Under the Northern Lights ... With illustrations by G. R. De Wilde

Preface

. There have been about two hundred and fifty books written on the Arctic regions. The reader can therefore hardly expect to find in the followingpages anything very new or striking. Those who wish to read detailed accounts of voyages in this interesting part of the globe, will find in the narratives of Parry, Ross, Franklin, Back, Gollinson, McClure, McClintock, Osborn, Kane, Hall, and Hayes, a series of fascinating stories ; while those who want a short and interesting account of all the voyages that have been made to these regions, and a summary of all that is known about them, can do no better than to read the Threshold of the Unknown Region, by Clements R. Markham, — the only intelligent synopsis of Arctic knowledge ever published. It only remained for me to give a few pictures preface.

VI of the pleasant side of Arctic life — pictures hastily sketched on a voyage that was remark able only for its dash and rapidity. I hope, therefore, that the Reader will not be disap pointed to find I have attempted nothing more. CONTENTS. CHAP. PAGE I.— Starting . 1 II. — Off Cape Farewell . . . .15 III.— Banko 25 IV. — The Coast of Greenland ... 31 V.— Disko 42 VI. — A Ball on board Ship .... 61 VII.— A Tea-party 71 VIII.— Coaling 78 IX.— The Eskimos 87 X. — Eskimo Literature ..... 109 XL- — Eskimo Joe 137 XII. — Leaving the Waigat . . . .161 XIII.— A Bootless Search 167 XIV.— A Pet Bear 180 XV.— Reefing Topsails 186 XVI. — Our Dumb Companions . . . .192 XVII.— Beechey Island 203 XVIIL— A Capstan Song 212 XIX.— Unknown Waters 218 XX. — The Land of Desolation . . . 225 XXI.— A Night in Peel Strait . . . 230 XXIL— A Day in Peel Strait . . . .240 XXIIL— Suspense CONTENTS.

VIII CHAP. PAGE XXIV.— Waiting 261 XXV. — Allen Young's Sledge Journeys . . 267 XXVI.— The Last Man . . . . .288 XXVIL— A -Race out of Peel Strait . . .301 XX VIII.— A Tragedy 316

Appendix

. No. 1. — Letter from Admiral Richards . . . 325 2. — Letter from Admiral Collinson . . . 329 3. — Letter from Admiral Sir Leopold McClintock 330 4. — Letter from Allen Young .... 332 5. — Extract from the Evidence of Dr. Bessels before the Commission appointed by the Secretary of the Navy .... 337 6. — Extract from the Evidence of Captain Buddington ... ... 338 B ECS w.-ii.T S'ltnftson Law, A: si'., lA'ii'li'n >,

Chapter I. Starting

Our ship is the Pandora, our commander Cap tain Allen Young, and we are bound for the Arctic. We are leaving the homes of men, the swarming cities, the careworn, anxious faces, the toiling multitudes, the smoky, poisoned atmosphere, the fetters of civilization — for a world of pure air and savage freedom, for the frozen regions around the Pole; the home of the reindeer and the walrus, the haunts of the white bear, the land of the Midnight Sun. The shore, the houses, the steeples, the domes, the tall volcanic chimneys, with clouds of heavy, black smoke hanging over them, and the countless roofs of the great city slowly recede from view. rv The decreasing roar of the busy streets, the ebbing hum of civilization gradually dies upon the ear like the murmur of the ocean itself, and then is heard no more.

We are out at sea. It is with a feeling of vague sadness we look back at the low-lying land which gradually sinks into the ocean, and think how little we are missed from the great world we leave behind, how well it can get on without us, what a little place we filled in it. But no matter. If the world can do without us we can do without it, for a time at least. Is not the Arctic before us in all its glory ? Are not the icebergs awaiting us with all their weird phantas magoria of shape and colour, the cold green water dashing around their feet, and gurgling through caverns it has itself worn deep into their icy hearts ? Are there not mountains to be scaled, whose snow-capped heads no mortal eye has ever beheld ? and continents to be explored, that no mortal foot has ever trod ? Are there not cozy little bays and inlets land-locked and hidden away by towering mountains, where we may drop anchor and hunt for seal and walrus ?

Are there not quiet little rivers, whose waters have never been rippled by prow of boat or canoe, teeming with such delicious trout and salmon as Isaac Walton never dreamed of ? Are there not grassy little glades, where the snow has already melted under the steadfast gaze of a midnight sun, on starting. which reindeer and musk-ox are quietly grazing, only awaiting the ring of our rifles to turn them selves into savoury steaks broiled over a camp fire ? And with such a world and such a prospect before us, shall we regret the chagrins, crosses, disappointments, and petty annoyances, the stifling atmosphere of the world we have left behind ? We are going to try to make the North-West Passage ; to pass around the north coast of America, and come out through Behring' s Straits into the Pacific Ocean — a feat which has been the dream of navigators for centuries, but only a dream.

Our object is to make this dream a reality. It is our ambition not only to accomplish the undertaking, but to accomplish it in a single season. For a North-west Passage that would require more than one season would obviously be of no practical use to navigation. To take a vessel from Southampton to San Francisco, in a single summer, by way of Behring's Straits — that is the grand feat which any true seaman would give his right hand to accomplish, and that is what we are going to attempt. Let it be understood that we are not going to discover the North-West Passage. That has already been done by Sir John Franklin, although he never got home to make his discovery known to the world. McClure even made the Passage on foot ; but b no ship has ever yet been able to get through, owing to a barrier of ice, which hitherto has proved to be impassable.

But if we fail in the primary object of our voyage, we may yet reach King William's Island, and there find perhaps some more relics of Sir John Franklin. Or, if we should not succeed in this, we can at least obtain news of the Alert and Discovery, and learn whether they got safely through the dreaded Melville Bay. This information alone is of sufficient import ance to justify our voyage, should we accomplish nothing else. Melville Bay is a place of evil re pute, and formerly many whaling-ships were lost there in attempting to work through the ice. It was in its treacherous waters that the Fox, under McClintock, was caught the first winter she was out, a misfortune which resulted in the loss of a whole year. Should the Alert and Discovery get beset in this dangerous place, they would simply drift clown with the ice through Baffin's Bay into Davis Straits ; they would only be re leased the following April, and they would have accomplished no more in the way of Arctic ex ploration than if they had stayed at home.

It will therefore be understood that news of their safe passage through Melville Bay is of the greatest importance, and this we hope to obtain without deviating from the real object of our voyao-e. Our vessel, the Pandora, in which we hope to starting. accomplish so much, was bought from the navy department, by Captain Young, and fitted out by him for Arctic navigation. This Was no small matter. Although built for a gun-boat, and there fore much stronger than an ordinary merchant man, her strength had to be materially increased to prepare her for work in the ice. Heavy iron beams and knees were put in amidships to in crease her resisting power to a squeeze or " nip," her hull was enveloped in an outer casing of American elm, 4£ inches thick, to strengthen her sides for rubs against the ice.

In addition to this, her stem was covered with a solid plate of iron, and her prow, from the stem back over the swell of the waist, was laced with heavy iron cleats, or bars. These changes, while injuring her sailing qualities somewhat, will enable her to work her way with impunity among ice where an ordinary ship would be crushed like an egg-shell. She is a barque. Her length is 150 feet, her breadth of beam 20, her tonnage (navy register) 438, her engines, though nominally 80 -horse power, will work up to 200, and she draws, loaded down as she was when she left Ports mouth, twelve feet of water. As our crew, officers and men all told, only number thirty men, scarcely more than one-third her usual complement, she is very lightly manned for such a vessel. The stud ding-sails were therefore put aside as being un suitable and unnecessary for Arctic navigation ; UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. and the great mainsail, the largest sail on the snip, unbent and left behind, as so heavy a piece of canvas would have been very difficult to manage with so few hands.

Finally, provisions were taken in for eighteen months, and 150 tons of coal, which filled her hold and bunkers, besides making a deck load that, I am afraid, would have led to our arrest, had Mr. Plimsoll seen us. The promoters of our expedition were Captain Allen Young, on whom fell the principal burden and expense ; Mr. James Gordon Bennett, whom I had the honour to represent ; Lieutenant Innes Lillingston, R.N., who went as second in com mand ; and the late Lady Franklin. She had in sisted on contributing to the expenses of the ex pedition, almost against Captain Young's wishes, who felt by no means confident of doing anything that would entitle him to accept her willing con tribution. The decks of the Pandora presented a curious topsy-turvey spectacle, and from their appearance alone it would have been easy to guess that she was bound on an Arctic voyage.

Boxes, casks, packages, heaps of stores that had not yet been stowed away, were scattered about, together with upturned boats, spars, oars, coils of rope, water casks, and every other imaginable seafaring object. And everywhere there was coal. Her waist was heaped up with it ; the quarter-deck was covered STARTING. 7 with it ; the lower decks and hold were crammed full of it. To move about you had to climb or scramble over huge heaps and sacks of it, that scarcely left room for working the sails. But when we thought of the long, cold Arctic night we might be obliged to pass, buried for months in the ice and snow, with no glimpse of the kindly sun, the sight of all this coal was by no means a disagreeable one. That black, unsightly, despised mineral might be warmth, comfort, cozy fires, and life itself, when the wind and snow were sweeping in terrible whirlwinds through the long, dreary, desolate night around the pole.

When the land had become a mere line along the horizon I went below to take a look at my quar ters, and see what sort of place I had to live in for the next few months. I had arrived on board just before we weighed anchor, and had not as yet had time to make a close inspection of my quarters, or to arrange my things. I descended a very steep, narrow step-ladder, at the bottom of which there were two doors. One opened to the left into the navigating room, which was six feet by about fifteen, the long way extending across the ship. It had a bunk and lockers at each end, and was studded around with twelve or fifteen Snider rifles, half-a-dozen heavy revolvers, two or three deep shelves full of books, a fine large brass-mounted astronomical telescope, tripods, barometers, and thermometers, sextants, chronometer boxes, maps, UNDER THE NORTHERN LIGHTS. and charts, and all sorts of scientific apparatus.

Behind this room, on either side of the mizen mast and running back to the propellerwell, were two little three-cornered rooms, occupied by the Captain and the First Lieutenant respectively. The door to the right from the companion-ladder opened into the mess-room. It was of a some what diminutive size — only ten feet square ; but there was room — oceans of it — for seven people, once you really succeeded in convincing your self of that fact. True, it did not produce that impression on you at the first glance, heaped full to the ceiling, as it was, of all sorts of strange-looking traps and effects, which had not yet had time to be stowed away in their proper places. It presented, upon the whole, but a damp and cheerless appearance, and it did not at first sight strike the imagination as a place you would choose of your own free will to pass the remainder of your days in.

But it improved upon acquaintance, and de veloped wonderful resources in the way of lockers which were hid away in nooks and corners, and which received untold heaps of things without ever seeming to get quite full ; and there was on one side the merest miniature of a grate, set in a brass fireplace, which was burnished to that extent that it might have served for a looking-glass had it been placed a little higher. Opening into this mess-room, from three different sides, were three little cabins, STARTING. one of which I found had been reserved for me. It was hardly large enough to swing a cat in, but so large that you could turn round in it if you were very careful. Like every other part of the ship, it was crammed full of effects all topsy-turvy. In an hour or two I had succeeded in stowing everything — books, guns, oilskins, Arctic boots, chamois-leather-lined clothing, heavy woollen furs, and the rest — away in lockers and on shelves, and establishing something like order in my future home.

And now, as it was the hour for tea, we all gathered around the table for the first time. Like the brothers and sisters of Wordsworth's little cottage girl, we were seven. First there was our Captain, Allen Young, who took his place among Arctic explorers sixteen years ago, when in 1857-9 he was navigating officer in the Fox, under McClintock. Fascinated — as everybody who has once seen them seems to be fascinated — by Arctic skies, he ventures to meet the perils of an Arctic journey in command of a ship of his own. The second in command, Lieutenant Lilling ston, I have already mentioned as a subscriber to the expenses of the expedition ; and the third was Lieutenant George Pirie, a distinguished young naval officer, whom the Admiralty kindly permitted to accompany us as our navigating officer.

Next was Lieutenant Beynen, of the Dutch Royal Navy — whom we called " Tromp," after the old Dutch Admiral who once sailed up the Thames with a broom at his masthead, as a sign and a token unto all the world that he meant to sweep it clean. He was fresh from the assault on the Kratung in Atchin, and was sent out by his government to report on the expedition, and gain experience in Arctic navigation, probably to resume the thread of Arctic exploration where it was dropped by Barents, the old Dutch navigator, three hundred years ago. Then there was Dr. Horner, a young physician, who had the direction of the natural history and geological department ; and our artist, Mr. De Wilde, the first professional artist, excepting Mr. Bradford, who ever visited the polar regions. You are not long in making the acquaintance of your future companions on a voyage of this kind, and in a day or two we knew each other as well as if we had been acquainted for years.

We steamed down the channel until we were well clear of the land ; we then hoisted the screw and put out the fires, and the Pandora became a sailing ship. We could not afford to burn our coal until it should become absolutely necessary, as it was impossible to know whether we would be able to get any more at Disco, on the west coast of Greenland, where it can sometimes be obtained. We were soon out in the broad Atlantic, but were almost immediately met by a nor'-west gale, and from that moment forth we encountered STARTING. 11 either head winds that drove us far out of our course, or fell into calms that allowed of no pro gress at all. When we sailed from Portsmouth on June 27th, we expected to reach Disco in twenty days, and with moderately fair winds we should have done so. At the end of a month we were only off Cape Farewell, and still nearly one thousand miles from Disco, which place might be considered only the starting-point of our voyage.

When, according to all known laws — even with a falling* barometer — the wind ought to have blown from the south-west, it tenaciously held to the opposite point, with an obstinacy that was exasperating. Had it blown from the north, we might have run to the west ; had it blown from the west, we might have made northing, and in either case we would have been gaining ground. But it stuck in the nor'-west as though it had been nailed there, and we were obliged to beat the whole distance. From the time we left the channel, we had not twelve consecutive hours of fair wind, and the wonder is that -we should have made even the little progress we did. The time passed somewhat monotonously, but not so heavily as it might have done under other circumstances. We all worked, officers and men alike, in handling the ship, taking in sail, making sail, and hauling at the ropes.

This alone would almost have kept the time from hanging heavy on our hands, even without an occasional game of chess or cards, with which we often filled up so much of the day, as eating, sleeping, and a little writing left at our disposal. There were days when we rolled about, with the water dashing over the decks at every moment, wetting everything above and below, when first one side of the deck was under water and then the other, while the tops of the masts described frightful circles on the low, leaden sky, that made one dizzy to watch ; days when you could neither sit still nor stand still, nor even he still in your bunk without holding on to something; when everybody was cold, wet, half sick, and thoroughly miserable. There were other days when the sun shone brightly, when there was not a ripple on the sea, nor a breath of wind stirring ; when the blue water, to the broad horizon, appeared one great circular looking-glass, so still and smooth it lay, and the Pandora figure-head seemed to be gazing at herself in the dark blue water with a pleased smile.

Then some of us would get into a boat, and row off anywhere on the smooth water for miles, until the Pandora's sails, white and ghostly, seemed to hang between sea and sky like an unsubstantial vision. When we came back we would row around her, glide under her bow, and look up at the figure-head, with her golden hair and her flowing drapery, and find that instead of admiring herself in her ocean mirror, her staring eyes were gazing far away to the horizon STARTING. with a fixed look, as though the snow and ice of the Polar world were already reflected in them. On Sundays we had prayers in the forecastle with the men. Lieutenant Lillingston read the Church of England service, to which the men all responded very earnestly ; and sometimes he read a sermon from one of the well-known preachers.

Afterwards, we often had a hymn or two, accompanied by an organ, of which the reader may have heard before, and which, as compared with its Arctic companions, might look down on them as a veteran upon raw recruits. This organ was originally presented to the Arctic ship Prince Alee lit by the late Prince Consort. It has ever since made a speciality of Arctic voyages, and was now on. its fifth expedition to Polar Seas. It is a fine instrument, plays thirty or forty tunes, and was highly prized by our blue jackets. Very pleasant it was to see a rough old tar grinding away, with a long-drawn, serious face, accom panying the rest, who were intoning the " Old Hundredth " or some other old psalm tune. And here I may remark that our crew appeared to have been excellently selected. They were nearly all steady, quiet men ; most of them had served in men-of-war, and therefore understood something of the value of discipline.

Many of them, too, had made whaling voyages to Baffin's Bay, and four of them were old Arctic explorers ; of these, two, Toms and Florence, having been out in the Fox, were old shipmates of Captain Young. Besides, we had " Joe " — heroic Joe — the famous Eskimo, who, together with Hans, saved Captain Tyson's party from starvation. Of him I shall speak in detail by-and-by ; at present I will content myself by saying that he is a quiet, good-natured, pleasant little fellow, always ready to do anybody a good turn, and possessing, withal, a grave, stoical face that rarely betrays any emotion.

Chapter II. Off Cape Farewell

When I went on deck, on the morning of the 28th of July, we were in sight of Cape Farewell, and surrounded on all sides by a field of floating ice. There was ice everywhere ; the horizon was white with it ; while near the ship great pieces, of every imaginable shape and size, went drifting rapidly by, in what appeared, to an inexperienced eye, most dangerous proximity. There were old castles, with broken, ruined towers, battlements, and loop holes ; castellated fortresses ; cathedrals with the most fantastic gothic carving and delicate tracery, never equalled in beautiful irregularity of design by anything ever carved by man ; and triumphal arches, by the side of which the great Triumphal Arch of Paris would be but a plaything. The animal and vegetable kingdom were like wise represented. There were huge mushrooms, with broad drooping tops, that were supported on a single slender stem ; and great masses of ice foliage that crowned groups of beautifully-carved columns, like immense bread-fruit trees covered with ice.

There were swans with long slender necks gracefully poised on the water; there were dragons, lions, eagles, with spread wings and bended beak. No wild extravagance of shape, no improbable monstrosity of form that one could not have found among the hundreds of pieces that went gliding swiftly by, as they came down from the Arctic world. One example of Arctic sculpture, we all particularly observed and admired ; it was an eagle with spread wings, perched on the back of a goose, as though he were trying to carry her away. The weather, which had been dark and cloudy for three or four days, had cleared up in the night ; and now all these wonderful objects appeared gleaming and sparkling in the bright morning sunshine, a most brilliant and animated spectacle. This was the first ice we had seen, although we had been near the latitude of Cape Farewell for several days.

Icebergs are often seen as far south as the track of the ocean steamers between England and America ; but these come down the coast of La brador, two or three hundred miles further west. This ice was the first sign of our near approach to the Arctic regions, our first foretaste of Arctic scenery, and was hailed with delight after the weary monotony of our long sea voyage. It was what is called the Spitzbergen ice, which breaks off from the great pack west of that island, and floats down the east coast of Greenland. It drifts up Davis Strait two or three hundred miles, then crosses with the current, and comes down the coast of Labrador. We could, therefore, expect to have it for several days, unless we should get what we had not had yet for more that a few hours at a time — a fair wind. We soon experienced our first bump.

Here and there, great flat pieces or floes, several acres in extent, presented themselves just in our path, and had to be avoided. They grew larger and closer together ; sometimes only a narrow channel of water between them. At last we came to a place, where there was no passage at all, unless we went two or three miles out of our route. I was on the forecastle watching our tortuous course with interest ; and when I saw the road closed to us, I looked back to the bridge, curious to see what would be done. Toms, the old gunner who, as I have said, c was out with Captain Young in the Fox, was there directing the vessel's course, and I soon perceived that instead of going around, we were driving straight at the floe. Looking forward again I saw open water beyond. What I had taken for a solid field of ice, was in reality, two large floes, joined together at one spot, and thus forming a narrow isthmus, only a few feet wide.

It was this isthmus that old Toms was going to charge. The wind in the course of the morning, had sprung up from the east, and we had it consequently on the starboard quarter. The Pandora was coming smoothly along under reefed topsails, at the rate of about five knots. In a moment her prow plunged into the ice with the force of a battering ram. There was a loud crash ; the ship quivered and shook, the masts, with the sails pulling at them, bent and creaked ; the ice rolled up before her in great blocks that fell splashing into the water, and the Pandora stopped quite still, for the moment completely jammed. But it was for a moment only. Her sharp iron prow had quite demolished the neck of ice, and it only remained to squeeze herself between the floes into clear water beyond. She wriggled through like an eel, and then shot gaily forward, as though eager for another encounter.

" That was rather a hard bump, Toms, wasn't it ? " said somebody. " Oh, bless yer, that's nothing," replied the old sea-dog with a smile. " We'll have harder ones nor that before we gets through the North-West Passage." We had several more bumps that day, but they were comparatively slight. We were now approaching Cape Desolation. The snow had nearly all melted, and the red sand stone mountains streaked with silver lines of snow, lay in the warm sunshine, veiled with a reddish pur ple mist ; here and there were bright yellow patches probably glaciers, that shone like gold, in the bright sunshine, forming a picture, warm, silent, calm, and lovely as a dream. Not for long could we gaze in quietness on the scene. Seals began to show themselves, quietly sunning themselves on the ice floes, or swimming about our ship, their round smooth heads like plum puddings floating in the water.

As we had been living on salt provisions for twenty days, a great longing for fresh meat suddenly came over us. Seal's liver with bacon is a dish fit for the gods, and we determined to have some. We got out our guns, and waited till we saw a seal within range, and immediately opened fire, but although we probably hit him more than once, he managed to wriggle off the floe into the water. The next one we fired at seemed to have been killed, as he lay perfectly still on the floe after receiving our volley. A boat was lowered, the sails were put aback, and we waited with anxiety the capture of the game. c As soon as the boat approached the ice, we saw one of the men spring on to the floe. We could see him raise the boat-hook, or some other instrument, evidently with the intention of striking the wounded animal ; then there was a splash in the water, man and seal disappeared behind the boat, and for a few minutes we could not make out what had happened.

Then the boat put off, and came back to the ship ; but there was no seal ! It turned out that the floe, which had been under mined by the water, and was besides somewhat rotten, broke off under the additional weight of the man, and he, instead of giving a finishing blow to the seal, suddenly found himself, together with his intended victim, in the water. The seal sunk at once, and was seen no more, while the man scrambled into the boat amidst the laughter of his comrades. So we lost our expected feast. But it was not long before we saw another seal, and this one we succeeded in capturing. He was a fine large fellow ; and it was pleasant to see Joe's satisfied grin, as he hauled it over the side of the ship, and proceed to divest it of its skin. The officers took to the seal-flesh most kindl}T, but the sailors were by far too dainty to feed on such unusual food.