woke the stillness of the northern woods of America. But +after the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, the whole country of the Bay was +left to the English. + +The Hudson's Bay Company were, therefore, {37} enabled to expand their +operations. By establishing forts farther and farther in the interior +they endeavoured to come into more direct relation with the sources of +their supply. They were thus early led to surmise the great potential +wealth of the vast region that lay beyond their forts, and to become +jealous of their title thereto. Their aversion to making public the +knowledge of their territory lent to their operations an air of mystery +and secrecy, and their enemies accused them of being hostile to the +promotion of discovery. For their own purposes, however, the company +were willing to have their territory explored as the necessities of +their expanding commerce demanded. As early as the close of the +seventeenth century (1691) a certain Henry Kelsey, in the service of +the company, had made his way from York Fort to the plains of the +Saskatchewan. After the Treaty of Utrecht had brought peace and a +clear title to the basin of the bay, the company endeavoured to obtain +more accurate knowledge of their territory and resources. + +It had long been rumoured that valuable mines of copper lay in the Far +North. The early explorers spoke of the Eskimos as having copper ore. +Indians who came from the north-west to trade at Fort Churchill +reported the {38} existence of a great mountain of copper beside a +river that flowed north into the sea; in proof of this, they exhibited +ornaments and weapons rudely fashioned from the metal. It is probable +that attempts were made quite early in the century by the servants of +the company to reach this 'Coppermine River' by advancing into the +interior. But more serious attempts were made by sea voyages along the +western shore of the bay. Such an expedition was sent out from England +under Governor Knight of the Hudson's Bay Company, and Captains Barlow +and Vaughan. In 1719 their two ships, the _Albany_ and the +_Discovery_, sailed from England, and were never seen again. Not until +half a century later was the story of their shipwreck on Marble Island +in the north of Hudson Bay and the protracted fate of the survivors +learned from savages who had been witnesses of the grim tragedy. Other +expeditions were sent northward from time to time, but without success +either in finding copper or in finding a passage westward through the +Arctic, which always remained at least an ostensible object of the +search. + +It so happened that in 1768 the Northern Indians brought down to +Churchill such striking specimens of copper ore that the interest of +the {39} governor, Moses Norton, was aroused to the highest point. A +man of determined character, he took ship straightway to England and +obtained from the directors of the company permission to send an +expedition through the interior from Fort Churchill to the Coppermine +river. The accomplishment of this task he entrusted to one Samuel +Hearne, whose overland journey, successfully carried out in the years +1769 to 1772, was to prove one of the great landmarks in the +exploration of the Far North. + +Hearne, a youth of twenty-four years, had been trained in a rugged +school. He had gone to sea at the age of eleven and at this tender age +had taken part in his first sea-fight. He served as a naval midshipman +during the Seven Years' War. At its conclusion he became a mate on one +of the ships of the Hudson's Bay Company, in which position his +industry and ingenuity distinguished him among his associates. For +some years Hearne was employed in the fur trade north of the Churchill, +and gained a thorough knowledge of the coast of the bay. For the +expedition inland Norton needed especially a man able to record with +scientific accuracy the exact positions which he reached. Norton's +choice fell upon Hearne. + +The young man was instructed to make his {40} way to the Athabaska +country and thence to find if he could the river of the north whence +the copper came, and to trace the river to the sea. He was to note the +position of any mines, to prepare the way for trade with the Indians, +and to find out from travel or enquiry whether there was a water +passage through the continent. Two white men (a sailor and a landsman) +were sent in Hearne's service. He had as guides an Indian chief, +Chawchinahaw, with a small band of his followers. On November 6, 1769, +the little party set out, honoured by a salute of seven guns from the +huge fortress of Fort Prince of Wales, the massive ruins of which still +stand as one of the strangest monuments of the continent. + +The country which the explorer was to traverse in this and his +succeeding journeys may be ranked among the most inhospitable regions +of the earth. The northern limit of the great American forest runs +roughly in a line north-westward from Churchill to the mouth of the +Mackenzie river. East and north of this line is the country of the +barren grounds, for the most part a desolate waste of rock. It is +broken by precipitous watercourses and wide lakes, and has no +vegetation except the mosses and grasses which support great wandering +{41} herds of caribou. A few spruce trees and hardy shrubs struggle +northward from the limits of the great woods. Even these die out in +the bitter climate, and then the explorer sees about him nothing but +the wide waste of barren rock and running water or in winter the +endless mantle of the northern snow. + +It is not strange that Hearne's first attempt met with complete +failure. His Indian companions had, indeed, no intention of guiding +him to the Athabaska country. They deliberately kept to the north of +the woods, along the edge of the barren grounds, where Hearne and his +companions were exposed to the intense cold which set in a few days +after their departure. When they camped at night only a few poor +shrubs could be gathered to make a fire, and the travellers were +compelled to scoop out holes in the snow to shelter their freezing +bodies against the bitter blast. The Indians, determined to prevent +the white men from reaching their goal, provided very little game. +Hearne and his two servants were reduced to a ration of half a +partridge a day for each man. Each day the Indian chief descanted at +length upon the horrors of cold and famine that still lay before them. +Each day, with the obstinate pluck of his race, Hearne struggled on. +Thus {42} for nearly two hundred miles they made their way out into the +snow-covered wilderness. At length a number of the Indians, determined +to end the matter, made off in the night, carrying with them a good +part of the supplies. The next day Chawchinahaw himself announced that +further progress was impossible. He and his braves made off to the +west, inviting Hearne with mocking laughter to get home as best he +might. The three white men with a few Indians, not of Chawchinahaw's +band, struggled back through the snow to Fort Prince of Wales. The +whole expedition had lasted five weeks. + +In spite of this failure, neither Governor Norton nor Hearne himself +was discouraged. In less than three months (on February 23, 1770) +Hearne was off again for the north. Convinced that white men were of +no use to him, he had the hardihood to set out accompanied only by +Indians, three from the northern country and three belonging to what +were called at Churchill the Home Guard, or Southern Indians. There +was no salute from the fort this time, for the cannon on its ramparts +were buried deep in snow. + +[Illustration: Samuel Hearne. From an engraving in the Dominion +Archives.] + +Hearne's second expedition, though more protracted than the first, was +doomed also to failure. The little party followed on the former {43} +trail along the Seal river, and thence, with the first signs of opening +spring, struck northwards over the barren grounds. Leaving the woods +entirely behind, Hearne found himself in the broken and desolate +country between Fort Churchill and the three or four great rivers, +still almost unknown, that flow into the head-waters of Chesterfield +Inlet. In the beginning of June, as the snow began to melt, progress +grew more and more difficult. Snowshoes became a useless encumbrance, +and on the 10th of the month even the sledges were abandoned. Every +man must now shoulder a heavy load. Hearne himself staggered under a +pack which included a bag of clothes, a box of papers, a hatchet and +other tools, and the clumsy weight of his quadrant and its stand. This +article was too precious to be entrusted to the Indians, for by it +alone could the position of the explorers be recorded. The party was +miserably equipped. Unable to carry poles with them into a woodless +region, they found their one wretched tent of no service and were +compelled to lie shelterless with alternations of bitter cold and +drenching rain. For food they had to depend on such fish and game as +could be found. In most cases it was eaten raw, as they had nothing +with which to make a fire. {44} Worse still, for days together, food +failed them. Hearne relates that for four days at the end of June he +tramped northward, making twenty miles a day with no other sustenance +than water and such support as might be drawn from an occasional pipe +of tobacco. Intermittent starvation so enfeebled his digestion that +the eating of food when found caused severe pain. Once for seven days +the party had no other food than a few wild berries, some old leather, +and some burnt bones. On such occasions as this, Hearne tells us, his +Indians would examine their wardrobe to see what part could be best +spared and stay their hunger with a piece of rotten deer skin or a pair +of worn-out moccasins. As they made their way northward, the party +occasionally crossed small rivers running north and east, but of so +little depth that they were able to ford them. Presently, however, one +great river proved too deep to cross on foot. It ran north-east. +Hearne's Indians called it the Cathawachaga, and the Canadian explorer +Tyrrell identifies it with the river now called the Kazan. Here the +party fell in with a band of Indians who carried them across the river +in their canoes. On the northern side of the Cathawachaga, Hearne and +his men rested for a week, finding {45} a few deer and catching fish. +As the guides now said that in the country beyond there were other +large rivers, Hearne bought a canoe from one of the Indians, and gave +in exchange for it a knife which had cost a penny in England. + +In July the travellers moved on north-westward with better fortune. +Deer became plentiful. Bands of roving Indian hunters now attached +themselves to the exploring party. Hearne's guide declared that it +would be impossible to reach the Coppermine that season, and that they +must spend a winter in the Indian country. The truth was that Hearne's +followers had no intention of going farther to the north, but preferred +to keep company with the bands of hunters. It was useless for Hearne +to protest. He and his Indians drifted along to the west with the +hunting parties, now so numerous that by the end of July about seventy +deer-skin tents were pitched so as to form a little village. There +were about six hundred persons in the party. Each morning as they +broke camp and set out on the march 'the whole ground for a large space +around,' wrote Hearne, 'seemed to be alive with men, women, children, +and dogs.' + +The country through which Hearne travelled, or wandered, in this +mid-summer of 1770, {46} between the rivers Kazan and Dubawnt, was +barren indeed. There were no trees and no vegetation except moss and +the plant called by the Indians wish-a-capucca--the 'Labrador tea' that +is found everywhere in the swamps of the northern forests. Animal life +was, however, abundant. The caribou roaming the barren grounds in the +summer, to graze on the moss, were numerous. There was ample food for +all the party, and the animals were, indeed, slaughtered recklessly, +merely for the skins and the more delicate morsels of the flesh. + +The Dubawnt river midway in its course expands into Dubawnt Lake, a +great sheet of water some sixty-five miles long and forty miles broad. +It lies in the same latitude as the south of Greenland. No more +desolate scene can be imagined than the picture revealed by modern +photographs of the country. The low shores of the lake offer an +endless prospect of barren rock and broken stone. In the century and a +half that have elapsed since Hearne's journey, only one or two intrepid +explorers have made their way through this region. It still lies and +probably will lie for centuries unreclaimed and unreclaimable for the +uses of civilization. + +Hearne and his Indian hunters moved {47} westward and southward, +passing in a circle round the west shore of Lake Dubawnt, though at a +distance of some miles from it. The luckless travellers had now but +little chance of reaching the object of their search. They were +hundreds of miles away even from the head waters of the Coppermine. +The season was already late: the Indian guides were quite unmanageable, +while the natives whom Hearne met clamoured greedily for European +wares, ammunition and medicine, and cried out in disgust at his +inability to supply their wants. + +Then came an accident, fortunate perhaps, that compelled Hearne to +abandon his enterprise. While he was taking his noon observations, +which showed him to be in latitude 63 deg. 10' north, he left his quadrant +standing and sat down on the rocks to eat his dinner. A sudden gust of +wind dashed the delicate instrument to the ground, where it lay in +fragments. This capped the climax. Unable any longer to ascertain his +exact whereabouts, with no trustworthy guidance and no prospect of +winter supplies or equipment, Hearne turned back towards the south. +This was on August 12, after a journey of nearly six months into the +unknown north. + +The return occupied three months and a {48} half. They were filled +with hardship. On the very first day of the long march, a band of +Indians from the north, finding Hearne defenceless, plundered him of +wellnigh all he had. 'Nothing can exceed,' wrote Hearne, 'the cool +deliberation of the villains. A committee of them entered my tent. +The ringleader seated himself on my left hand. They first begged me to +lend them my skipertogan[1] to fill a pipe of tobacco. After smoking +two or three pipes, they asked me for several articles which I had not, +and among others for a pack of cards; but, on my answering that I had +not any of the articles they mentioned, one of them put his hand on my +baggage and asked if it was mine. Before I could answer in the +affirmative, he and the rest of his companions (six in number) had all +my treasure spread on the ground. One took one thing and one another, +till at last nothing was left but the empty bag, which they permitted +me to keep.' At Hearne's urgent request, a few necessary articles were +restored to him. From his Indian guides also the marauders took all +they had except their guns, a little ammunition, and a few tools. + +Thus miserably equipped, Hearne and his {49} followers set out for +home. Their only tent consisted of a blanket thrown over three long +sticks. They had no winter clothing, neither snow-shoes nor sleds, and +their food was such as could be found by the way. The month of +September was unusually severe, and when the winter set in, the party +suffered intensely from the cold, while the want of snow-shoes made +their march increasingly difficult. The marvel is that Hearne ever +reached the fort at all. He would not have done so very probably had +it not been his fortune to fall in with an Indian chief named +Matonabbee, a man of strange and exceptional character, to whom he owed +not only his return to Fort Prince of Wales, but his subsequent +successful journey to the Coppermine. + +This Indian chief, when he fell in with Hearne (September 20, 1770), +was crossing the barren grounds on his way to the fort with furs. As a +young man, Matonabbee had resided for years among the English. He had +some knowledge of the language, and was able to understand that a +certain merit would attach to the rescue of Hearne from his +predicament. Moreover, the chief had himself been to the Coppermine +river, and it was partly owing to his account of it that Governor {50} +Norton had sent Hearne into the barren grounds. + +[Illustration: Fort Churchill or Prince of Wales. Drawn by Samuel +Hearne.] + +Matonabbee hastened to relieve the young explorer's sufferings. He +provided him with warm deer-skins and, from his ample supplies, +prepared a great feast for the good cheer of his new acquaintance. An +orgy of eating followed, dear to the Indian heart, and after this, +without fire-water to drink, the Indians sang and danced about the +fires of the bivouac. Matonabbee and Hearne travelled together for +several days towards the fort, making only about twelve miles a day. +The Indian then directed Hearne to go eastward to a little river where +wood enough could be found for snow-shoes and sledges, while he himself +went forward at such a slow pace as to allow Hearne and his party to +overtake him. This was done and Hearne, now better equipped, rejoined +Matonabbee, after which they continued together for a fortnight, making +good progress over the snow. As they drew near the fort their +ammunition was almost spent and the game had almost disappeared. By +Matonabbee's advice, Hearne, accompanied by four Indians, left the main +party in order to hasten ahead as rapidly as possible. The daylight +was now exceedingly short, but the moon and the aurora borealis {51} +illuminated the brilliant waste of snow. The weather was intensely +cold. One of Hearne's dogs was frozen to death. But in spite of +hardship the advance party reached Fort Prince of Wales safe and sound +on November 25, 1770. Matonabbee arrived a few days later. + +Strange as it may seem, Hearne was off again in less than a fortnight +on his third quest of the Coppermine. The time that he had spent in +Matonabbee's company had given him a great opinion of the character of +the chief; 'the most sociable, kind, and sensible Indian I have ever +met'--so Hearne described him. The chief himself had offered to lead +Hearne to the great river of the north. Governor Norton willingly +furnished ammunition, supplies, and a few trading goods. The +expedition started in the depth of winter. But this time, with better +information to guide them, the travellers made no attempt to strike +directly northward. Instead, they moved towards the west so as to +cross the lower reaches of the barren grounds as soon as possible and +proceed northward by way of the basin of the Great Slave Lake, where +they would find a wooded country reaching far to the north. A glance +at the map will show the immensity of the task before them. The +distance from Fort Churchill {52} to the Slave Lake, even as the crow +flies, is some seven hundred miles, and from thence to the Arctic sea +four hundred and fifty, and the actual journey is longer by reason of +the sinuous course which the explorer must of necessity pursue. The +whole of this vast country was as yet unknown: no white man had looked +upon the Mackenzie river nor upon the vast lakes from which it flows. +It speaks well for the quiet intrepidity of Hearne that he was ready +alone to penetrate the trackless waste of an unknown country, among a +band of savages and amid the rigour of the northern winter. + +The journey opened gloomily enough. The month of December was spent in +toiling painfully over the barren grounds. The sledges were +insufficient, and Hearne as well as his companions had to trudge under +the burden of a heavy load. At best some sixteen or eighteen miles +could be traversed in the short northern day. Intense cold set in. +Game seemed to have vanished, and Christmas found the party plodding +wearily onward, foodless, moving farther each day from the little +outpost of civilization that lay behind them on the bleak shores of +Hudson Bay. + + +I must confess [wrote Hearne in his {53} journal] that I never spent so +dull a Christmas; and when I recollected the merry season which was +then passing, and reflected on the immense quantities and great variety +of delicacies which were then expending in every part of Christendom, I +could not refrain from wishing myself again in Europe, if it had only +been to have had an opportunity of alleviating the extreme hunger that +I suffered with the refuse of the table of one of my acquaintances. + + +At the end of the month (December 1770), they reached the woods, a +thick growth of stunted pine and poplar with willow bushes growing in +the frozen swamps. Here they joined a large party of Matonabbee's +band, for the most part women and children. The women were by no means +considered by the chief as a hindrance to the expedition. Indeed, he +attributed Hearne's previous failure to their absence. 'Women,' he +once told his English friend, 'were made for labour; one of them can +carry or haul as much as two men can do; they pitch our tents, make and +mend our clothing, and in fact there is no such thing as travelling in +this country for any length of {54} time without their assistance. +Women,' he added, 'though they do everything are maintained at a +trifling expense; for as they always stand cook, the very licking of +their fingers in scarce times is sufficient for their subsistence.' +Acting on these salutary opinions, the chief was a man of eight wives, +and Hearne was shocked later on to find the Indian willing to add to +his little flock by force without the slightest compunction. + +The two opening months of the year 1771 were spent in travelling +westward towards Wholdaia Lake. The country was wooded, though here +and there, the observer, standing on the higher levels, could see the +barren grounds to the northward. The cold was intense, especially when +a frozen lake or river exposed the travellers to the full force of the +wind. But game was plentiful. At intervals the party halted and +killed caribou in such quantities that three and four days were +sometimes spent in camp in a vain attempt to eat the spoils of the +chase. The Indians, Hearne remarked, slaughtered the game recklessly, +with no thought of the morrow. + +Wholdaia Lake was reached on March 2. This is a long sheet of water +lying some thirty miles north of the parallel of sixty degrees. At +{55} the point where Hearne crossed it on the ice, it was twenty-seven +miles broad; its length appears to be four or five times as great. It +is still almost unknown, for it lies far beyond the confines of present +settlement and has been seen only by explorers. + +From Wholdaia Lake the course was continued westward. The weather was +moderate. There was abundant game, the skies overhead were bright, and +the journey assumed a more agreeable aspect. Here and there bands of +roving Indians were seen, as also were encampments of hunters engaged +in snaring deer in the forest. In the middle of April, the party +rested for ten days in camp beside a little lake which marked the +westward limit of their march. From here on, the course was to lie +northward again. The Indians were therefore employed in gathering +staves and birch-bark to be used for tent poles and canoes when the +party should again reach the barren grounds on their northern route. + +The opening of May found the party at Lake Clowey, whose waters run +westward to the Great Slave Lake. Here they again halted, and the +Indians built birch-bark canoes out of the material they had carried +from the woods. In traversing the barren grounds, where both the {56} +direction and the nature of the rivers render them almost useless for +navigation, the canoe plays a part different from that which is +familiar throughout the rest of Canada. During the greater part of the +journey, often for a stretch of a hundred miles at a time, the canoe is +absolutely useless, or worse, since it must be carried. Here and +there, however, for the crossing of the larger rivers, it is +indispensable. Large numbers of Indians were assembling at Clowey Lake +during Hearne's stay there, and were likewise engaged in building +canoes. A considerable body of them, hearing that Matonabbee and his +band were on the way to the Coppermine, eagerly agreed to travel with +them. It seemed to them an excellent opportunity for making a combined +attack on their hereditary enemy, the Eskimos at the mouth of the +river. The savages thereupon set themselves to make wooden shields +about three feet long with which to ward off the arrows of the Eskimos. + +On May 20, a new start was made to the north. Matonabbee and his great +company of armed Indians now assumed the appearance of a war party, and +hurried eagerly towards the enemy's country. Two days after leaving +Lake Clowey, they passed out of the woods on {57} to the barren +grounds. To facilitate their movements most of the women were +presently left behind together with the children and dogs. A number of +the braves, weary already of the prospect of the long march, turned +back, but Matonabbee, Hearne, and about one hundred and fifty Indians +held on with all speed towards the north. Their path as traced on a +modern map runs by way of Clinton-Colden and Aylmer lakes and thence +northward to the mouth of the Coppermine. By the latter part of June +the ice was breaking up, and on the 22nd the party made use of their +canoes (which had been carried for over a month) in order to cross a +great river rejoicing in the ponderous name of the Congecathawachaga. +On the farther side, they met a number of Copper Indians who were +delighted to learn of Matonabbee's hostile design against the Eskimos. +They eagerly joined the party, celebrating their accession by a great +feast. + +The Copper Indians expressed their pleasure at learning from Hearne +that the great king their father proposed to send ships to visit them +by the northern sea. They had never seen a white man before and +examined Hearne with great curiosity, disapproving strongly of the +colour of his skin and comparing his hair to a stained buffalo tail. + +{58} + +The whole party moved on together. The weather was bad, with +alternating sleet and rain, and the path broken and difficult. July 4 +found them at the Stony Mountains, a rugged and barren set of hills +that seemed from a distance like a pile of broken stones. Nine days +more of arduous travel brought the warriors in sight of their goal. +From the elevation of the low hills that rose above its banks, Hearne +was able to look upon the foaming waters of the Coppermine, as it +plunged over the broken stones of its bed in a series of cascades. A +few trees, or rather a few burnt stumps, fringed the banks, but the +trees which here and there remained unburned were so crooked and +dwarfish as merely to heighten the desolation of the scene. + +Immediately on their arrival at the Coppermine, Matonabbee and his +Indians began to make their preparations for an attack upon the +Eskimos, who were known to frequent the mouth of the river. Spies were +sent out in advance towards the sea, and the remainder of the Indians +showed an unwonted and ominous energy in building fires and roasting +meat so that they might carry with them a supply so large as to make it +unnecessary to alarm the Eskimos by the sound of the guns of the +hunters {59} in search of food. Hearne occupied himself with surveying +the river. He was sick at heart at the scene of bloodshed which he +anticipated, but was powerless to dissuade his companions from their +design. Two days later (July 15, 1771), the spies brought back word +that a camp of Eskimos, five tents in all, had been seen on the further +side of the river. It was distant about twelve miles and favourably +situated for a surprise. Matonabbee and his braves were now filled +with the fierce eagerness of the savage; they crossed hurriedly to the +west side of the river, where each Indian painted the shield that he +carried with rude daubs of red and black, to imitate the spirits of the +earth and air on whom he relied for aid in the coming fight. +Noiselessly the Indians proceeded along the banks of the river, +trailing in a serpentine course among the rocks so as to avoid being +seen upon the higher ground. They seemed to Hearne to have been +suddenly transformed from an undisciplined rabble into a united band. +Northern and Copper Indians alike were animated by a single purpose and +readily shared with one another the weapons of their common stock. The +advance was made in the middle of the night, but at this season of the +year the whole {60} scene was brilliant with the light of the midnight +sun. The Indians stole to within two hundred yards of the place +indicated by the guides. From their ambush among the rocks they could +look out upon the tents of their sleeping victims. The camp of the +Eskimos stood on a broad ledge of rock at the spot where the +Coppermine, narrowed between lofty walls of red sandstone, roars +foaming over a cataract some three hundred yards in extent. + +The Indians, sure of their prey, paused a few moments to make final +preparations for the onslaught. They cast aside their outer garments, +bound back their hair from their eyes, and hurriedly painted their +foreheads and faces with a hideous coating of red and black. Then with +weapons in hand they rushed forth upon their sleeping foe. + +Hearne, unable to leave the spot, was compelled to witness in all its +details the awful slaughter which followed. + + +In a few seconds [he wrote in his journal] the horrible scene +commenced; it was shocking beyond description; the poor unhappy victims +were surprised in the midst of their sleep, and had neither time nor +power to make any resistance; men, {61} women, and children, in all +upwards of twenty, ran out of their tents stark naked, and endeavoured +to make their escape; but the Indians, having possession of all the +land-side, to no place could they fly for shelter. One alternative +only remained, that of jumping into the river; but, as none of them +attempted it, they all fell a sacrifice to Indian barbarity. The +shrieks and groans of the poor expiring wretches were truly dreadful. + + +But it is needless to linger on the details of the massacre, which +Hearne was thus compelled to witness, and the revolting mutilation of +the corpses which followed it. To Matonabbee and the other Indians the +whole occurrence was viewed as a proper incident of tribal war, and the +feeble protests which Hearne contrived to make only drew down upon him +the expression of their contempt. + +After the massacre followed plunder. The Indians tore down the tents +of the Eskimos and with reckless folly threw tents, tent poles, and +great quantities of food into the waters of the cataract. Having made +a feast of fresh fish on the ruins of the camp, they then announced to +Hearne that they were ready to assist him in {62} going on to the mouth +of the river. The desolate scene was left behind--the broad rock +strewn with mangled bodies of the dead and the broken remnants of their +poor belongings. Half a century later the explorer Franklin visited +the spot and saw the skulls and bones of the Eskimos still lying about. +One of Franklin's Indians, then an aged man, had been a witness of the +scene. + +From the hills beside the Bloody Falls, as the cataract is called, the +eye could discern at a distance of some eight miles the open water of +the Arctic and the glitter of the ice beyond. Hearne followed the +river along its precipitous and broken course till he stood upon the +shore of the sea. One may imagine with what emotion he looked out upon +that northern ocean to reach which he had braved the terrors of the +Arctic winter and the famine of the barren grounds. He saw before him +about three-quarters of a mile of open sea, studded with rocks and +little islands: beyond that the clear white of the ice-pack stretched +to the farthest horizon. Hearne viewed this scene in the bright +sunlight of the northern day: but while he still lingered, thick fog +and drizzling rain rolled in from the sea and shut out the view. For +the sake of form, as he said, he {63} erected a pile of stones and took +possession of the coast in the name of the Hudson's Bay Company. Then, +filled with the bitterness of a vain quest, Hearne turned his face +towards the south to commence his long march to the settlements. + +Up to this point nothing had been seen of the supposed mountains of +copper which formed the principal goal of Hearne's undertaking. The +eagerness of the Indians had led them to hasten directly to the camp of +the Eskimos regardless of all else. But on the second day of the +journey home, the guides led Hearne to the site of this northern +Eldorado. It lay among the hills beside the Coppermine river at a spot +thirty miles from the sea, and almost directly south of the mouth of +the river. The prospect was strange. Some mighty force, as of an +earthquake, seemed to have rent asunder the solid rock and strewn it in +a confused and broken heap of boulders. Through these a rivulet ran to +join the Coppermine. Here, said the Indians, was copper so great in +quantity that it could be gathered as easily as one might gather stones +at Churchill. Filled with a new eagerness, Hearne and his companions +searched for four hours among the rocks. Here and there a few +splinters of native {64} copper were seen. One piece alone, weighing +some four pounds, offered a slight reward for their quest. This Hearne +carried away with him, convinced now that the mountain of copper and +the inexhaustible wealth of the district were mere fictions created by +the cupidity of the savages or by the natural mystery surrounding a +region so grim and inaccessible as the rocky gorge by which the +Coppermine rushes to the cold seas of the north. + +After Hearne's visit no explorer reached the lower waters of the +Coppermine till Captain (afterwards Sir John) Franklin made his +memorable and marvellous overland journey of 1821. Since Franklin's +time the region has been crossed only two or three times by explorers. +They agree in stating that loose copper and copper ore are freely +found. But it does not seem that, since 1771, any white man has ever +looked upon the valley of the great boulders which the Indians +described to Hearne as containing a fabulous wealth of copper. The +solitary piece of metal which he brought home is still preserved by the +Hudson's Bay Company. + +There is no need to follow in detail the long journey which Hearne had +to take in order to {65} return to the fort. The march lasted nearly a +year, during which he was exposed to the same hardship, famine and +danger as on his way to the sea. The route followed on the return was +different. The party ascended the valley of the Coppermine as far as +Point Lake, a considerable body of water visited later by Franklin, and +distant one hundred and sixty miles from the sea. This was reached on +September 3, 1771. Four months were spent in travelling almost +directly south. They passed over a rugged country of stone and marsh, +buried deep in snow, with here and there a clump of stunted pine or +straggling willow. Bitter weather with great gales and deep snow set +in in October. Snow-shoes and sledges were made. Many small lakes and +rivers, now fast frozen, were traversed, but the whole country is still +so little known that Hearne's path can hardly be traced with certainty. +By the middle of November the clumps of trees thickened into the +northern edge of the great forest. The way now became easier. They +had better shelter from the wind, and firewood was abundant. For food +the party carried dried meat from Point Lake, and as they passed into +the thicker woods they were fortunate enough to find a few rabbits and +wood partridges. {66} Some fish were caught through the ice of the +river. But in nearly two months of walking only two deer were seen. + +On Christmas Eve Hearne found himself on the shores of a great frozen +lake, so vast that, as the Indians rightly informed him, it reached +three hundred miles east and west. This is the Great Slave Lake; +Hearne speaks of it as Athaspuscow Lake. The latter name is the same +as that now given to another lake (Athabaska of Canadian maps)--the +word being descriptive and meaning the lake with the beds of reeds. + +Hearne and his party crossed the great lake on the ice. A new prospect +now opened. Deer and beaver were plentiful among the islands. Great +quantities of fine fish abounded in the waters under the ice. As they +reached the southern shore, the jumble of rocks and hills and stunted +trees of the barren north was left behind, and the travellers entered a +fine level country, over which wandered great herds of buffalo and +moose. For about forty miles they ascended the course of the Athabaska +river, finding themselves among splendid woods with tall pines and +poplars such as Hearne had never seen. From the Athabaska they struck +eastward, plunging into so dense a forest that {67} at times the axes +had to be used to clear the way. For two months (January and February +of 1772) they made their way through the northern forest. The month of +March found them clear of the level country of the Athabaska and +entering upon the hilly and broken region which formed the territory of +the Northern Indians. At the end of March the first thaws began, +rendering walking difficult in the bush. In traversing the open lakes +and plains they were frequently exposed to the violent gales of the +equinoctial season. By the middle of April the signs of spring were +apparent. Flocks of waterfowl were seen overhead, flying to the north. +Their course was shaped directly to the east, so that the party were +presently traversing the same route as on their outward journey and +making towards Wholdaia Lake. The month of May opened with fine +weather and great thaws. Such intense heat was experienced in the +first week of this month that for some days a march of twelve miles a +day was all that the travellers could accomplish. Canoes were now +built for the passage of the lakes and rivers. By May 25 the +expedition was clear of all the woods and out on the barren grounds. +They passed the Cathawachaga river, still covered with ice, {68} on the +last day of May. A month of travel over the barren grounds brought +them on the last day of June 1772 to the desolate but welcome +surroundings of Fort Prince of Wales. Hearne had been absent on his +last journey one year, six months, and twenty-three days. From his +first journey into the wilderness until his final return, there had +elapsed two years, seven months, and twenty-four days. + +Hearne was not left without honour. The Hudson's Bay Company retained +him in their service at various factories, and three years after his +famous expedition they made him governor of Fort Prince of Wales. +During his service there he had the melancholy celebrity of +surrendering the great fort (unfortunately left without men enough to +defend it) to a French fleet under Admiral La Perouse. Among the +spoils of the captors was Hearne's manuscript journal, which the +generous victors returned on the sole condition that it should be +published as soon as possible. Hearne returned to England in 1787, and +was chiefly busied with revising and preparing his journal until his +death in 1792. + +No better appreciation of his work has been written than the words with +which he concludes the account of his safe return after his years {69} +of wandering. 'Though my discoveries,' he writes, 'are not likely to +prove of any material advantage to the nation at large, or indeed to +the Hudson's Bay Company, yet I have the pleasure to think that I have +fully complied with the orders of my masters, and that it has put a +final end to all disputes concerning a North-West Passage through +Hudson's Bay.' + + + +[1] Bag for flint and steel, tobacco, etc. + + + + +{70} + +CHAPTER III + +MACKENZIE DESCENDS THE GREAT RIVER OF THE NORTH + +The next great landmark in the exploration of the Far North is the +famous voyage of Alexander Mackenzie down the river which bears his +name, and which he traced to its outlet into the Arctic ocean. This +was in 1789. By that time the Pacific coast of America and the coast +of Siberia over against it had already been explored. Even before +Hearne's journey the Danish navigator Bering, sailing in the employ of +the Russian government, had discovered the strait which separates Asia +from America, and which commemorates his name. Four years after +Hearne's return (1776) the famous navigator Captain Cook had explored +the whole range of the American coast to the north of what is now +British Columbia, had passed Bering Strait and had sailed along the +Arctic coast as far as Icy Cape. + +[Illustration: Sir Alexander Mackenzie. From the painting by Sir T. +Lawrence.] + +The general outline of the north of the {71} continent of America, and +at any rate the vast distance to be traversed to reach the Pacific from +the Atlantic, could now be surmised with some accuracy. But the +internal geography of the continent still contained an unsolved +mystery. It was known that vast bodies of fresh water far beyond the +basin of the Saskatchewan and the Columbia emptied towards the north. +Hearne had revealed the existence of the Great Slave Lake, and the +advance of daring fur-traders into the north had brought some knowledge +of the great stream called the Peace, which rises far in the mountains +of the west, and joins its waters to Lake Athabaska. It was known that +this river after issuing from the Athabaska Lake moved onwards, as a +new river, in a vast flood towards the north, carrying with it the +tribute of uncounted streams. These rivers did not flow into the +Pacific. Nor could so great a volume of water make its way to the sea +through the shallow torrent of the Coppermine or the rivers that flowed +north-eastward over the barren grounds. There must exist somewhere a +mighty river of the north running to the frozen seas. + +It fell to the lot of Alexander Mackenzie to find the solution of this +problem. The {72} circumstances which led to his famous journey arose +out of the progress of the fur trade and its extension into the Far +West. The British possession of Canada in 1760 had created a new +situation. The monopoly enjoyed by the Hudson's Bay Company was rudely +disturbed. Enterprising British traders from Montreal, passing up the +Great Lakes, made their way to the valley of the Saskatchewan and, +whether legally or not, contrived to obtain an increasing share of the +furs brought from the interior. These traders were at first divided +into partnerships and small groups, but presently, for the sake of +co-operation and joint defence, they combined (1787) into the powerful +body known as the North-West Company, which from now on entered into +desperate competition with the great corporation that had first +occupied the field. The Hudson's Bay Company and its rival sought to +carry their operations as far inland as possible in order to tap the +supplies at their source. They penetrated the valleys of the +Assiniboine, the Red, and the Saskatchewan rivers, and founded, among +others, the forts which were destined to become the present cities of +Winnipeg, Brandon, and Edmonton. The annals of North-West Canada +during the next thirty-three years are made up of the {73} recital of +the commercial rivalry, and at times the actual conflict under arms, of +the two great trading companies. + +It was in the service of the North-West Company that Alexander +Mackenzie made his famous journey. He had arrived in Canada in 1779. +After five years spent in the counting-house of a trading company at +Montreal, he had been assigned for a year to a post at Detroit, and in +1785 had been elevated to the dignity of a bourgeois or partner in the +North-West Company. In this capacity Alexander Mackenzie was sent out +to the Athabaska district to take control, in that vast and scarcely +known region, of the posts of the traders now united into the +North-West Company. + +A glance at the map of Canada will show the commanding geographical +position occupied by Lake Athabaska, in a country where the waterways +formed the only means of communication. It receives from the south and +west the great streams of the Athabaska and the Peace, which thus +connect it with the prairies of the Saskatchewan valley and with the +Rocky Mountains. Eastward a chain of lakes and rivers connects it and +the forest country which lies about it with the barren grounds and the +forts on Hudson Bay, while to the north, {74} issuing from Lake +Athabaska, a great and unknown river led into the forests, moving +towards an unknown sea. + +It was Mackenzie's first intention to make Lake Athabaska the frontier +of the operations of his company. Acting under his instructions, his +cousin Roderick Mackenzie, who served with him, selected a fine site on +a cape on the south side of the lake and erected the post that was +named Fort Chipewyan. Beautifully situated, with good timber and +splendid fisheries and easy communication in all directions, the fort +rapidly became the central point of trade and travel in the far +north-west. But it was hardly founded before Mackenzie had already +conceived a wider scheme. Chipewyan should be the emporium but not the +outpost of the fur trade; using it as a base, he would descend the +great unknown waterway which led north, and thus bring into the sphere +of the company's operations the whole region between Lake Athabaska and +the northern sea. Alexander Mackenzie's object was, in name at least, +commercial--the extension of the trade of the North-West Company. But +in reality, his incentive was that instinctive desire to widen the +bounds of geographical knowledge, and to roll back the {75} mystery of +unknown lands and seas which had already raised Hearne to eminence, and +which later on was to lead Franklin to his glorious disaster. + +It was on Wednesday, June 3, 1789, that Alexander Mackenzie's little +flotilla of four birch-bark canoes set out across Lake Athabaska on its +way to the north. In Mackenzie's canoe were four French-Canadian +voyageurs, two of them accompanied by their wives, and a German. Two +other canoes were filled with Indians, who were to act as guides and +interpreters. At their head was a notable brave who had been one of +the band of Matonabbee, Hearne's famous guide. From his frequent +visits to the English post at Fort Churchill he had acquired the name +of the 'English Chief.' Another canoe was in charge of Leroux, a +French-Canadian in the service of the company, who had already +descended the Slave river, as far as the Great Slave Lake. Leroux and +his men carried trading goods and supplies. + +The first part of the journey was by a route already known. The +voyageurs paddled across the twenty miles of water which here forms the +breadth of Lake Athabaska, entered a river running from the lake, and +followed its {76} winding stream. They encamped at night seven miles +from the lake. The next morning at four o'clock the canoes were on +their way again, descending the winding river through a low forest of +birch and willow. After a paddle of ten miles, a bend in the little +river brought the canoes out upon the broad stream of the Peace river, +its waters here being upwards of a mile wide and running with a strong +current to the north. On our modern maps this great stream after it +leaves Lake Athabaska is called the Slave river: but it is really one +and the same mighty river, carrying its waters from the valleys of +British Columbia through the gorges of the Rocky Mountains, passing +into the Great Slave Lake, and then, under the name of the Mackenzie, +emptying into the Arctic. + +In the next five days Mackenzie's canoes successfully descended the +river to the Great Slave Lake, a distance of some two hundred and +thirty-five miles. The journey was not without its dangers. The Slave +river has a varied course: at times it broadens out into a great sheet +of water six miles across, flowing with a gentle current and carrying +the light canoes gently upon its unruffled surface. In other places it +is confined into a narrow channel, breaks into swift eddies and pours +in {77} boiling rapids over the jagged rocks. Over the upper rapids of +the river, Mackenzie and his men were able to run their canoes fully +laden; but lower down were long and arduous portages, rendered +dangerous by the masses of broken ice still clinging to the banks of +the river. As they neared the Great Slave Lake boisterous gales from +the north-east lashed the surface of the river into foam and brought +violent showers of rain. But the voyageurs were trained men, +accustomed to face the dangers of northern navigation. + +A week of travel brought them on June 9 to the Great Slave Lake. It +was still early in the season. The rigour of winter was not yet +relaxed. As far as the eye could see the surface of the lake presented +an unbroken sheet of ice. Only along the shore had narrow lanes of +open water appeared. The weather was bitterly cold, and there was no +immediate prospect of the break-up of the ice. + +For a fortnight Mackenzie and his party remained at the lake, skirting +its shores as best they could, and searching among the bays and islands +of its western end for the outlet towards the north which they knew +must exist. Heavy rain, alternating with bitter cold, caused them much +hardship. At times it froze so {78} hard that a thin sheet of new ice +covered even the open water of the lake. But as the month advanced the +mass of old ice began slowly to break; strong winds drove it towards +the north, and the canoes were presently able to pass, with great +danger and difficulty, among the broken floes. Mackenzie met a band of +Yellow Knife Indians, who assured him that a great river ran out of the +west end of the lake, and offered a guide to aid him in finding the +channel among the islands and sandbars of the lake. Convinced that his +search would be successful, Mackenzie took all the remaining supplies +into his canoes and sent back Leroux to Chipewyan with the news that he +had gone north down the great river. But even after obtaining his +guide Mackenzie spent four days searching for the outlet It was not +till the end of the month of June that his search was rewarded, and, at +the extreme south-west, the lake, after stretching out among islands +and shallows, was found to contract into the channel of a river. + +The first day of July saw Mackenzie's canoes floating down the stream +that bears his name. From now on, progress became easier. At this +latitude and season the northern day gave the voyageurs twenty hours of +sunlight in each day, {79} and with smooth water and a favouring +current the descent was rapid. Five days after leaving the Great Slave +Lake the canoes reached the region where the waters of the Great Bear +Lake, then still unknown, drain into the Mackenzie. The Indians of +this district seemed entirely different from those known at the trading +posts. At the sight of the canoes and the equipment of the voyageurs +they made off and hid among the rocks and trees beside the river. +Mackenzie's Indians contrived to make themselves understood, by calling +out to them in the Chipewyan language, but the strange Indians showed +the greatest reluctance and apprehension, and only with difficulty +allowed Mackenzie's people to come among them. Mackenzie notes the +peculiar fact that they seemed unacquainted with tobacco, and that even +fire-water was accepted by them rather from fear of offending than from +any inclination. Knives, hatchets and tools, however, they took with +great eagerness. On learning of Mackenzie's design to go on towards +the north they endeavoured with every possible expression of horror to +induce him to turn back. The sea, they said, was so far away that +winter after winter must pass before Mackenzie could hope to reach it: +he would be an old man {80} before he could complete the voyage. More +than this, the river, so they averred, fell over great cataracts which +no one could pass; he would find no animals and no food for his men. +The whole country was haunted by monsters. Mackenzie was not to be +deterred by such childish and obviously interested terrors. His +interpreters explained that he had no fear of the horrors that they +depicted, and, by a heavy bribe, consisting of a kettle, an axe, and a +knife, he succeeded in enlisting the services of one of the Indians as +a guide. That the terror of the Far North professed by these Indians, +or at any rate the terror of going there in strange company, was not +wholly imaginary was made plain from the conduct of the guide. When +the time came to depart he showed every sign of anxiety and fear: he +sought in vain to induce his friends to take his place: finding that he +must go, he reluctantly bade farewell to his wife and children, cutting +off a lock of his hair and dividing it into three parts, which he +fastened to the hair of each of them. + +On July 5, the party set out with their new guide, and on the same +afternoon passed the mouth of the Great Bear river, which joins the +Mackenzie in a flood of sea-green water, fresh, but coloured like that +of the ocean. Below {81} this point, they passed many islands. The +banks of the river rose to high mountains covered with snow. The +country, so the guide said, was here filled with bears, but the +voyageurs saw nothing worse than mosquitoes, which descended in clouds +upon the canoes. As the party went on to the north, the guide seemed +more and more stricken with fear and consumed with the longing to +return to his people. In the morning after breaking camp nothing but +force would induce him to embark, and on the fourth night, during the +confusion of a violent thunder-storm, he made off and was seen no more. + +The next day, however, Mackenzie supplied his place, this time by +force, from a band of roving Indians. The new guide told him that the +sea was not far away, and that it could be reached in ten days. As the +journey continued the river was broken into so many channels and so +dotted with islands, that it was almost impossible to decide which was +the main waterway. The guide's advice was evidently influenced by his +desire to avoid the Eskimos, and, like his predecessor, to keep away +from the supposed terrors of the North. The shores of the river were +now at times low, though usually lofty mountains could be seen about +ten miles {82} away. Trees were still present, especially fir and +birch, though in places both shores of the river were entirely bare, +and the islands were mere banks of sand and mud to which great masses +of ice adhered. An observation taken on July 10 showed that the +voyageurs had reached latitude 67 deg. 47' north. From the extreme +variation of the compass, and from other signs, Mackenzie was now +certain that he was approaching the northern ocean. He was assured +that in a few days more of travel he could reach its shores. But in +the meantime his provisions were running low. His Indian guide, a prey +to fantastic terrors, endeavoured to dissuade him from his purpose, +while his canoe men, now far beyond the utmost limits of the country +known to the fur trade, began to share the apprehensions of the guide, +and clamoured eagerly for return. Mackenzie himself was of the opinion +that it would not be possible for him to return to Chipewyan while the +rivers were still open, and that the approach of winter must surprise +him in these northern solitudes. But in spite of this he could not +bring himself to turn back. With his men he stipulated for seven days; +if the northern ocean were not found in that time he would turn south +again. + +{83} + +The expedition went forward. On July 10, they made a course of +thirty-two miles, the river sweeping with a strong current through a +low, flat country, a mountain range still visible in the west and +reaching out towards the north. At the spot where they pitched their +tents at night on the river bank they could see the traces of an +encampment of Eskimos. The sun shone brilliantly the whole night, +never descending below the horizon. Mackenzie sat up all night +observing its course in the sky. At a quarter to four in the morning, +the canoes were off again, the river winding and turning in its course +but heading for the north-west. Here and there on the banks they saw +traces of the Eskimos, the marks of camp fires, and the remains of +huts, made of drift-wood covered with grass and willows. This day the +canoes travelled fifty-four miles. The prospect about the travellers +was gloomy and dispiriting. The low banks of the river were now almost +treeless, except that here and there grew stunted willow, not more than +three feet in height. The weather was cloudy and raw, with gusts of +rain at intervals. The discontent of Mackenzie's companions grew +apace: the guide was evidently at the end of his knowledge; while the +violent rain, the biting cold {84} and the fear of an attack by hostile +savages kept the voyageurs in a continual state of apprehension. July +12 was marked by continued cold, and the canoes traversed a country so +bare and naked that scarcely a shrub could be seen. At one place the +land rose in high banks above the river, and was bright with short +grass and flowers, though all the lower shore was now thick with ice +and snow, and even in the warmer spots the soil was only thawed to a +depth of four inches. Here also were seen more Eskimo huts, with +fragments of sledges, a square stone kettle, and other utensils lying +about. + +Mackenzie was now at the very delta of the great river, where it +discharges its waters, broken into numerous and intricate channels, +into the Arctic ocean. On Sunday, July 12, the party encamped on an +island that rose to a considerable eminence among the flat and dreary +waste of broken land and ice in which the travellers now found +themselves. The channels of the river had here widened into great +sheets of water, so shallow that for stretches of many miles, east and +west, the depth never exceeded five feet. Mackenzie and 'English +Chief,' his principal follower, ascended to the highest ground on the +island, {85} from which they were able to command a wide view in all +directions. To the south of them lay the tortuous and complicated +channels of the broad river which they had descended; east and north +were islands in great number; but on the westward side the eye could +discern the broad field of solid ice that marked the Arctic ocean. + +Mackenzie had reached the goal of his endeavours. His followers, when +they learned that the open sea, the _mer d'ouest_ as they called it, +was in sight, were transformed; instead of sullen ill-will they +manifested the highest degree of confidence and eager expectation. +They declared their readiness to follow their leader wherever he wished +to go, and begged that he would not turn back without actually reaching +the shore of the unknown sea. But in reality they had already reached +it. That evening, when their camp was pitched and they were about to +retire to sleep, under the full light of the unsinking sun, the inrush +of the Arctic tide, threatening to swamp their baggage and drown out +their tents, proved beyond all doubt that they were now actually on the +shore of the ocean. + +For three days Mackenzie remained beside the Arctic ocean. Heavy gales +blew in from {86} the north-west, and in the open water to the westward +whales were seen. Mackenzie and his men, in their exultation at this +final proof of their whereabouts, were rash enough to start in pursuit +in a canoe. Fortunately, a thick curtain of fog fell on the ocean and +terminated the chase. In memory of the occurrence, Mackenzie called +his island Whale Island. On the morning of July 14, 1789, Mackenzie, +convinced that his search had succeeded, ordered a post to be erected +on the island beside his tents, on which he carved the latitude as he +had calculated it (69 deg. 14' north), his own name, the number of persons +who were with him and the time that was spent there. + +This day Mackenzie spent in camp, for a great gale, blowing with rain +and bitter cold, made it hazardous to embark. But on the next morning +the canoes were headed for the south, and the return journey was begun. +It was time indeed. Only about five hundred pounds weight of supplies +was now left in the canoes--enough, it was calculated, to suffice for +about twelve days. As the return journey might well occupy as many +weeks, the fate of the voyageurs must now depend on the chances of +fishing and the chase. + +{87} + +As a matter of fact the ascent of the river, which Mackenzie conducted +with signal success and almost without incident, occupied two months. +The weather was favourable. The wild gales which had been faced in the +Arctic delta were left behind, and, under mild skies and unending +sunlight, and with wild fowl abundant about them, the canoes were urged +steadily against the stream. The end of the month of July brought the +explorers to the Great Bear river; from this point an abundance of +berries on the banks of the stream--the huckleberry, the raspberry and +the saskatoon--afforded a welcome addition to their supplies. As they +reached the narrower parts of the river, where it flowed between high +banks, the swift current made paddling useless and compelled the men to +haul the canoes with the towing line. At other times steady strong +winds from the north enabled them to rig their sails and skim without +effort over the broad surface of the river. Mackenzie noted with +interest the varied nature and the fine resources of the country of the +upper river. At one place petroleum, having the appearance of yellow +wax, was seen oozing from the rocks; at another place a vast seam of +coal in the river bank was observed to be burning. On August 22 the +canoes were {88} driven over the last reaches of the Mackenzie with a +west wind strong and cold behind them, and were carried out upon the +broad bosom of the Great Slave Lake. The voyageurs were once more in +known country. The navigation of the lake, now free from ice, was +without difficulty, and the canoes drove at a furious rate over its +waters. On August 24 three canoes were sighted sailing on the lake, +and were presently found to contain Leroux and his party, who had been +carrying on the fur trade in that district during Mackenzie's absence. + +The rest of the journey offered no difficulty. There remained, indeed, +some two hundred and sixty miles of paddle and portage to traverse the +Slave river and reach Fort Chipewyan. But to the stout arms of +Mackenzie's trained voyageurs this was only a summer diversion. On +September 12, 1789, Alexander Mackenzie safely reached the fort. His +voyage had occupied one hundred and two days. Its successful +completion brought to the world its first knowledge of that vast +waterway of the northern country, whose extensive resources in timber +and coal, in mineral and animal wealth, still await development. + + + + +{89} + +CHAPTER IV + +THE MEMORABLE EXPLOITS OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN + +The generation now passing away can vividly recall, as one of the +deepest impressions of its childhood, the profound and sustained +interest excited by the mysterious fate of Sir John Franklin. His +splendid record by sea and land, the fact that he was one of 'Nelson's +men' and had fought at Copenhagen and Trafalgar, his feats as an +explorer in the unknown wilds of North America and the torrid seas of +Australasia, and, more than these, his high Christian courage and his +devotion to the flag and country that he served--all had made of +Franklin a hero whom the nation delighted to honour. His departure in +1846 with his two stout ships the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ and a total +company of one hundred and thirty-four men, including some of the +ablest naval officers of the day, was hailed with high hopes that the +mysterious north would at length be {90} robbed of its secret. Then, +as the years passed and the ships never returned, and no message from +the explorers came out of the silent north, the nation, defiant of +difficulty and danger, bent its energies towards the discovery of their +fate. No less than forty-two expeditions were sent out in search of +the missing ships. The efforts of the government were seconded by the +munificence of private individuals, and by the generosity of naval +officers who gladly gave their services for no other reward than the +honour of the enterprise. The energies of the rescue parties were +quickened by the devotion of Lady Franklin, who refused to abandon +hope, and consecrated her every energy and her entire fortune to the +search for her lost husband. Her conduct and her ardent appeals awoke +a chivalrous spirit at home and abroad; men such as Kane, Bellot, +M'Clintock and De Haven volunteered their services in the cause. At +length, as with the passage of years anxiety deepened into despair, and +as little by little it was learned that all were lost, the brave story +of the death of Franklin and his men wrote itself in imperishable +letters on the hearts of their fellow-countrymen. It found no parallel +till more than half a century later, when another and a {91} similar +tragedy in the silent snows of the Antarctic called forth again the +mingled pride and anguish with which Britain honours the memory of +those fallen in her cause. + +John Franklin belonged to the school of naval officers trained in the +prolonged struggle of the great war with France. He entered the Royal +Navy in 1800 at fourteen years of age, and within a year was engaged on +his ship, the _Polyphemus_, in the great sea-fight at Copenhagen. +During the brief truce that broke the long war after 1801, Franklin +served under Flinders, the great explorer of the Australasian seas. On +his way home in 1803 he was shipwrecked in Torres Strait, and, with +ninety-three others of the company of H.M.S. _Porpoise_, was cast up on +a sandbar, seven hundred and fifty miles from the nearest port. The +party were rescued, Franklin reached England, and at once set out on a +voyage to the China seas in the service of the East India Company. +During the voyage the merchant fleet with which he sailed offered +battle to a squadron of French men-of-war, which fled before them. The +next year saw Franklin serving as signal midshipman on board the +_Bellerophon_ at Trafalgar. He remained in active service during the +war, served in America, and was {92} wounded in the British attempt to +capture New Orleans. After the war Franklin, now a lieutenant, found +himself, like so many other naval officers, unable, after the stirring +life of the past fifteen years, to settle into the dull routine of +peace service. Maritime discovery, especially since his voyage with +Flinders, had always fascinated his mind, and he now offered himself +for service in that Arctic region with which his name will ever be +associated. + +The long struggle of the war had halted the progress of discoveries in +the northern seas. But on the conclusion of peace the attention of the +nation, and of naval men in particular, was turned again towards the +north. The Admiralty naturally sought an opportunity of giving +honourable service to their officers and men. Great numbers of them +had been thrown out of employment. Some migrated to the colonies or +even took service abroad. At the same time the writings of Captain +Scoresby, a whaling captain of scientific knowledge who published an +account of the Greenland seas, and the influence of such men as Sir +John Barrow, the secretary of the Admiralty, did much to create a +renewal of public interest in the north. It was now recognized that +the North-West Passage offered no commercial {93} attractions. But it +was felt that it would not be for the honour of the nation that the +splendid discoveries of Hearne, Cook and Mackenzie should remain +uncompleted. To trace the Arctic water-way from the Atlantic to the +Pacific became now a supreme object, not of commercial interest, but of +geographical research and of national pride. To this was added the +fact that the progress of physical and natural science was opening up +new fields of investigation for the explorers of the north. + +Franklin first sailed north in 1818, as second in command of the first +Arctic expedition of the nineteenth century. Two brigs, H.M.S. +_Dorothea_ under Captain Buchan, and H.M.S. _Trent_ under Lieutenant +John Franklin, set out from the Thames with a purpose which in audacity +at least has never been surpassed. The new sentiment of supreme +confidence in the navy inspired by the conquest of the seas is evinced +by the fact that these two square-rigged sailing ships, clumsy and +antiquated, built up with sundry extra beams inside and iron bands +without, were directed to sail straight north across the North Pole and +down the world on the other side. They did their best. They went +churning northward through the foaming seas, and when they found that +{94} the ice was closing in on them, and that they were being blown +down upon it in a gale as on to a lee shore, the order was given to put +the helm up and charge full speed at the ice. It was the only possible +way of escape, and it meant either sudden and awful death under the ice +floes or else the piling up of the ships safe on top of them--'taking +the ice' as Arctic sailors call it. The _Dorothea_ and the _Trent_ +went driving at the ice with such a gale of snow about them that +neither could see the other as they ran. They 'took the ice' with a +mighty crash, amid a wild confusion of the elements, and when the storm +cleared the two old hulls lay shattered but safe on the surface of the +ice-pack. The whole larboard side of the _Dorothea_ was smashed, but +they brought her somehow to Spitzbergen, and there by wonderful +patching enabled her to sail home. + +The next year (1819) Lieutenant Franklin was off again on an Arctic +journey, the record of which, written by himself, forms one of the most +exciting stories of adventure ever written. The design this time was +to follow the lead of Hearne and Mackenzie. Beginning where their +labours ended, Franklin proposed to embark on the polar sea in canoes +and follow the coast line. Franklin left England at the {95} end of +May. He was accompanied by Dr Richardson, a naval surgeon, afterwards +Sir John Richardson, and second only to Franklin himself as an explorer +and writer, Midshipman Back, later on to be Admiral Sir George Back, +Midshipman Hood, and one Hepburn, a stout-hearted sailor of the Royal +Navy. They sailed in the Hudson's Bay Company ship _Prince of Wales_, +and passed through the straits to York Factory. Thence by canoe they +went inland, up the Hayes river, through Lake Winnipeg and thence up +the Saskatchewan to Cumberland House, a Hudson's Bay fort established +by Samuel Hearne a few years after his famous journey. From York +Factory to Cumberland House was a journey of six hundred and ninety +miles. But this was only a beginning. During the winter of 1819-20 +Franklin and his party made their way from Cumberland House to Fort +Chipewyan on Lake Athabaska, a distance, by the route traversed, of +eight hundred and fifty-seven miles. From this fort the party, +accompanied by Canadian voyageurs and Indian guides, made their way, in +the summer of 1820, to Fort Providence, a lonely post of the North-West +Company lying in latitude 62 deg. on the northern shore of the Great Slave +Lake. + +{96} + +These were the days of rivalry, and even open war, between the two +great fur companies, the Hudson's Bay and the North-West. The +Admiralty had commended Franklin's expeditions to the companies, who +were to be requisitioned for the necessary supplies. But the disorders +of the fur trade, and the demoralization of the Indians, owing to the +free distribution of ardent spirits by the rival companies, rendered it +impossible for the party to obtain adequate supplies and stores. +Undeterred by difficulties, Franklin set out from Fort Providence to +make his way to the Arctic seas at the mouth of the Coppermine. The +expedition reached the height of land between the Great Slave Lake and +the Coppermine, on the borders of the country which had been the scene +of Hearne's exploits. The northern forest is here reduced to a thin +growth of stunted pine and willow. It was now the end of August. The +brief northern summer was drawing to its close. It was impossible to +undertake the navigation of the Arctic coast till the ensuing summer. +Franklin and his party built some rude log shanties which they called +Fort Enterprise. Here, after having traversed over two thousand miles +in all from York Factory, they spent their second winter in the {97} +north. It was a season of great hardship. With the poor materials at +their hand it was impossible to make their huts weatherproof. The wind +whistled through the ill-plastered seams of the logs. So intense was +the winter cold that the trees about the fort froze hard to their +centres. In cutting firewood the axes splintered as against stone. In +the officers' room the thermometer, sixteen feet from the log fire, +marked as low as fifteen degrees below zero in the day and forty below +at night. For food the party lived on deer's meat with a little fish, +tea twice a day (without sugar), and on Sunday a cup of chocolate as +the luxury of the week to every man. But, undismayed by cold and +hardship, they kept stoutly at their work. Richardson investigated the +mosses and lichens beneath the snow and acquainted himself with the +mineralogy of the neighbourhood. Franklin and the two lieutenants +carried out observations, their fingers freezing with the cold of +forty-six below zero at noon of the brief three-hour day in the heart +of winter. Sunday was a day of rest. The officers dressed in their +best attire. Franklin read the service of the Church of England to his +assembled company. For the French-Canadian Roman Catholics, Franklin +did the best he {98} could; he read to them the creed of the Church of +England in French. In the leisure part of the day a bundle of London +newspapers was perused again and again. + +The winter passed safely; the party now entered upon the most arduous +part of their undertaking. Canoes were built and dragged on improvised +sledges to the Coppermine. Franklin descended the river, surveying its +course as he went. He passed by the scene of the massacre witnessed by +Hearne, and found himself, late in July of 1821, on the shores of the +Arctic. The distance from Fort Enterprise was three hundred and +thirty-four miles, for one hundred and seventeen of which the canoes +and baggage had been hauled over snow and ice. + +Franklin and his followers, in two canoes, embarked on the polar sea +and traced the course of the coast eastward for five hundred and fifty +miles. The sailors were as men restored to their own element. But the +Canadian voyageurs were filled with dread at the great waves of the +open ocean. All that Franklin saw of the Arctic coast encouraged his +belief that the American continent is separated by stretches of sea +from the great masses of land that had been already discovered in the +Arctic. {99} The North-West Passage, ice-blocked and useless, was +still a geographical fact. Eager in the pursuit of his investigations +he went on eastward as long as he dared--too long in fact. Food was +running low. His voyageurs had lost heart, appalled at the immense +spaces of ice and sea through which their frail canoes went onward into +the unknown. Reluctantly, Franklin decided to turn back. But it was +too late to return by water. The northern gales drove the ice in +against the coast. Franklin and his men, dragging and carrying one of +the canoes, took to the land, in order to make their way across the +barren grounds. By this means they hoped to reach the upper waters of +the Coppermine and thence Fort Enterprise, where supplies were to have +been placed for them during the summer. Their journey was disastrous. +Bitter cold set in as they marched. Food failed them. Day after day +they tramped on, often with blinding snow in their faces, with no other +sustenance than the bitter weed called _tripe de roche_ that can here +and there be scraped from the rocks beneath the snow. At times they +found frozen remnants of deer that had been killed by wolves, a few +bones with putrid meat adhering to them. These they eagerly devoured. +But {100} often day after day passed without even this miserable +sustenance. At night they lay down beside a clump of willows, trying, +often in vain, to make a fire of the green twigs dragged from under the +snow. So great was their famine, Franklin says, that the very +sensation of hunger passed away, leaving only an exhaustion too great +for words. Lieutenant Back, gaunt and emaciated, staggered forward +leaning on a stick, refusing to give in. Richardson could hardly walk, +while Lieutenant Hood, emaciated to the last degree, was helped on by +his comrades as best they could. The Canadians and Indians suffered +less in body, but, lacking the stern purpose of the officers, they were +distraught with the horror of the death that seemed to await them. In +their fear they had refused to carry the canoe, and had smashed it and +thrown it aside. In this miserable condition the party reached, on +September 26, the Coppermine river, to find it flowing still unfrozen +in an angry flood which they could not cross. In vain they ranged the +banks above and below. Below them was a great lake; beside and above +them a swift, deep current broken by rapids. There was no crossing. +They tried to gather willow faggots, and bind them into a raft. But +the green wood sank so {101} easily that only one man could get upon +the raft: to paddle or pole it in the running water was impossible. A +line was made of strips of skin, and Richardson volunteered to swim the +river so as to haul the raft across with the line. The bitter cold of +the water paralysed his limbs. He was seen to sink beneath the leaping +waters. His companions dragged him back to the bank, where for hours +he lay as if lifeless beside the fire of willow branches, so emaciated +that he seemed a mere skeleton when they took off his wet clothing. +His comrades gazed at him with a sort of horror. Thus for days they +waited. At last, with infinite patience, one of the Canadians made a +sort of canoe with willow sticks and canvas. In this, with a line +attached, they crossed the river one by one. + +They were now only forty miles from Fort Enterprise. But their +strength was failing. Hood could not go on. The party divided. +Franklin and Back went forward with most of the men, while Richardson +and sailor Hepburn volunteered to stay with Hood till help could be +sent. The others left them in a little tent, with some rounds of +ammunition and willow branches gathered for the fire. A little further +on the march, three of Franklin's followers, {102} too exhausted to go +on, dropped out, proposing to make their way back to Richardson and +Hood. + +The little party at the tent in the snow waited in vain. Days passed, +and no help came. One of the three men who had left Franklin, an +Indian called Michel, joined them, saying that the others had gone +astray in the snow. But he was strange and sullen, sleeping apart and +wandering off by himself to hunt. Presently, from the man's strange +talk and from some meat which he brought back from his hunting and +declared to be part of a wolf, Richardson realized the awful truth that +Michel had killed his companions and was feeding on their bodies. A +worse thing followed. Richardson and Hepburn, gathering wood a few +days later, heard the report of a gun from beside the fire where they +had left Lieutenant Hood, who was now in the last stage of exhaustion. +They returned to find Michel beside the dead body of their comrade. He +had been shot through the back of the head. Michel swore that Hood had +killed himself. Richardson knew the truth, but both he and Hepburn +were too enfeebled by privation to offer fight to the armed and +powerful madman. The three set out for Fort Enterprise, Michel +carrying a loaded gun, two {103} pistols and a bayonet, muttering to +himself and evidently meditating a new crime. Richardson, a man of +iron nerve, forestalled him. Watching his opportunity, he put a pistol +to the Indian's head and blew his brains out. + +Richardson and Hepburn dragged themselves forward mile by mile, +encouraged by the thought of the blazing fires and the abundant food +that they expected to find at Fort Enterprise. They reached the fort +just in the dusk of an October evening. All about it was silence. +There were no tracks in the newly fallen snow. Only a thin thread of +smoke from the chimney gave a sign of life. Hurriedly they made their +way in. To their horror and dismay they found Franklin and three +companions, two Canadians and an Indian, stretched out in the last +stages of famine. 'No words can convey an idea,' wrote Dr Richardson +later on, 'of the filth and wretchedness that met our eyes on looking +around. Our own misery had stolen upon us by degrees and we were +accustomed to the contemplation of each other's emaciated figures, but +the ghastly countenances, dilated eye-balls, and sepulchral voices of +Captain Franklin and those with him were more than we could bear.' +Franklin, on his part, was equally dismayed at the appearance of +Richardson and Hepburn. {104} 'We were all shocked,' he says in his +journal, 'at beholding the emaciated countenances of the doctor and +Hepburn, as they strongly evidenced their extremely debilitated state. +The alteration in our appearance was equally distressing to them, for +since the swellings had subsided we were little more than skin and +bone. The doctor particularly remarked the sepulchral tone of our +voices, which he requested us to make more cheerful if possible, +unconscious that his own partook of the same key.' + +Franklin related to the new-comers how he and his followers had reached +Fort Enterprise, and to their infinite disappointment and grief had +found it perfectly desolate. There was no depot of provisions, as had +been arranged, nor any trace of a letter or other message from the +traders at Fort Providence or from the Indians. Lieutenant Back, who +had reached the fort a little in advance of Franklin, had gone on in +the hope of finding Indian hunters, or perhaps of reaching Fort +Providence and sending relief. They had no food except a little _tripe +de roche_, and Franklin had thus found himself, as he explained to +Richardson, in the deserted fort with five companions, in a state of +utter destitution. Food there was none. {105} From the refuse heaps +of the winter before, now buried under the snow, they dug out pieces of +bone and a few deer-skins; on this, with a little _tripe de roche_, +they endeavoured to subsist. The log house was falling into decay. +The seams gaped and the piercing air entered on every side with the +thermometer twenty below zero. Franklin and his companions had tried +in vain to stop the chinks and to make a fire by tearing up the rough +boards of the floor. But their strength was insufficient. Already for +two weeks before their arrival at Fort Enterprise they had had no meat. +It was impossible that they could have existed long in the miserable +shelter of the deserted fort. Franklin had endeavoured to go on. +Leaving three of his companions, now too exhausted to walk far, he and +the other two, a Canadian and an Eskimo, set out to try to reach help +in the direction of Fort Providence. The snow was deep, and their +strength was so far gone that in six hours they only struggled four +miles on their way. At night they lay down beside one another in the +snow, huddled together for warmth, with a bitter wind blowing over +their emaciated bodies. The next morning, in recommencing their march, +Franklin stumbled and fell, breaking his snow-shoe in the {106} fall. +Realizing that he could never hope to traverse the one hundred and +eighty-six miles to Fort Providence, he directed his companions to go +on, and he himself made his way back to Fort Enterprise. There he had +remained for a fortnight until found by Richardson and Hepburn. So +weak had Franklin and his three companions become that they could not +find the strength to go on cutting down the log buildings of the fort +to make a fire. Adam, the Indian, lay prostrate in his bunk, his body +covered with hideous swellings. The two Canadians, Peltier and +Samandre, suffered such pain in their joints that they could scarcely +move a step. A herd of deer had appeared on the ice of the river near +by, but none of the men had strength to pursue them, nor could any one +of them, said Franklin, have found the strength to raise a gun and fire +it. + +Such had been the position of things when Richardson and Hepburn, +themselves almost in the last stage of exhaustion, found their unhappy +comrades. Richardson was a man of striking energy, of the kind that +knows no surrender. He set himself to gather wood, built up a blazing +fire, dressed as well as he could the swollen body of the Indian, and +tried to bring some order into the filth and squalor {107} of the hut. +Hepburn meantime had killed a partridge, which the doctor then divided +among them in six parts, the first fresh meat that Franklin and those +with him had tasted for thirty-one days. This done, 'the doctor,' so +runs Franklin's story, 'brought out his prayer book and testament, and +some prayers and psalms and portions of scripture appropriate to the +situation were read.' + +But beyond the consolation of manifesting a brave and devout spirit, +there was little that Richardson could do for his companions. The +second night after his arrival Peltier died. There was no strength +left in the party to lift his body out into the snow. It lay beside +them in the hut, and before another day passed Samandre, the other +Canadian, lay dead beside it. For a week the survivors remained in the +hut, waiting for death. Then at last, and just in time, help reached +them. + +On November 7, nearly a month after Franklin's first arrival at the +fort, they heard the sound of a musket and the shouting of men outside. +Three Indians stood before the door. The valiant Lieutenant Back, +after sufferings almost as great as their own, had reached a band of +Indian hunters and had sent three men travelling at top speed with +enough food to {108} keep the party alive till further succour could be +brought. Franklin and his friends were saved by one of the narrowest +escapes recorded in the history of northern adventure. Another week +passed before the relief party of the Indians reached them, and even +then Franklin and his companions were so enfeebled by privation that +they could only travel with difficulty, and a month passed before they +found themselves safe and sound within the shelter of Fort Providence +on the Great Slave Lake. There they remained till the winter passed. +A seven weeks' journey took them to York Factory on Hudson Bay, whence +they sailed to England. Franklin's journey overland and on the waters +of the polar sea had covered in all five thousand five hundred and +fifty miles and had occupied nearly three years. + +On his return to England Franklin found himself at once the object of a +wide public interest. Already during his absence he had been made a +commander, and the Admiralty now promoted him to the rank of captain, +while the national recognition of his services was shortly afterwards +confirmed by the honour of knighthood. One might think that after the +perils which he had braved and the horrors which he had experienced, +Sir John would have {109} been content to retire upon his laurels. But +it was not so. There is something in the snow-covered land of the +Arctic, its isolation from the world and the long silence of its winter +darkness, that exercises a strange fascination upon those who have the +hardihood to brave its perils. It was a moment too when interest in +Arctic discovery and the advancement thereby of scientific knowledge +had reached the highest point yet known. During Franklin's absence +Captain Ross and Lieutenant Parry had been sent by sea into the Arctic +waters. Parry had met with wonderful success, striking from Baffin Bay +through the northern archipelago and reaching half-way to Bering Strait. + +Franklin was eager to be off again. The year 1825 saw him start once +more to resume the survey of the polar coast of America. The plan now +was to learn something of the western half of the North American coast, +so as to connect the discoveries of Sir Alexander Mackenzie with those +made by Cook and others through Bering Strait. Franklin was again +accompanied by his gallant friend, Dr Richardson. They passed again +overland through the fur country, where the recent union of the rival +companies had brought about a new era. They descended the Mackenzie +river, {110} wintered on Great Bear Lake, and descended thence to the +sea. Franklin struck out westward, his party surveying the coast in +open boats. Their journey from their winter quarters to the sea and +along the coast covered a thousand miles, and extended to within one +hundred and sixty miles of the point that had then been reached by +explorers from Bering Strait. At the same time Richardson, going +eastward from the Mackenzie, surveyed the coast as far as the +Coppermine river. Their discoveries thus connected the Pacific waters +with the Atlantic, with the exception of one hundred and sixty miles on +the north-west, where water was known to exist and only ice blocked the +way, and of a line north and south which should bring the discoveries +of Parry into connection with those of Franklin. These two were the +missing links now needed in the chain of the North-West Passage. + +But more than twenty years were to elapse before the discoveries thus +made were carried to their completion. Franklin himself, claimed by +other duties, was unable to continue his work in the Arctic, and his +appointment to the governorship of Tasmania called him for a time to +another sphere. Yet, little by little, the exploration of the Arctic +regions was carried {111} on, each explorer adding something to what +was already known, and each hoping that the honour of the discovery of +the great passage would fall to his lot. Franklin's comrade Back, now +a captain and presently to be admiral, made his way in 1834 from Canada +to the polar sea down the river that bears his name. Three years later +Simpson, in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company, succeeded in +traversing the coast from the Mackenzie to Point Barrow, completing the +missing link in the western end of the chain. John and James Ross +brought the exploration of the northern archipelago to a point that +made it certain that somewhere or other a way through must exist to +connect Baffin Bay with the coastal waters. At last the time came, in +1844, when the British Admiralty determined to make a supreme effort to +unite the explorations of twenty-five years by a final act of +discovery. The result was the last expedition of Sir John Franklin, +glorious in its disaster, and leaving behind it a tale that will never +be forgotten while the annals of the British nation remain. + + + + +{112} + +CHAPTER V + +THE TRAGEDY OF FRANKLIN'S FATE + +The month of May 1845 found two stout ships, the _Erebus_ and the +_Terror_, riding at anchor in the Thames. Both ships were already well +known to the British public. They had but recently returned from the +Antarctic seas, where Captain Sir James Ross, in a voyage towards the +South Pole, had attained the highest southern latitude yet reached. +Both were fine square-rigged ships, strengthened in every way that the +shipwrights of the time could devise. Between their decks a warming +and ventilating apparatus of the newest kind had been installed, and, +as a greater novelty still, the attempt was now made for the first time +in history to call in the power of steam for the fight against the +Arctic frost. Each vessel carried an auxiliary screw and an engine of +twenty horse-power. When we remember that a modern steam vessel with a +horse-power of many thousands is still {113} powerless against the +northern ice, the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ arouse in us a forlorn +pathos. But in the springtime of 1845 as they lay in the Thames, an +object of eager interest to the flocks of sightseers in the +neighbourhood, they seemed like very leviathans of the deep. Vast +quantities of stores were being loaded into the ships, enough, it was +said, for the subsistence of the one hundred and thirty-four members of +the expedition for three years. For it was now known that Arctic +explorers must be prepared to face the winter, icebound in their ships +through the long polar night. That the winter could be faced with +success had been shown by the experience of Sir William Parry, whose +ships, the _Fury_ and the _Hecla_, had been ice-bound for two winters +(1821-23), and still more by that of Captain John Ross, who brought +home the crew of the _Victory_ safe and sound in 1833, after four +winters in the ice. + +[Illustration: Sir John Franklin. From the National Portrait Gallery.] + +All England was eager with expectancy over the new expedition. It was +to be commanded by Sir John Franklin, the greatest sailor of the day, +who had just returned from his five years in Van Diemen's Land and +carried his fifty-nine winters as jauntily as a midshipman. The era +was auspicious. A new reign under a {114} queen already beloved had +just opened. There was every hope of a long, some people said a +perpetual, peace: it seemed fitting that the new triumphs of commerce +and science, of steam and the magnetic telegraph, should replace the +older and cruder glories of war. + +The expedition was well equipped for scientific research, but its main +object was the discovery of the North-West Passage. We have already +seen what this phrase had come to mean. It had now no reference to the +uses of commerce. The question was purely one of geography. The ocean +lying north of America was known to be largely occupied by a vast +archipelago, between which were open sounds and seas, filled for the +greater part of the year with huge packs of ice. In the Arctic winter +all was frozen into an unending plain of snow, broken by distorted +hummocks of ice, and here and there showing the frowning rocks of a +mountainous country swept clean by the Arctic blast. In the winter +deep night and intense cold settled on the scene. But in the short +Arctic summer the ice-pack moved away from the shores. Lanes of water +extended here and there, and sometimes, by the good fortune of a gale, +a great sheet of open sea with blue tossing waves gladdened the heart +of the {115} sailor. Through this region somewhere a water-way must +exist from east to west. The currents of the sea and the drift-wood +that they carried proved it beyond a doubt. Exploration had almost +proved it also. Ships and boats had made their way from Bering Strait +to the Coppermine. North of this they had gone from Baffin Bay through +Lancaster Sound and on westward to a great sea called Melville Sound, a +body of water larger than the Irish Sea. The two lines east and west +overlapped widely. All that was needed now was to find a channel north +and south to connect the two. This done, the North-West Passage, the +will-o'-the-wisp of three hundred and fifty years, had been found. + +A glance at the map will make clear the instructions given to Sir John +Franklin. He was to go into the Arctic by way of Baffin Bay, and to +proceed westward along the parallel of 74 deg. 15' north latitude, which +would take him through the already familiar waters of Lancaster Sound +and Barrow Strait, leading into Melville Sound. This line he was to +follow as far as Cape Walker in longitude 98 deg., from which point it was +known that waters were to be found leading southward. Beyond this +position Franklin was left to his own {116} discretion, his +instructions being merely to penetrate to the southward and westward in +a course as direct to Bering Strait as the position of the land and the +condition of the ice should allow. + +The _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ sailed from England on June 19, 1845. +The officers and sailors who manned their decks were the very pick of +the Royal Navy and the merchant service, men inured to the perils of +the northern ocean, and trained in the fine discipline of the service. +Captain Crozier of the _Terror_ was second in command. He had been +with Ross in the Antarctic. Commander Fitzjames, Lieutenants +Fairholme, Gore and others were tried and trained men. The ships were +so heavily laden with coal and supplies that they lay deep in the +water. Every inch of stowage had been used, and even the decks were +filled up with casks. A transport sailed with them across the Atlantic +carrying further supplies. Thus laden they made their way to the Whale +Fish Islands, near Disco, on the west coast of Greenland. Here the +transport unloaded its stores and set sail for England. It carried +with it five men of Franklin's company, leaving one hundred and +twenty-nine in the ill-fated expedition. + +{117} + +The ships put out from the coast of Greenland on, or about, July 12, +1845, to make their way across Baffin Bay to Lancaster Sound, a +distance of two hundred and twenty miles. In these waters are found +the great floes of ice which Davis had first seen, called by Arctic +explorers the 'middle ice.' The _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ spent a +fortnight in attempting to make the passage across, and here they were +seen for the last time at sea. A whaling ship, the _Prince of Wales_, +sighted the two vessels on July 26. A party of Franklin's officers +rowed over to the ship and carried an invitation to the master to dine +with Sir John on the next day. But the boat had hardly returned when a +fine breeze sprang up, and with a clear sea ahead the _Erebus_ and the +_Terror_ were put on their course to the west without even taking time +to forward letters to England. + +Thus the two ships vanished into the Arctic ice, never to be seen of +Englishmen again. The summer of 1845 passed; no news came: the winter +came and passed away; the spring and summer of 1846, and still no +message. England, absorbed in political struggles at home--the Corn +Law Repeal and the vexed question of Ireland--had still no anxiety over +Franklin. No message could have come except {118} by the chance of a +whaling ship or in some roundabout way through the territories of the +Hudson's Bay Company, after all but a slender chance. The summer of +1846 came and went and then another winter, and now with the opening of +the new year, 1847, the first expression of apprehension began to be +heard. It was remembered how deeply laden the ships had been. The +fear arose that perhaps they had foundered with all hands in the open +waters of Baffin Bay, leaving no trace behind. Even the naval men +began to shake their heads. Captain Sir John Ross wrote to the +Admiralty to express his fear that Franklin's ships had been frozen in +in such a way that their return was impossible. The Admiralty took +advice. The question was gravely discussed with the leading Arctic +seamen of the day. It was decided that until two years had elapsed +from the time of departure (May 1845 to May 1847) no measures need be +taken for the relief of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_. The date came +and passed. Anxiety was deepening. The Admiralty decided to act. +Great stores of pemmican, some eight tons, together with suitable boats +and experienced crews, were sent in June 1847 to Hudson Bay, ready for +an expedition along the northern coast. A ship {119} was sent with +supplies to meet Franklin in Bering Strait, and two more vessels were +strengthened and equipped to be ready to follow on the track of the +_Erebus_ and the _Terror_ in 1848. As this last year advanced and +winter passed into summer, a shudder of apprehension was felt +throughout the nation. It was felt now that some great disaster had +happened, or even now was happening. It was known that Franklin's +expedition had carried food for at best three years: the three years +had come and gone. Franklin's men, if anywhere alive, must be +suffering all the horrors of starvation in the frozen fastness of the +Arctic. + +We may imagine the awful pictures that rose up before the imagination +of the friends and relatives, the wives and children, of the one +hundred and twenty-nine gallant men who had vanished in the _Erebus_ +and the _Terror_--visions of ships torn and riven by the heaving ice, +of men foodless and shelterless in the driving snow, looking out vainly +from the bleak shores of some rocky coast for the help that never +came--awful pictures indeed, yet none more awful than the grim reality. + +A generous frenzy seized upon the nation. The cry went up from the +heart of the people that Franklin must be found; he and his men {120} +must be rescued--they would not speak of them as dead. Ships must be +sent out with all the equipment that science could devise and the +wealth of a generous nation could supply. Ships were sent out. Year +after year ships fought their way from Baffin Bay to the islands of the +north. Ships sailed round the distant Horn and through the Pacific to +Bering Strait. Down the Mackenzie and the great rivers of the north, +the canoes of the voyageurs danced in the rapids and were paddled +swiftly over the wider stretches of moving water. Over the frozen snow +the sledges toiled against the storm. And still no word of Franklin, +till all the weary outline of the frozen coast was traced in their +wanderings: till twenty-one thousand miles of Arctic sea and shore had +been tracked out. Thus the great epic of the search for Franklin ran +slowly to its close. With each year the hope that was ever deferred +made the heart sick. Anxiety deepened into dread, and even dread gave +way to the cruel certainty of despair. Not till twelve years had +passed was the search laid aside: not until, little by little, the +evidence was found that told all that we know of the fate of the +_Erebus_ and the _Terror_. + +First in the field was Richardson, the gallant {121} friend and comrade +of Franklin's former journeys. He would not believe that Franklin had +failed. He knew too well the temper of the man. Franklin had been +instructed to strike southward from the Arctic seas to the American +coast. On that coast he would be found. Thither went Sir John +Richardson, taking with him a man of like metal to himself, one John +Rae, a Hudson's Bay man, fashioned in the north. Down the Mackenzie +they went and then eastward along the coast searching for traces of the +_Erebus_ and the _Terror_. For two years they searched, tracing their +way from the Mackenzie to the Coppermine. But no vestige of Franklin +did they find. The queen's ships were searching too. Sir James Ross, +with the _Enterprise_ and the _Investigator_, went into Lancaster +Sound. The _Plover_ and the _Herald_ went to Bering Strait. The +_North Star_ went in at Wolstenholme Sound. The _Resolute_, the +_Assistance_, the _Sophia_--a very flock of admiralty ships--spread +their white wings for the Arctic seas. The Hudson's Bay Company sent +Sir John Ross, a tried explorer, in the yacht _Felix_. Lady Franklin, +the sorrow-stricken wife of the lost commander, sent out Captain +Forsyth in the _Prince Albert_. One Robert Spedden sailed his private +yacht, the {122} _Nancy Dawson_, in through Bering Strait; and Henry +Grinnell of New York (be his name honoured), sent out two expeditions +at his own charge. By water and overland there went out, between 1847 +and 1851, no less than twenty-one expeditions searching for the +_Erebus_ and the _Terror_. + +Thus passed six years from the time when Franklin sailed out of the +Thames, and still no trace, no vestige had been found to tell the story +of his fate. Then at last news came, the first news of the _Erebus_ +and the _Terror_ since they were sighted by the whaling ship in 1845. +The news in a way was neither good nor bad. But it showed that at +least the melancholy forebodings of those who said that the heavily +laden ships must have foundered before they reached the Arctic were +entirely mistaken. Captain Penny, master of the _Lady Franklin_, had +sailed under Admiralty orders in 1850, and had followed on the course +laid down in Franklin's instructions. He returned in 1851, bringing +news that on Beechey Island, a little island lying on the north side of +Barrow Strait, he had found the winter quarters that must have been +occupied by the expedition in 1845-46, the first winter after its +departure. There were the remains of a large storehouse, {123} a +workshop and an observatory; a blacksmith's forge was found, with many +coal bags and cinders lying about, and odds and ends of all sorts, +easily identified as coming from the lost ships. Most ominous of all +was the discovery of over six hundred empty cans that had held +preserved meat, the main reliance of the expedition. These were found +regularly piled in little mounds. The number of them was far greater +than Franklin's men would have consumed during the first winter, and, +to make the conclusion still clearer, the preparation was of a brand of +which the Admiralty since 1845 had been compelled to destroy great +quantities, owing to its having turned putrid in the tins. It was +plain that the food supply of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ must have +been seriously depleted, and the dangers of starvation have set in long +before three years were completed. + +Three graves were found on Beechey Island with head-boards marking the +names and ages of three men of the crew who had died in the winter. +Near a cape of the island was a cairn built of stone. It was evidently +intended to hold the records of the expedition. Yet, strange to say, +neither in the cairn nor anywhere about it was a single document to be +found. + +{124} + +The greatest excitement now prevailed. Hope ran high that at least +some survivors of the men of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ might be +found, even if the ships themselves had been lost. The Admiralty +redoubled its efforts. Already Captains Collinson and M'Clure had been +sent out (in 1850) to sail round the Horn, and were on their way into +the Arctic region via Bering Strait. To these were now added a +squadron under Captain Sir Edward Belcher consisting of the +_Assistance_ with a steam tender named the _Pioneer_, the _Resolute_ +with its tender the _Intrepid_, and the _North Star_. Stations were to +be made at Beechey Island and at two other points in the region now +indicated as the scene of Sir John Franklin's operations. From these +sledge and boat parties were to be sent out in all directions. At the +same time Lady Franklin dispatched the _Albert_ under Captain Kennedy +and Lieutenant Bellot, an officer of the French navy who had given his +services to the cause. + +Once again hope was doomed to disappointment. The story of the +expeditions was an almost unbroken record of disaster. Captain +M'Clure, in the _Investigator_, separated from his consort, and +vanished into the northern ice; for three years nothing was heard of +his vessel. {125} The gallant Bellot, attempting to carry dispatches +over the ice, sealed his devotion with his life. Belcher's ships the +_Assistance_ and the _Resolute_, with their two tenders, froze fast in +the ice. Despite the earnest protests of some of his officers, Belcher +abandoned them, and, in the end, was able to return home. The +Admiralty had to face the loss of four good ships with large quantities +of stores. It had been better perhaps had they remained lost. One of +the abandoned ships, the _Resolute_, its hatches battened down, floated +out of the ice, and was found by an American whaler, masterless, +tossing in the open waters of Baffin Bay. Belcher may have been right +in abandoning his ships to save the crews, but his judgment and even +his courage were severely questioned, and unhappy bitterness was +introduced where hitherto there had been nothing but the record of +splendid endeavour and mutual help. The only bright spot was seen in +the achievement of Captain, afterwards Sir Robert, M'Clure, who +reappeared with his crew safe and sound after four winters in the +Arctic. He had made his way in the _Investigator_ (1850 to 1853) from +Bering Strait to within sight of Melville Sound. He had spent three +winters in the ice, the last two years in one and the same spot, {126} +fast frozen, to all appearances, for ever. With supplies dangerously +low and his crew weakened by exposure and privation, M'Clure +reluctantly left his ship. He and his men fortunately reached the +ships of Sir Edward Belcher, having thus actually made the North-West +Passage. + +The disasters of 1853-54 cast a deeper gloom than ever over the search +for Franklin. Moreover, the rising clouds in the East and presently +the outbreak of the Crimean War prevented further efforts. Ships and +men were needed elsewhere than in the northern seas. It began to look +as if failure was now final, and that nothing more could be done. +Following naval precedent, a court-martial had been held to investigate +the action of Captain Sir Edward Belcher. 'The solemn silence,' wrote +Captain M'Clure afterwards, 'with which the venerable president of the +court returned Captain Belcher his sword, with a bare acquittal, best +conveyed the painful feelings which wrung the hearts of all +professional men upon that occasion; and all felt that there was no +hope of the mystery of Franklin's fate being cleared up in our time +except by some unexpected miracle.' + +The unexpected happened. Strangely enough, {127} it was just at this +juncture that a letter sent by Dr John Rae from the Hudson Bay country +brought to England the first authentic news of the fate of Franklin's +men. Rae had been sent overland from the north-west shores of Hudson +Bay to the coast of the Arctic at the point where the Back or Great +Fish river runs in a wide estuary to the sea. He had wintered on the +isthmus (now called after him) which separates Regent's Inlet from +Repulse Bay, and in the spring of 1854 had gone westward with sledges +towards the mouth of the Back. On his way he fell in with Eskimos, who +told him that several years before a party of about forty white men had +been seen hauling a boat and sledges over the ice. This was on the +west side of the island called King William's Land. None of the men, +so the savages said, could speak to them in their own language; but +they made signs to show that they had lost their ships, and that they +were trying to make their way to where deer could be found. All the +men looked thin, and the Eskimos thought they had very little food. +They had bought some seal's flesh from the savages. They hauled their +sledges and the boat along with drag-ropes, at which all were tugging +except one very tall big man, who seemed to be a chief and {128} walked +by himself. Later on in the same season, so the Eskimos said, they had +found the bodies of a lot of men lying on the ice, and had seen some +graves and five dead bodies on an island at the mouth of a river. Some +of the bodies were lying in tents. The big boat had been turned over +as if to make a shelter, and under it were dead men. One that lay on +the island was the body of the chief; he had a telescope strapped over +his shoulders, and his gun lay underneath him. The savages told Dr Rae +that they thought that the last survivors of the white men must have +been feeding on the dead bodies, as some of these were hacked and +mutilated and there was flesh in the kettles. There were signs that +some of the party might have escaped; for on the ground there were +fresh bones and feathers of geese, showing that the men were still +alive when the wild fowl came north, which would be about the end of +May. There was a quantity of gunpowder and ammunition lying around, +and the Eskimos thought that they had heard shots in the neighbourhood, +though they had seen no living men, but only the corpses on the ice. A +great number of relics--telescopes, guns, compasses, spoons, forks, and +so on--were gathered by the natives, and of these Dr Rae {129} +forwarded a large quantity to England. They left no doubt as to the +identity of the unfortunate victims. There was a small silver plate +engraved 'Sir John Franklin, K.C.B.', and a spoon with a crest and the +initials F.R.M.C. (those of Captain Crozier), and a great number of +articles easily recognized as coming from the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_. + +One may well imagine the intense interest which Dr Rae's discoveries +aroused in England. Rae had been unable, it is true, to make his way +to the actual scene of the disaster as described by the Eskimos, but it +was now felt that at last certain tidings had been received of the +death of Franklin and his men. Dr Rae and his party received the ten +thousand pounds which the government had offered to whosoever should +bring correct news of the fate of the expedition. + +In all except a few hearts hope was now abandoned. It was felt that +all were dead. Anxious though the government was to obtain further +details of the tragedy, it was not thought proper at such a national +crisis as the Crimean War to dispatch more ships to the Arctic. +Something, however, was done. A chief factor of the Hudson's Bay +Company, named Anderson, was sent overland in 1855 to explore {130} the +mouth of the Back river. He found in and around Montreal Island, at +the mouth of the river, numerous relics of the disaster. A large +quantity of chips and shavings seemed to indicate the place where the +savages had broken up the boat. But no documents or papers were found +nor any bodies of the dead. Anderson had no interpreter, and could +only communicate by signs with the savages whom he found alone on the +island. But he gathered from them that the white men had all died for +want of food. + +For two years nothing more was done. Then, as the war cloud passed +away, the unsolved mystery began again to demand solution. Some faint +hope too struggled to life. It was argued that perhaps some of the +white men were still alive. The imagination conjured up a ghastly +picture of a few survivors, still alive when, with the coming of the +wild fowl, life and warmth returned. With what horror must they have +turned their backs upon the hideous scene of their sufferings, leaving +the dead as they lay, and preferring to leave unwritten the chronicle +of an experience too awful to relate. There, penned in between the +barren grounds and the sea, they might have somehow continued to live: +there they might still be found. + +{131} + +It was through the personal efforts of Lady Franklin, who devoted +thereto the last remnant of her fortune, that the final expedition was +sent out in 1857. The yacht _Fox_ was commanded by Captain M'Clintock. +He had already spent many years in the Arctic. Touched by the poignant +grief of Lady Franklin, he gave his service gratuitously in a last +effort to trace the fate of the missing men. Other officers gave their +services and even money to the search. The little _Fox_ sailed in +1857, to search the waters between Beechey Island and the mouth of the +Back. When she returned to England two years later she brought back +with her the first, and the last, direct information ever received from +the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_. In a cairn on the west coast of King +William's Island was found a document placed there from Franklin's +ships. It was dated May 28, 1847 (two years after the ships left +England). It read: 'H.M. Ships _Erebus_ and _Terror_ wintered in the +ice lat. 70 deg. 5' N. long., 98 deg. 23' west, having wintered in 1845-46 at +Beechey Island after having ascended Wellington Channel to Lat. 77 deg. and +returned by the west side of Cornwallis Island. Sir John Franklin +commanding the expedition. All well.' + +{132} + +This showed that Franklin had, as already gathered, explored the +channels west and north from Lancaster Sound, and finding no way +through had wintered on Beechey Island (1845-46). Striking south from +there his ships had been caught in the open ice-pack, where they had +passed their second winter. At the time of writing, Franklin must have +been looking eagerly forward to their coming liberation and the +prosecution of their discoveries towards the American coast. + +But the document did not end there. It had evidently been placed in +the cairn in May of 1847; a year later the cairn had been reopened and +to the document a note had been appended, written in fine writing round +the edge of the original. The torn edge of the paper leaves part of +the date missing. It runs '... 848. H.M. Ships _Erebus_ and _Terror_ +were deserted on the 22 of April, 5 leagues NNW. of this ... been beset +since 12th Sept. 1846. The officers and crews consisting of 105 souls +under the command ... tain F. R. M. Crozier landed here in Lat. 69 deg. 37' +42" Long. 98 deg. 41'.' + +No words could convey better than these simple lines the full horror of +the disaster: two winters frozen in the ice-pack till the {133} lack of +food and the imminence of starvation compelled the officers and men to +leave the ships long before the summer season and try to make their way +over ice and snow to the south! And Franklin? The other edge of the +paper contained in the same writing a note that ran: 'Sir John Franklin +died on the 11th June 1847 and the total loss by death to the +expedition has been to date 9 officers and 14 men. F. R. M. Crozier, +Captain and Senior Officer. James Fitzjames, Captain H.M.S. +_Erebus_.' At one corner of the paper are the final words that, taken +along with the stories of the Eskimos, explained the last chapter of +the tragedy--'and start to-morrow 26th for Back's Fish River.' + +M'Clintock did all that could be done. He and his party traced out the +coast on both sides of King William's Island, and, having reached the +mouth of the Back river, he traced the course of Crozier and his +perishing companions step by step backwards over the scene of the +disaster. The Eskimos whom he met told him of the freezing in of the +two great ships: how the white men had abandoned them and walked over +the ice: how one ship had been crushed in the ice a few months later +and had gone down: and how the other ship {134} had lain a wreck for +years and years beside the coast of King William's Island. One aged +woman who had visited the scene told M'Clintock's party that there had +been on the wrecked ship the dead body of a tall man with long teeth +and large bones. + +The searchers themselves found more direct testimony still. A few +miles south of Cape Herschel lay the skeleton of one of Franklin's men, +outstretched on the ground, just as he had fallen on the fatal march, +the head pointing towards the Back river. At another point there was +found a boat with two corpses in it, the one lying in the stern +carefully covered as if by the act of his surviving comrade, the other +lying in the bow, two loaded muskets standing upright beside the body. +A great number of relics that marked the path of Crozier's men were +found along the shore of King William's Island. In one place a +plundered cairn was discovered. But, strangely enough, no document or +writing to tell anything of the fate of the survivors after they +started on their last march. That all perished by the way there can be +little doubt. But it is altogether probable that before the final +catastrophe overtook them they had endeavoured to place somewhere a +record of their achievements and their {135} sufferings. Such a record +may still lie buried among the stones of the desolate region where they +died, and it may well be that some day the chance discovery of an +explorer will bring it to light. But it can tell us little more than +we already know by inference of the tragic but inspiring disaster that +overwhelmed the men of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_. + + + + +{136} + +CHAPTER VI + +EPILOGUE. THE CONQUEST OF THE POLE + +It is no part of the present narrative to follow in detail the +explorations and discoveries made in the polar seas in recent times. +After the great episode of the loss of Franklin, and the search for his +ships, public interest in the North-West Passage may be said to have +ended. The journey made by Sir Robert M'Clure and his men, after +abandoning their ship, had proved that such a water-way existed, but +the knowledge of the northern regions acquired in the attempt to find +the survivors of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_ made it clear that the +passage was valueless, not merely for commerce, but even for the uses +of exploration. For the time being a strong reaction set in, and +popular opinion condemned any further expenditure of life and money in +the frozen regions of the Arctic. But, although the sensational aspect +of northern discovery had thus largely disappeared, a new incentive +{137} began to make itself increasingly felt; the progress of physical +science, the rapid advance in the knowledge of electricity and +magnetism, and the rise of the science of biology were profoundly +altering the whole outlook of the existing generation towards the globe +that they inhabited. The sea itself, like everything else, became an +object of scientific study. Its currents and its temperature, its +relation to the land masses which surrounded it, acquired a new +importance in the light of geological and physical research. The polar +waters offered a fruitful field for the new investigations. In place +of the adventurous explorers of Frobisher's day, searching for fabled +empires and golden cities, there appeared in the seas of the north the +inquisitive man of science, eagerly examining the phenomena of sea and +sky, to add to the stock of human knowledge. Very naturally there grew +up under such conditions an increasing desire to reach the Pole itself, +and to test whether the theoretical conclusions of the astronomer were +borne out by the actual observations of one standing upon the apex of +the spinning earth. The attempt to reach the Pole became henceforth +the great preoccupation of Arctic discovery. From this time on the +story of what has been done in {138} the northern seas belongs not to +Canada but to the world at large. The voyages of such men as +Frobisher, Davis and Hudson, and the journeys of men like Hearne and +Mackenzie led to the opening up of this vast country and belong to +Canadian history. But in recent Arctic discovery the point of interest +had never been found in the lands about the northern seas, but only in +the Arctic ocean itself and in the effort to penetrate farther and +farther north. Little by little this effort was rewarded. A series of +intrepid explorers forced their way onward until at last the Pole +itself was reached and the frozen North had yielded up its hollow +mystery. + +The struggle to reach the Pole was the form in which Arctic exploration +came to life again after the paralysing effect of the Franklin tragedy. +Some of the Franklin relief expeditions had reached very high +latitudes, and, shortly after the great tragedy, the exploring ships of +Dr Kane and Dr Hayes, and the _Polaris_ under Captain Hall, had all +passed the eightieth parallel and been within less than ten degrees of +the Pole. The idea grew that there might be an open polar sea, +navigable at times to the very apex of the world. In 1875 the _Alert_ +and the _Discovery_, two ships of the British Navy, {139} were sent out +with the express purpose of reaching the North Pole. They sailed up +the narrow waters that separate Greenland from the large islands lying +west of it. The _Alert_ wintered as far north as latitude 82 deg. 24'. A +sledge party that was sent out under Captain Markham went as far as +latitude 83 deg. 20', and the expedition returned with the proud +distinction of having carried its flag northward beyond all previous +explorations. But other nations were not to lag behind. An American +expedition (1881) under Lieutenant Greeley, carried on the exploration +of the extreme north of Greenland and of the interior of Grinnell Land +that lies west of it. Two of Greeley's men, Lieutenant Lockwood and a +companion, followed the Greenland coast northward in a sledge and +passed Markham's latitude, reaching 83 deg. 24' north, which remained for +many years as the highest point attained. Greeley's expedition became +the subject of a tragedy almost comparable to the great Franklin +disaster. The vessels sent with supplies failed to reach their +destination. For four years Greeley and his men remained in the Arctic +regions. Of the twenty-three men in the party only six were found +alive when Captain Schley of the United States Navy at last brought +relief. + +{140} + +After the Greeley expedition the fight towards the Pole was carried on +by a series of gallant explorers, none of whom, strange to narrate, +were British. Commander R. E. Peary, of the United States Navy, came +prominently before the world as an Arctic navigator in the last decade +of the nineteenth century. In 1892 he crossed northern Greenland in +the extreme latitude of 81 deg. 37', a feat of the highest order. + +Still more striking was the work of Dr Fridtjof Nansen, which attracted +the attention of the whole world. Nansen had devoted profound study to +the question of the northern drift of the polar waters. It had often +been observed that drift-wood and wreckage seemed, in many places, to +float towards the Pole. Trees that fall in the Siberian forests and +float down the great rivers to the northern sea are frequently found +washed up on the shores of Greenland, having apparently passed over the +Pole itself. A strong current flows northward through Bering Strait, +and it is a matter of record that an American vessel, the _Jeanette_, +which stuck fast in the ice near Wrangel Land in 1879, drifted slowly +northward with the ice for two years, and made its way in this fashion +some four hundred miles towards the {141} Pole. Dr Nansen formed the +bold design of carrying a ship under steam into one of the currents of +the Far North, allowing it to freeze in, and then trusting to the polar +drift to do the rest. The adventures of Nansen and his men in this +enterprise are so well known as scarcely to need recital. A stout +wooden vessel of four hundred tons, the _Fram_ (or the _Forwards_), was +specially constructed to withstand the grip of the polar ice. In 1893 +she sailed from Norway and made her way by the Kara Sea to the New +Siberian Islands. In October, the _Fram_ froze into the ice and there +she remained for three years, drifting slowly forwards in the heart of +the vast mass. Her rudder and propeller were unshipped and taken +inboard, her engine was taken to pieces and packed away, while on her +deck a windmill was erected to generate electric power. In this +situation, snugly on board their stout ship, Nansen and his crew +settled down into the unbroken night of the Arctic winter. The ice +that surrounded them was twelve feet thick, and escape from it, even +had they desired it, would have been impossible. They watched eagerly +the direction of their drift, worked out by observation of the stars. +For the first few weeks, propelled by northern winds, the _Fram_ moved +southwards. Then {142} slowly the northern current began to make +itself felt, but during the whole of this first winter the _Fram_ only +moved a few miles onward towards her goal. All the next summer the +ship remained fast frozen and drifted about two hundred miles. With +her rate of progress and direction, Nansen reckoned that she would +reach, not the Pole, but Spitzbergen, and would take four and a half +years more to do it. All through the next winter the _Fram_ moved +slowly northwards and westwards. In the spring of 1895 she was still +about five hundred miles from the Pole, and her present path would miss +it by about three hundred and fifty miles. Nansen resolved upon an +enterprise unparalleled in hardihood. He resolved to take with him a +single companion, to leave the _Fram_ and to walk over the ice to the +Pole, and thence as best he might to make his way, not back to his ship +again (for that was impossible), but to the nearest known land. The +whole distance to be covered was almost a thousand miles. Dr Nansen +and Lieutenant Johansen left the _Fram_ on March 13, 1895, to make this +attempt. They failed in their enterprise. To struggle towards the +Pole over the pack-ice, at times reared in rough hillocks and at times +split with lanes of open water, proved {143} a feat beyond the power of +man. Nansen and his companion got as far as latitude 86 deg. 13', a long +way north of all previous records. By sheer pluck and endurance they +managed to make their way southward again. They spent the winter on an +Arctic island in a hut of stone and snow, and in June of the next year +(1896) at last reached Franz Joseph Land, where they fell in with a +British expedition. They reached Norway in time to hear the welcome +news that the _Fram_, after a third winter in the ice, had drifted into +open sea again and had just come safely into port. + +Equally glorious, but profoundly tragic, was the splendid attempt of +Professor Andree to reach the Pole in a balloon, which followed on the +heels of Nansen's enterprise. Andree, who was a professor in the +Technical School at Stockholm, had been for some years interested in +the rising science of aerial navigation. He judged that by this means +a way might be found to the Pole where all else failed. By the +generous aid of the king of Sweden, Baron Dickson and others, he had a +balloon constructed in Paris which represented the very latest progress +towards the mastery of the air, in the days before the aeroplane and +the light-weight motor had opened a new chapter in {144} history. +Andree's balloon was made of 3360 pieces of silk sewn together with +three miles of seams. It contained 158,000 cubic feet of hydrogen; it +carried beneath it a huge wicker basket that served as a sort of house +for Andree and his companions, and to the netting of this were lashed +provisions, sledges, frame boats, and other appliances to meet the +needs of the explorers if their balloon was wrecked on the northern +ice. There was no means of propulsion, but three heavy guide ropes, +trailing on the ground, afforded a feeble and uncertain control. The +whole reliance of Andree was placed, consciously and with full +knowledge of the consequences, on the possibility that a strong and +favouring wind might carry him across the Pole. The balloon was taken +on shipboard to Spitzbergen and there inflated in a tall shed built for +the purpose. Andree was accompanied by two companions, Strindberg and +Fraenkel. On July 11, 1897, the balloon was cast loose, and, with a +southerly wind and bright sky, it was seen to vanish towards the north. +It is known, from a message sent by a pigeon, that two days later all +was well and the balloon still moving towards its goal. Since then no +message or token has ever been found to tell us the fate of the three +brave men, and {145} the names of Andree and his companions are added +to the long list of those who have given their lives for the +advancement of human knowledge. + +With the opening of the present century the progress of polar +exploration was rapid. Peary continued his explorations towards the +north of Greenland, and, in 1906, by reaching latitude 87 deg. 6', he +wrested from Nansen the coveted record of Farthest North. At the same +time Captain Sverdrup (the commander of the _Fram_), the Duke of the +Abruzzi and many others were carrying out scientific expeditions in +polar waters. The voyage made in 1904 by Captain Roald Amundsen, a +Norwegian, later on to be world-famous as the discoverer of the South +Pole, is of especial interest, for he succeeded in carrying his little +ship from the Atlantic to the Pacific by way of Bering Strait--the only +vessel that has ever actually made the North-West Passage. But the +great prize fell to Captain Peary. On September 6, 1909, the world +thrilled with the announcement that Peary had reached the Pole. His +ship, the _Roosevelt_, had sailed in the summer of 1908. Peary +wintered at Etah in the north of Greenland, and in the ensuing year, +accompanied by Captain Bartlett with five white men and {146} seventeen +Eskimos, he set out to reach the Pole by sledge. By arrangement, +Peary's companions accompanied him a certain distance carrying +supplies, and then turned back in successive parties. The final dash +for the Pole was made by the commander himself, accompanied only by a +negro servant and four Eskimos. On April 6, 1909, they reached the +Pole and hoisted there the flag of the United States. To make doubly +certain of their discovery, Peary and his men went some ten miles +beyond the Pole, and eight miles in a lateral direction. They saw +nothing but ice about them, and no indication of the neighbourhood of +any land. + + + + +{147} + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +For the earlier voyages of the English to the Northern seas the first +and principal authority is, of course, the famous collection of +contemporary narratives gathered together by Richard Hakluyt under the +title, _Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of +the English Nation_. Here the reader will find accounts of the +enterprises of Frobisher, Davis, and others as written by members of +the expeditions and persons closely connected therewith. An +interesting presentation of the exploits of Hudson, as revealed in +original documents, is found in _Henry Hudson, the Navigator_, +published by the Hakluyt Society. The journal of Samuel Hearne, +together with many maps and much interesting material, is to be found +among the publications of the Champlain Society, (Toronto, 1911) ably +edited and annotated by the well-known explorer Mr J. B. Tyrrell. +Alexander Mackenzie's own account of his voyages is a classic, and is +readily accessible in public libraries. An account of Mackenzie's +career is found in the 'Makers of Canada' series. Sir John Franklin +left behind him a very graphic description of his first journey to the +polar seas, to which {148} reference has already been made in the text. +For the story of the loss of Franklin and the search for his missing +ships the reader may best consult the works of Sir John Richardson, and +others who participated in the events of the period. + +See also in this series: _The Adventurers of England on Hudson Bay_. + + + + +{149} + +INDEX + +Amundsen, Captain Roald, makes the North-West Passage, 145. + +Anderson, of the Hudson's Bay Company, finds traces of the Franklin +expedition, 129-30. + +Andree, Prof., his attempt to reach the North Pole in a balloon ends in +tragedy, 143-5. + +Arctic seas, the short way to India and China by, 5-7. + +Athabaska, Lake, geographical position of, 73. + +Athabaska river, 66. + + +Back, Admiral Sir George, with Franklin, 95, 100, 101, 104; rescues +Franklin, 107; explores Backs river, 111. + +Baffin, William, and the North-West Passage, 32. + +Baffin Island, Frobisher's experiences on, 12-14. + +Belcher, Captain Sir Edward, in the search for the Franklin expedition, +124; abandons his ships, 125; court-martial on, 126. + +Bellot, Lieut, of the French navy, sacrifices his life in the search +for Franklin, 124, 125. + +Buchan, Captain, and expedition to the North Pole, 93. + + +Cabot, Sebastian, and the North-West Passage, 5, 6. + +Canada, the Far North of, a description, 1-2, 26-7; resources of, 37-8, +87; barren grounds, 40-1, 46, 55-7; a geographical problem in, 71. + +Cartier, Jacques, 4, 5. + +Chawchinahaw, an Indian chief, treachery of, 40-2. + +Company of the North, hostility to Hudson's Bay Company, 36. + +Cook, Captain, and the Arctic seas, 70. + +Copper in the Far North, 37; attempts to find, and disastrous fate of +the expedition, 38; found by Hearne, 63. + +Coppermine river, attempts to reach, 38, 39; Hearne at, 58; Franklin +at, 96, 100. + +Crozier, Captain, with Franklin, 116; fate of, 129, 132-4. + +Cumberland House, Franklin at, 95. + + +Davis, John, his voyages in search of the North-West Passage, 23-31. + +Dubawnt Lake, description of, 46. + + +Elizabeth, Queen, voyages under, 7; honours Frobisher, 11. + +English Chief, an Indian with Mackenzie, 75, 84. + +'Erebus' and 'Terror' in Franklin's ill-fated expedition, 112, 116; +last seen, 117; last news of and fate, 131, 132-4. + +Eskimos, conflicts with explorers, 13-14, 16; trade with, 25, 28; Davis +on, 28-30; relations with the Indians, 56-7; attacked and massacred, +58-61, 62; and fate of the Franklin expedition, 127-8. + + +Fitzjames, Captain James, with the Franklin expedition, 116, 133. + +Fort Chipewyan erected, 74, 78; Franklin at, 95. + +Fort Churchill, trade at, 38. + +Fort Enterprise, Franklin winters in, 96; a tragic episode, 103-7. + +Fort Prince of Wales, expeditions from, 40, 42, 51, 68. + +Fort Providence, Franklin at, 95. + +Fox, Luke, and the North-West Passage, 32; and Hudson Bay, 34. + +'Fram,' the, and Nansen's theory, 141-3. + +Franklin, Sir John, early training, 91; first Arctic voyage, 93-4; +second, 94; inland journeys, 64, 95-6; a winter at Fort Enterprise, +97-8; traces Arctic coast in canoe, 98; tragic journey back by land to +Fort Enterprise, 99-104; terrible experiences, 104-7; third expedition, +109-110; last and fatal expedition, 89, 113-17; fate of, 127-9. + +Franklin, Lady, her devotion, 90; sends in search of Franklin +expedition, 121, 124, 131. + +Franklin expedition, the, apprehension in Britain concerning, 118-19; +search for, 121-6; news of, 122-3, 127-8, 129-30; tragic records of, +131-5. + +Frobisher, Sir Martin, voyages in search of the North-West Passage, +10-14, 15-23. + +Fur trade, effect of on Arctic exploration, 35. + + +Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, and the North-West Passage, 8-10. + +Gold, search for in Arctic regions, 14, 17, 18, 20. + +Great Bear river, Mackenzie on, 80, 87. + +Great Slave Lake, description of, 66, 77. + +Greeley, Lieut., his attempt to reach the North Pole, 139. + +Greenland, or Frisland, 7, 11; Land of Desolation, 23, + + +Hearne, Samuel, joins the Hudson's Bay Company, 39; expeditions to +Coppermine river, 40-1, 42-51, 51-63, 65-8; and Admiral La Perouse, 68. + +Hepburn, a sailor with Franklin, 95, 101, 102, 103. + +Hood, Lieut., with Franklin, 95, 100, 101; his tragic death, 102. + +Hudson, Henry, and the North-West Passage, 31-2. + +Hudson Bay explored, 34; convenience of for fur trade, 35; conflicts +between French and English in, 36. + +Hudson's Bay Company founded, 35; objects of, 36; search for copper, +37-8; development, 72. + + +Indians, their treachery, 41, 45; troubles with, 47, 48; designs +against Eskimos, 56-7, 58-61; shyness of, 79; terror of the Far North, +80. + +Indian women, an Indian's estimate of, 53. + + +Kelsey, Henry, inland journey of, 37. + + +Leroux, descends Great Slave river, 75; with Mackenzie, 78, 88. + + +M'Clintock, Captain, finds last records of the Franklin expedition, +131-5. + +M'Clure, Captain, first to make the North-West Passage, 124, 125-6. + +Mackenzie, Alexander, joins North-West Company, 73; journey to the +Arctic ocean by the Mackenzie river, 75-88. + +Marble Island, a grim tale of shipwreck at, 38. + +Markham, Captain, and the North Pole, 139. + +Matonabbee, an Indian chief, succours Hearne, 49; character of, 51; +assists Hearne to reach Coppermine river, 53-4, 56; his opinion of +women, 53. + +Meta Incognita, 14, 16; formal landing of Frobisher on, 17; a fort +erected on, 21. + +Michel, an Indian with Franklin, feeds on his companions and murders +Lieut. Hood, 102-3. + +Muscovy Company, the, and passage to the East by the White Sea, 6; +oppose Frobisher, 10. + + +Nansen, Dr, attempts to reach the Pole by drifting, 140-3. + +North-West Company founded, 72. + +North-West Passage, as a road to Asia, 5-8; advantages of, 9; Sir +Humphrey Gilbert on, 8-10; voyages in search of, 11-21, 23-32; the +passage nearly completed, 110-11, 114-115; the passage made, 126, 145. + +Norton, Moses, governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, and expeditions to +Coppermine river, 39, 42, 50, 51. + + +Orkneys, the, savage state of the inhabitants of, 15. + + +Parry, Sir William, and the North-West Passage, 109, 113. + +Peace river, course of, 71, 76. + +Peary, Commander R. E., attempts to reach the North Pole, 140; +succeeds, 145-6. + +Penny, Captain, finds traces of the Franklin expedition, 122. + +Polar seas, a fruitful field for scientific investigation, 137; +Nansen's study of a scientific theory, 140-1. + +Pole, North, progress in scientific knowledge creates desire to reach, +137-8. + + +Rae, Dr John, and the search for the Franklin expedition, 121, 127-9. + +Richardson, Sir John, with Franklin, 95, 97, 100, 101, 102, 109-10; +shoots murderer of Lieutenant Hood, 103; finds Franklin in a parlous +state, 103-7; in search for the Franklin expedition, 120-1. + +Ross, Sir James, and the North-West Passage, 111; in search for the +Franklin expedition, 121. + +Ross, Sir John, 111, 118, 121. + + +Simpson, Thomas, and the North-West Passage, 111. + + +Whale Island, why so named, 86. + +Wholdaia Lake, description of, 54-5. + + +York Factory, Franklin at, 95. + + + + + Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty + at the Edinburgh University Press + + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED + +Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON + + + +THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA + +PART I + +THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS + +1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY + By Stephen Leacock. + +2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO + By Stephen Leacock. + + +PART II + +THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE + +3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE + By Charles W. Colby. + +4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA + By William Bennett Munro. + +6. THE GREAT INTENDANT + By Thomas Chapais. + +7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR + By Charles W. Colby. + + +PART III + +THE ENGLISH INVASION + +8. THE GREAT FORTRESS + By William Wood. + +9. THE ACADIAN EXILES + By Arthur G. Doughty. + +10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE + By William Wood. + +11. THE WINNING OF CANADA + By William Wood. + + +PART IV + +THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA + +12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA + By William Wood. + +13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES + By William Wood. + + +PART V + +THE RED MAN IN CANADA + +15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS + By Thomas Guthrie Marquis. + +16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE + By Ethel T. Raymond. + + +PART VI + +PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST + +18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY + By Agnes C. Laut. + +19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS + By Lawrence J. Burpee. + +20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH + By Stephen Leacock. + +21. THE RED RIVER COLONY + By Louis Aubrey Wood. + +22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST + By Agnes C. Laut. + +23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL + By Agnes C. Laut. + + +PART VII + +THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM + +24. THE FAMILY COMPACT + By W. Stewart Wallace. + +25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37 + By Alfred D. DeCelles. + +26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA + By William Lawson Grant. + +27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT + By Archibald MacMechan. + + +PART VIII + +THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY + +28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION + By A. H. U. Colquhoun. + +29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD + By Sir Joseph Pope. + +30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER + By Oscar D. Skelton. + + +PART IX + +NATIONAL HIGHWAYS + +31. ALL AFLOAT + By William Wood. + +32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS + By Oscar D. 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