344 CAPTAIN BACK IN THE "TERROR "—1836-37. 



being registered in the sun, and about 36° in the shade. In this weather 

 excellent work might have been done in the boats along the coast, could the 

 " Terror " only have been got inshore. This annoying condition of aifairs 

 continued till noon of the 29th, when a general movement of the ice from 

 the westward began. "It is needless to say," writes Back, "with how 

 much pleasure so joyful a sight was hailed, and how sincerely we prayed 

 that both the cause and the effect might continue until a passage should be 

 cleared to the Frozen Strait." By noon on the 4th September the ship had 

 been worked to a position five miles west of Fife Rock, twenty-four miles 

 from Southampton Island, and four hundred and thirty-six miles from 

 Kepulse Bay. On the following day lanes of water were seen leading shore- 

 ward; but though every sail was set, and the strongest hawsers were fastened 

 in the ice ahead, and then hove round by the capstan, it was found impossible 

 to move the vessel, so firmly was the " sludge " frozen around her. There 

 was still, however, another resource. Lieutenant Smyth, Captain Back's 

 first officer, was despatched with the whole of the officers and men to the 

 only open water at all near, and the entire force setting to work with axes, 

 ice chisels, handspikes, and long poles, began cutting away the sludge that 

 bound the pieces together and removing the latter into the clear space. 

 " In this service they were frequently obliged to fasten lines to the heavier 

 masses and haul them out ; and though slipping and tumbling about, yet 

 the light-hearted fellows pulled in unison to a cheerful song, and laughed 

 and joked with the unreflecting merriment of schoolboys. Every now and 

 then some luckless wight broke through the thin ice and plunged up to his 

 neck ; another endeavouring to remove a piece of ice by pushing against a 

 larger mass would set himself adrift with it, and every such adventure was 

 followed by shouts of laughter and vociferous mirth." This resource proved 

 not unfruitful. The breeze gradually increased, the sails were hoisted, and 

 the " Terror " began to gather way and went slowly towards the land. The 

 expanse of ice around seemed indeed to be infinite ; but every dark spot of 

 water afforded some ground for the hope that, should the wind veer and 

 come off shore, Back would find himself in a navigable channel. As the 

 great masses separated from time to time, the hawsers were put in requisi- 

 tion, and the ship hove in between. This arduous labour was continued 

 incessantly until at ten p.m. the " Terror " was worked into a clear space 

 which, however, was only four miles long. On the evening of the 6th, the 

 ship being then distant ten or twelve miles from the shore of Southampton 

 Island, the vessel was again stopped by ice. Earnest, indeed, and frequent, 

 were the prayers for a south or a west wind, but no such favourable breeze 

 arose, and the enforced idleness of the officers and men was felt as most irk- 

 some. On September 11th the officers collected in groups and " basked in the 

 sunshine of an Arctic summer day, with the thermometer at 35°." To relieve 



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