44 



NATURE 



\Nov. 9, 1876 



tous land. South of the Cape the land slopes down to 

 the shore line, and is fronted by a breast-work of broken 

 off floe-bergs similar, but somewhat smaller, than those 

 lining the shore of the Polar Sea ; among these the ship 

 was secured in three fathoms water within twenty yards 

 of the shore, a mile south of the Cape, and considering 

 our much more exposed position during the winter, I 

 thought the ship secure. 



During August 4 the weather was overcast with snow 

 squalls from the south-west, with a low barometer but not 

 much wind. As the ice had closed in and locked the 

 ship up completely, the sportsmen visited the lakes where 

 three musk-oxen had been shot the previous summer. A 

 number of geese were found all unable to fly ; the old ones 

 moulting were nearly featherless, and the young ones not 

 yet having grown theirs ; consequently fifty-seven were 

 captured, a very welcome supply for the invalids, of whom 

 we had ten still remaining. The ice remaining close, and 

 being only twenty miles from the Discovery, Mr. Egerton, 

 with a seaman for a companion, was sent to her on 

 August 5 with orders for her to prepare for sea. They 

 had a rough and troublesome walk over the hills, but 

 arrived the same evening. 



During our detention in this position, the pack in the 

 offing drifted up and down the strait with the tide, the 

 wind having the effect of increasing the speed of the 

 current, and the duration of its flow both towards the 

 north and the south. Although the ice generally was of a 

 considerably lighter character than that in the Polar Sea, 

 or at the northern entrance of Robeson Channel, a number 

 of heavy Polar floes passed us, driven to the southward by 

 the northerly wind, and set into Lady Franklin Sound 

 and Archer Fiord rather than down Kennedy Channel. 

 In fact, that Sound may be considered as a pocket 

 receiving all the heavy ice driven south through Robeson 

 Channel, and retaining it until the prevailing westerly 

 winds carry it to to the northward again, and clear out 

 the Sound ready to be re-filled when the north wind 

 returns. It is only during seasons when northerly winds 

 prevail considerably over the westerly ones, that the 

 heavy Polar ice is carried south in large quantities into 

 Smith's Sound and Baffin's Bay. 



On August 6 the wind increased considerably from the 

 north until it blew a gale. During the height of the flood 

 or south-going tide a succession of heavy floe pieces 

 passed us drifting down the strait, toying with our barrier 

 of outlying protections, and turning one large one com- 

 pletely topsy-turvy. It was firmly aground in twelve 

 fathoms water on an off-lying shoal some 200 yards from 

 the main line of the floe-bergs, and on this and the 

 previous days had been of great service in keeping the 

 line of the drifting pack at a safe distance from us ; but 

 on this occasion the point of a large floe which was drift- 

 ing south close in shore brought the weight of the whole 

 pack on the doomed mass. As it received the pressure the 

 floe-berg was reared up in the air to its full height of at 

 least 60 feet above water, and turning a complete somer- 

 sault, fell over on its back with a tremendous splash, 

 breaking into a number of pieces with a great commotion 

 and raising a wave sufficiently to roll the ship consider- 

 ably. Our protecting floe-berg carried away, the ice 

 moved in, forcing t he lighter floe-bergs one after the 

 other, as they became exposed farther in-shore, and at 

 last nipped the ship shghtly. This evening Lieut. Rawson 

 and two seamen arrived from the Discovery with news of 

 the Greenland division of sledges. On the morning of 

 August 7, with the wind blowing slightly off the land, the 

 ice eased off shore, and cleared the nip round the ship, 

 but did not allow me to move to a more sheltered posi- 

 tion. In the afternoon, a temporary opening occurring, 

 steam was raised and the rudder shipped, but owing to 

 some of the ropes fouling, the latter was not ready before 

 the ice closed in and imprisoned us again. During the 

 night the wind increased considerably, and with the south 



running tide the ice was being carried past us at the rate 

 of two miles an hour. Owing to several heavy pieces 

 grounding outside our line of barrier ice, the inner edge 

 of the pack was guided more towards our position, and at 

 last two heavy pieces wedged themselves against the ship, 

 the inner one grounding alongside the ship after forcing 

 her very close to the shore, and nipping her to such an 

 extent that the ship was raised bodily 3 feet. As the tide 

 rose the lighter ice in-shore gradually forced its way under 

 the ship's bottom an i relieved the pressure somewhat ; so 

 that after four hours she was only raised about 6 inches 

 above her usual draught of water. 



As there was nofi no hope of releasing the ship, except 

 by cutting down the heavy piece of ice which was aground 

 outside us, all hands were set to work with pickaxes to 

 lighten it. On August 10, after three days' work, the ice 

 having been sufficiently reduced, floated at the top of high 

 water, and released the ship ; the main pick moving off 

 shore at the same time, we advanced five miles, and on 

 the following day, after much trouble, succeeded in join- 

 mg company with the Discovery. Sending all my sick 

 men to the Discovery, the Alert was secured at the en- 

 trance of the harbour ready to start for Polaris Bay to 

 relieve Lieut. Beaumont immediately the ice permitted me 

 to cross ; but his arrival on August 14, as before stated, 

 fortunately rendered this passage unnecessary. The Dis- 

 covery having embarked her coals and provisions, both 

 ships were now ready to continue their voyage to the 

 southward, but although water was observed in Kennedy 

 Channel, the whole of Lady Franklin Sound remained 

 filled with the ice brought to the southward by the late 

 northerly gale. While waiting, ready to start, each of the 

 ships tailed on shore at nearly low water, but floated 

 again without damage. 



We were delayed here with calm weather and con- 

 sequent little motion in the ice until August 20, when, 

 a chance offering, we pushed our way through the 

 pack, which, gradually opening as we advanced, led 

 us into comparatively open water off Cape Lieber, 

 where a strong south-westerly wind had been blow- 

 ing for several days but had not been able to force 

 its way across the ice in Hall's Basin. As we neared 

 Cape Lawrence, the ice, which had been getting closer as 

 we advanced south, became so close that we must either 

 return north, run into the pack, or secure the ships to 

 some of the grounded floe-bergs or icebergs. I chose the 

 latter, and entering the bay immediately south of the 

 cape, we followed the coast until we found ourselves in a 

 large inner basin perfectly land-locked, and I made the 

 ships fast with perfect confidence, although with the spring 

 flood-tide the ice was floating sluggishly in and gradually 

 filling up the bay. It happened, unfortunately, that at 

 the very top of high-water a rather insignificant-looking 

 piece of ice pressed against the ship, when the floe- berg 

 in-shore of us, and against which the ship was resting, 

 having floated with the spring tide, allowed itself to be 

 pressed in-shore,- and suddenly we found the ship aground 

 forward with deep water under the stern. Before any means 

 could be taken to release her from this position the tide 

 had fallen 14 feet at low water, leaving the fore foot and 

 keel bare as far aft as the fore channels, the ship lying 

 over on her bilge at an angle of twenty-two degrees. As 

 the tide rose, the ship was lightened, the cables hauled 

 aft, and the anchors lowered on to suitable pieces of ice. 

 One of these was then hauled astern to a proper position, 

 when by blowing up the ice the anchor was laid out with 

 great ease. At high water the ship was hauled off with- 

 out having received any mjury. On August 22 a south- 

 west wind opened a passage ^again, of which immediate 

 advantage was taken, and we proceeded to the southward 

 as far as Cape Collinson with only the ordinary troubles 

 in ice navigation, dunng thick snow-storms, misty weather, 

 and strong head winds. Oil the cape, owing to the Alert 

 being obliged to back astern to escape a nip, the two 



