The English at the North Pole

by Jules Verne

  CHAPTER XIV

  EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF FRANKLIN

  On Wednesday, the 23rd of May, the _Forward_ had again taken up heradventurous navigation, cleverly tacking amongst the packs andicebergs. Thanks to steam, that obedient force which so many of ourPolar sea navigators have had to do without, she appeared to be playingin the midst of the moving rocks. She seemed to recognise the handof an experienced master, and like a horse under an able rider, sheobeyed the thought of her captain. The temperature rose. At sixo'clock in the morning the thermometer marked twenty-six degrees,at six in the evening twenty-nine degrees, and at midnight twenty-fivedegrees; the wind was lightly blowing from the south-east.

  On Thursday, towards three in the morning, the _Forward_ was in sightof Possession Bay, on the coast of America. At the entrance toLancaster Strait, shortly after, the crew caught a glimpse of BurneyCape. A few Esquimaux pulled off towards the vessel, but Hatterasdid not take the trouble to wait for them. The Byam-Martin peaks,which overlook Cape Liverpool, were sighted to the left, and soondisappeared in the evening mists, which also prevented anyobservation being taken from Cape Hay. This cape is so low that itgets confounded with the ice on the coast, a circumstance which oftenrenders the hydrographic determination of the Polar seas extremelydifficult.

  Puffins, ducks, and white sea-gulls showed up in very great numbers.The _Forward_ was then in latitude 74 degrees 1 minute, and inlongitude 77 degrees 15 minutes. The snowy hoods of the two mountains,Catherine and Elizabeth, rose up above the clouds.

  On Friday, at six o'clock, Cape Warender was passed on the right sideof the strait, and on the left Admiralty Inlet, a bay that has beenlittle explored by navigators, who are generally in a hurry to sailaway west. The sea became rather rough, and the waves often sweptthe deck of the brig, throwing up pieces of ice. The land on the northcoast, with its high table lands almost level, and which reverberatedthe sun's rays, offered a very curious appearance.

  Hatteras wanted to run along the north coast, in order to reach BeecheyIsland and the entrance to Wellington Channel sooner; but continualicebergs compelled him, to his great annoyance, to follow the southernpasses. That was why, on the 26th of May, the _Forward_ was abreastof Cape York in a thick fog interspersed with snow; a very highmountain, almost perpendicular, caused it to be recognised. Theweather cleared up a little, and the sun, towards noon, appeared foran instant, allowing a tolerably good observation to be taken; 74degrees 4 minutes latitude and 84 degrees 23 minutes longitude. The_Forward_ was then at the extremity of Lancaster Strait.

  Hatteras pointed out to the doctor on his map the route already taken,and the one he meant to follow. The position of the brig at the timewas very interesting.

  "I should like to have been further north," said he, "but no one cando the impossible; see, this is our exact situation."

  And the captain pricked his map at a short distance from Cape York.

  "We are in the centre of this four-road way, open to every wind, fencedby the outlets of Lancaster Strait, Barrow Strait, Wellington Channel,and Regent's Passage; it is a point that all navigators in these seashave been obliged to come to."

  "Well," replied the doctor, "it must have puzzled them greatly; fourcross-roads with no sign-posts to tell them which to take. How didParry, Ross, and Franklin manage?"

  "They did not manage at all, they were managed; they had no choice,I can assure you; sometimes Barrow Strait was closed to one of them,and the next year another found it open; sometimes the vessel wasirresistibly drawn towards Regent's Passage, so that we have endedby becoming acquainted with these inextricable seas."

  "What a singular country!" said the doctor, examining the map. "Itis all in pieces, and they seem to have no logical connection. Itseems as if the land in the vicinity of the North Pole had been cutup like this on purpose to make access to it more difficult, whilstthat in the other hemisphere quietly terminates in tapered-out pointslike those of Cape Horn, the Cape of Good Hope, and the IndianPeninsula. Is it the greater rapidity of the equator which has thusmodified matters, whilst the land at the extremities, yet fluid fromthe creation, has not been able to get condensed or agglomeratedtogether, for want of a sufficiently rapid rotation?"

  "That must be the case, for everything on earth is logical, and'nothing is that errs from law,' and God often allows men to discoverHis laws; make use of His permission, doctor."

  "Unfortunately, I shall not be able to take much advantage of it,"said the doctor, "but the wind here is something dreadful," addedhe, muffling himself up as well as he could.

  "Yes, we are quite exposed to the north wind, and it is turning usout of our road."

  "Anyhow it ought to drive the ice down south, and level a clear road."

  "It ought to do so, doctor, but the wind does not always do what itought. Look, that ice-bank seems impenetrable. Never mind, we willtry to reach Griffith Island, sail round Cornwallis Island, and getinto Queen's Channel without going by Wellington Channel.Nevertheless I positively desire to touch at Beechey Island in orderto renew my coal provision."

  "What do you mean?" asked the astonished doctor.

  "I mean that, according to orders from the Admiralty, large provisionshave been deposited on that island in order to provide for futureexpeditions, and although Captain McClintock took some in 1859, Iassure you that there will be some left for us."

  "By-the-bye," said the doctor, "these parts have been explored forthe last fifteen years, and since the day when the proof of the lossof Franklin was acquired, the Admiralty has always kept five or sixcruisers in these seas. If I am not mistaken, Griffith Island, whichI see there on the map, almost in the middle of the cross-roads, hasbecome a general meeting-place for navigators."

  "It is so, doctor; and Franklin's unfortunate expedition resultedin making known these distant countries to us."

  "That is true, captain, for since 1845 expeditions have been verynumerous. It was not until 1848 that we began to be uneasy about thedisappearance of the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, Franklin's twovessels. It was then that we saw the admiral's old friend, Dr.Richardson, at the age of seventy, go to Canada, and ascend CoppermineRiver as far as the Polar Sea; and James Ross, commanding the_Enterprise_ and _Investigation_, set out from Uppernawik in 1848and arrived at Cape York, where we now are. Every day he threw a tubcontaining papers into the sea, for the purpose of making known hiswhereabouts. During the mists he caused the cannon to be fired, andhad sky-rockets sent up at night along with Bengal lights, and keptunder sail continually. He wintered in Port Leopold from 1848 to 1849,where he took possession of a great number of white foxes, and causedbrass collars, upon which was engraved the indication of thewhereabouts of ships and the store depots, to be riveted on theirnecks. Afterwards they were dispersed in all directions; in thefollowing spring he began to search the coasts of North Somerset onsledges in the midst of dangers and privations from which almost allhis men fell ill or lame. He built up cairns in which he inclosedbrass cylinders with the necessary memoranda for rallying the lostexpedition. While he was away his lieutenant McClure explored thenorthern coasts of Barrow Strait, but without result. James Ross hadunder his orders two officers who, later on, were destined to becomecelebrities--McClure, who cleared the North-West passage, andMcClintock, who discovered the remains of Sir John Franklin."

  "Yes; they are now two good and brave English captains. You know thehistory of these seas well, doctor, and you will benefit us by tellingus about it. There is always something to be gained by hearing aboutsuch daring attempts."

  "Well, to finish all I know about James Ross: he tried to reachMelville Island by a more westerly direction, but he nearly lost histwo vessels, for he was caught by the ice and driven back into Baffin'sSea."

  "Driven back?" repeated Hatteras, contracting his brows; "forcedback in spite of himself?"

  "Yes, and without having discovered anything," continued the doctor;"and ever since that year, 1850, English vessels have never ceasedto plough these seas, and a reward of twenty
thousand pounds wasoffered to any one who might find the crews of the _Erebus_ and_Terror_. Captains Kellett and Moore had already, in 1848, attemptedto get through Behring's Strait. In 1850 and 1851 Captain Austinwintered in Cornwallis Island; Captain Parry, on board the_Assistance_ and the _Resolute_, explored Wellington Channel; JohnRoss, the venerable hero of the magnetic pole, set out again withhis yacht, the _Felix_, in search of his friend; the brig _PrinceAlbert_ went on a first cruise at the expense of Lady Franklin; and,lastly, two American ships, sent out by Grinnell with Captain Haven,were drifted out of Wellington Channel and thrown back into LancasterStrait. It was during this year that McClintock, who was then Austin'slieutenant, pushed on as far as Melville Island and Cape Dundas, theextreme points attained by Parry in 1819; it was then that he foundtraces of Franklin's wintering on Beechey Island in 1845."

  "Yes," answered Hatteras, "three of his sailors had been buriedthere--three men more fortunate than the others!"

  The doctor nodded in approval of Hatteras's remark, and continued:

  "During 1851 and 1852 the _Prince Albert_ went on a second voyageunder the French lieutenant, Bellot; he wintered at Batty Bay, inPrince Regent Strait, explored the south-west of Somerset, andreconnoitred the coast as far as Cape Walker. During that time the_Enterprise_ and the _Investigator_ returned to England and passedunder the command of Collinson and McClure for the purpose ofrejoining Kellett and Moore in Behring's Straits; whilst Collinsoncame back to winter at Hong-Kong, McClure made the best of his wayonward, and after being obliged to winter three times--from 1850 to'51; from 1851 to '52; and from 1852 to '53--he discovered theNorth-West passage without learning anything of Franklin's fate.During 1852 and '53 a new expedition composed of three sailing vessels,the _Resolute_, the _Assistance_, the _North Star_, and two steamers,the _Pioneer_ and _Intrepid_, set sail under the command of Sir EdwardBelcher, with Captain Kellett under him; Sir Edward visitedWellington Channel, wintered in Northumberland Bay, and went overthe coast, whilst Kellett, pushing on to Bridport in Melville Island,explored, without success, that part of the boreal land. It was atthis time that news was spread in England that two ships, abandonedin the midst of icebergs, had been descried near the coast of NewScotland. Lady Franklin immediately had prepared the little screw_Isabelle_, and Captain Inglefield, after having steamed up Baffin'sBay as far as Victoria Point on the eightieth parallel, came backto Beechey Island no more successful than his predecessors. At thebeginning of 1855, Grinnell, an American, fitted up a fresh expedition,and Captain Kane tried to penetrate to the Pole----"

  "But he didn't do it," cried Hatteras violently; "and what he didn'tdo we will, with God's help!"

  "I know, captain," answered the doctor, "and I mention it becausethis expedition is of necessity connected with the search for Franklin.But it had no result. I was almost forgetting to tell you that theAdmiralty, considering Beechey Island as the general rendezvous ofexpeditions, charged Captain Inglefield, who then commanded thesteamer _Phoenix_, to transport provisions there in 1853; Inglefieldset out with Lieutenant Bellot, and lost the brave officer who forthe second time had devoted his services to England; we can have moreprecise details upon this catastrophe, as our boatswain, Johnson,was witness to the misfortune."

  "Lieutenant Bellot was a brave Frenchman," said Hatteras, "and hismemory is honoured in England."

  "By that time," continued the doctor, "Belcher's fleet began to comeback little by little; not all of it, for Sir Edward had been obligedto abandon the _Assistance_ in 1854, as McClure had done with the_Investigator_ in 1853. In the meantime, Dr. Rae, in a letter datedthe 29th of July, 1854, and addressed from Repulse Bay, which he hadsucceeded in reaching through America, sent word that the Esquimauxof King William's Land were in possession of different objects takenfrom the wrecks of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_; there was then not theleast doubt about the fate of the expedition; the _Phoenix_, the_North Star_, and Collinson's vessel then came back to England,leaving the Arctic Seas completely abandoned by English ships. Butif the Government seemed to have lost all hope it was not so withLady Franklin, and with the remnants of her fortune she fitted outthe _Fox_, commanded by McClintock, who set sail in 1857, and winteredin the quarters where you made your apparition; he reached BeecheyIsland on the 11th of August, 1858, wintered a second time in Bellot'sStrait, began his search again in February, 1859, and on the 6th ofMay found the document which cleared away all doubt about the fateof the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, and returned to England at the endof the year. That is all that has happened for fifteen years in thesefateful countries, and since the return of the _Fox_ not a singlevessel has returned to attempt success in the midst of these dangerousseas."

  "Well," replied Hatteras, "we will attempt it."