Arctic heroes: facts and incidents of Arctic explorations from the earliest voyages to the discovery of the fate of Sir John Franklin ..

Front matter

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Preface

\li 7E have endeavored in this volume to give ^ * the principal facts in the wonderful history of arctic exploration, down to the discovery of the fate of Sir John Franklin. We have not included, however, the Grinnell Expedition of 1853-5, sent out under Dr. Kane, which, though seeking Franklin, did not embody in its results any facts concerning him, but is yet so remarkable in its achievements, so full of thrilling incidents, and so rich in information, that we have reserved our sketches of it for another volume, which will embrace alLthe late arctic voyages.

In the arctic history here presented we have given the results of a wide range of study in this class of literature, including both that published in this country and in England.

In the orthography of words belonging to the extreme northern regions we have used the simplest form, supported by good literary author-

6 Preface.

ity, following mainly that of Professor Dall, of the Smithsonian Institution, in his standard work on Alaska. Thus, we have Esquimo, used in a collective and individual sense, Kamchatka, Bering, etc. ; words more grateful to the eye, more easily written, and more readily spoken, than in their old forms.

Though mainly secular in character, our book will yet be found, we are persuaded, decidedly healthy in moral tone, and, in some of its chapters, of marked religious interest. It has been written for our young people, and from this stand-point the author wishes it to be judged.

Z. A. M.

Contents

Chapter Page

I. Northmen Navigators 9

II. An Arctic Gold Fever 18

Chapter I. Northmen Navigators

OUR readers need not shiver at the thought of a voyage into the regions of cold and ice. They will, of course, not wear their summer garments, but go clothed in the warmest furs ; a material made by God for arctic wear, the equal of which for this climate no woolen factory would think of producing. They must go with a resolute spirit, too ; for no timid, fireside dreamers, loving yellow-covered literature, the last dime novel, or sickly story books, need engage to accompany us. Should they wish to do so they must first throw all such trash into the fire, and agree to stand erect, facing the North Pole with unflinching bravery. To those who will do this, whether manly boys or womanly girls, we promise no small stores of useful knowledge, no little interest from thrilling adventures, and sometimes positive amusement from laughable incidents.

Do you ask where we are to go ? Take a map of the Arctic Ocean. See where Spitzbergen proio Arctic Heroes.

jects toward the North Pole on one side, and, not far from it, where Greenland advances — we do not know how far— and where Nova Zembla and the Siberian Islands stand as sentinels at a veryrespectable distance. No part of the continents of Asia or America claims to extend as far as we propose to go. It is into what is marked as an ocean, spotted by these small portions of land, that we intend to sail, not neglecting, however, to make ourselves acquainted with the regions of cold lying a little further south.

What is called the Arctic Ocean is of vast extent. Its shore-line circle is many thousands of miles. Its area four and a half millions of square miles. It has a beauty and grandeur of its own. We shall not stop here to describe them, but will only say that its sky, at times, flashes with a light marvelous in its variety of form and color; its waters float icy islands wrought into magic forms, and its cold, thin atmosphere is fanned by wingsof birds so many in number that we could no more count them than we could count the leaves in the forests of the sunny South. These we will show our readers in due time, if they do not leave our company.

We shall certainly introduce them to some of the bravest and best of men, and. show them a peculiar people who live in a land of perpetual cold.

Who were the first visitors of the arctic regions ? We cannot answer that question with certainty, but we know who were voyagers there many hun-

Northmen Navigators, n

dred years ago. A bold navigator from Norway, by the name of Other, sailed in A. D. 890 round the northern extremity of Iceland. He was the first to cross the arctic circle. This was a great voyage for a time when a ship was not as ' good as our shore-trading vessels ; but he made no discovery. Some years afterward an Icelander, named Gunbiorn was driven off the coast of his country in a storm. Away his little bark scud before the wind, until it came in sight of a high rocky coast of an extended land. The storm had subsided, the wind changed, and so he steered for Iceland without going ashore. He reported his discovery, but nobody cared to try the stormy voyage, and for nearly a hundred years nothing more was known of it. In 982 a fierce Iceland chief became too turbulent to be esteemed by his king a safe subject, and was banished for a term of years. Being as bold as he was wicked, he wisely resolved to spend the time upon the ocean in search of unknown lands. It may be that he had heard of Gunbiorn's story. At any rate, he sailed away to the west, and came to the same great land. He stayed there with his ship's crew three years, learning all he could of its extent and character. He then returned and persuaded a colony to go to this land of promise.

This chief's name was Eric, known as Red Eric. He seems to have been a speculator in new lands — perhaps he formed a stock company; and, to make his speculation succeed, he called the new continent Greenland. Those whom he persuaded to go were much greener, we think, than the land. But good came out of his project.

Not long after the settlement was made, a son of one of the colonists, wishing to join his father, started in a ship for Greenland. He sailed a long, long time, driven- by contrary winds and drifted by strong currents. At last he came in sight of land. He looked carefully toward the shore as he coasted at a safe distance. He came finally to the conclusion that this was a green land, and, as he had learned before leaving Iceland that Eric's Greenland was perpetually white with snow and ice, he decided that he had sailed out of his way. He steered to the north and saw other lands. These are now believed to have been Nantucket, off the coast of Massachusetts, Newfoundland, and Labrador. He reached Greenland all right in 987. He had not landed in any of these newly discovered countries.

Ships sailed in those days, it is said, four miles an hour in good weather, so that a hundred miles a day was good speed. Eric's long voyage must have made his sailors, if not seasick, very sick of the sea.

But Eric himself was neither. Thirteen years later, in the year 1000, he sailed through the same waters. He landed on Rhode Island, and, having examined the vicinity, made his winter-quarters at the mouth of what is now known as Taunton River. Here a woman of his company gave birth to a child, whom they named Snorre Thorfinnson. Little Snorre was, so far as we know, the first

Northmen Navigators. 13

American born of European parents. He called the country Vineland, because he thought it abounded in vines.

The spot where he made his winter-quarters, the birthplace of Snorre, is not far from Plymouth Rock, and was within the range of the excursions of the Mayflower pilgrims. It may be -that Eric visited the shores of Plymouth harbor during the winter. In the spring he sailed away to Greenland.

These voyages were made nearly five hundred years before Columbus discovered America ! So, after all, that great man only revived knowledge which the world had forgotten. But it does not rob him of his laurels. No printing-press had perpetuated the knowledge, and men were as ignorant of our great land in the fifteenth century as they were in the eighth.

After Eric's voyages occasional ships might have been seen in American waters up to the year 1347 ; but no colonies were formed.

These facts are obtained from the " Icelandic Annals " — old records of Iceland — which careful investigators of history have of late years examined very critically. A learned English writer says of them : "The authenticity of the Icelandic manuscripts seems to be fully established:"* and a recent American writer says of them : " These narratives are plain, straightforward, business-like accounts of actual voyages made by the Northmen,

* " The Polar Regions." By Sir John Richardson, LL.D. P. 30. Edinburgh. i86t.

in the tenth and eleventh centuries, to Greenland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the coast of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Within the whole range of literature, of discoveries and adventures, no volumes can be found which have more abundant internal evidence of authenticity."*

The colony of Northmen in South Greenland became somewhat important in spite of its cold, its never-melting snow, and its distance from the civilized world. These old annals, which describe the voyages into the arctic regions, refer to the whales and seals, some of which were taken. An account of the way they caught the whales in those early days would be curious.

The Roman Church sent to the colony priests as early as the last of the tenth century. We have an account of the demand by the Pope of his " pence " from these colonists. It was called " Peter 's pence," but we never could see what the good apostle had to do with it, nor do we believe these Northmen could ; but they paid the demand with walrus tusks.

It is a singular fact of history that this colony became extinct nearly a hundred years before Columbus discovered the New World, and its memory was at the time well-nigh lost to mankind. "The Black Death," as it was called, which clothed other portions of the world in mourning, is held accountable in part for its decay ; war,

* " Ancient America." By John D. Baldwin. New York : Harper & Brothers. 1872.

Northmen Navigators. 15

Death's ever ready helper, had its share in the work, and, it is surmised, the savage Esquimo added the finishing stroke. The reader will hesitate to charge this crime upon these people when he has made their intimate acquaintance.

Columbus' successful voyage opened a new era in the history of explorations. It began from that time to be carried on, not as by the Northmen, by reckless men on their own responsibility, but by Governments, and well-organized companies, through able, intelligent, and responsible navigators. John Cabot was such a navigator, and so was his son, Sebastian. They were Venetians, but lived in Bristol, England, and were sent out by the king and merchants of that country. In 1497 father and son landed on the coast of Labrador, and then voyaged along the coast of America to Virginia. The next year the son made a northern voyage alone ; afterward he made an attempt tq find the north-west passage into the Asiatic seas — the first, it is said, of the many attempts which have occasioned most of the history of which we are writing. He expected to sail quickly to the land where " spices do grow," but instead he found, as he declares, " such greate heapes of ise which I durst passe no further." All was cold and dreary — no balmy breezes nor fragrant odors. Even the people disgusted him, being " like brute beasts in their behavior, dressed in beasts' skins and eating raw flesh." Yet he meanly kidnapped three of them to carry home as specimens ! How would he have liked it if the Esquimo had stolen him 2 Thus, with his nose turned up at the country and its people, yet keeping three of them unlawfully and unmercifully under his nose, he sailed away South, and discovered Florida. The natives of this country would not have been as amiable as were their northern brethren had an attempt been made to select specimens from their number !

In 1500 Gaspar Cortereal, a gentleman brought up in the court of the King of Portugal — a man of learning and ability — sailed into the arctic seas in command of many ships, made important discoveries for hundreds of miles above Labrador, stole a few natives, and returned home. The next year he visited, as is supposed, Hudson Strait, but the sea avenged the crime he committed against the people whom it nourished, and devoured him together with his vessel. One of the ships returned home in safety, but nothing was ever heard of Gaspar or his crew.

Gaspar had a brother, Miguel, who begged the king to allow him to go in search of the lost one. Three ships were put under his command, and he sailed for the region about Hudson Strait. On arriving in the vicinity of the probable loss of Gaspar's vessel, the three ships took each certain inlets to examine, agreeing upon a harbor of meeting. Two of them met, after a diligent search. But the ship commanded by Miguel never returned. The sea had, doubtless, swallowed up both him and his men.

There was still another brother of these Cortereals whose name was Vasco. He begged to be sent in

Northmen Navigators. ij

search of the missing vessels. But the king's grief was like Jacob's, bereaved of his children. He refused to let Vasco go, but sent armed vessels which searched in vain. Thus ended the arctic explorations in connection with these famous Cortereal brothers — famous more for misfortune than success.

The next expedition was sent out by a company of merchants. Its president was Sebastian Cabot, now an old man, retired on a comfortable pension given by the king " in consideration of the good and acceptable service done by him." Three ships were fitted out, and the command given to Sir Hugh Willoughby, " a valiant gentlemane," under whom was Richard Chancelor, "a man of great estimation for the many good parts of wit in him." The task given them to perform was to find a north-east passage to China and India, which, of course, they expected to perform. They reached Nova Zembla, and were forbidden further progress by the ice. Sir Willoughby returned to the mouth of a river of Lapland, and established his winter-quarters. The ship commanded by Chancelor pushed forward, reached Archangel, and opened the way for trade with Russia. In the spring some Russian fishermen visited the quarters of Sir Willoughby, and found both him and his entire company frozen to death.

But such disasters did not retard other explorations, and we shall next describe an arctic fever.

iS Arctic Heroes.

Chapter II. An Arctic Gold Fever

FROBISHER was a learned and able man. He lived in the days of the famous maiden queen of England, Elizabeth. " There were giants " in her reign, and Frobisher was one of them. He was known to fame in his day as a hero in the defeat of the great Spanish Armada, but better known as an arctic explorer.

In early life he became an enthusiastic admirer of Sebastian Cabot and his adventures. He was sure that a north-west passage to India could be found, and that he was the man to find it. He declared that this was the only great thing which remained to be done. No wonder, then, that he gave his time and strength to secure the means of accomplishing it, by converting others to his own faith. Fifteen years he went about preaching " Cathaia" as the promised land, and the north-west as the way to it. Men's ears were dull and their " shoulders " cold toward him. But Frobisher's zeal did not abate. Opposition is the flint which strikes fire from some men. The sparks of enthusiasm which the smitten Frobisher emitted soon set the nation on fire. In 1576 Ambrose Dudley, Earl of Warwick, took up his cause. Under his patronage, three vessels were equipped

An Arctic Gold Fever. 19

for the enterprise. They were small affairs after all. The two larger ones were about thirty-five tons each— hardly equal to a coast-wise fishing vessel of the present day — and the third was an attending " pinnace " of ten tons, with a crew of four men. London flocked to the banks of the Thames to see the magnificent exploring fleet sail. Queen Elizabeth, from her window at Greenwich, waved the adventurers a cordial farewell. Not content with this, she sent a gentleman of the court on board the commander's vessel to wish them " happie successe," and to make known her "goode likings of their doings."

The fleet reached, in July, what its commandor called Friesland— probably the southern coast of Greenland. The storm king, who reigned with vigor in this region, forbade their approach to the shore. The pinnace, with its crew, was lost. The " Gabriel," one of the other vessels, considering " discretion the better part of valor," scud ingloriously away and reached England in safety. But Frobisher was true to himself and the enterprise. Calm when the tempest raged with fury, and self-possessed in danger, he inspired his crew with courage, and pressed onward. After many days he reached a dreary shore.. The ice soon shut in on the outside, and he pushed forward into a strait to which he gave his own name. He soon espied some strange beings in the water, which he at first thought were porpoises. But they proved to be the Esquimo in their kayaks, or boats. He describes them as " savage people, like to Tartars, having long black hair, broad faces, and flatte noses ; the women being marked on the face with blewe streekes downe the cheekes and round the eyes, and wearing bootes made of seal-skins, in shape somewhat resembling the shallops of Spain. "

But a sad incident soon interrupted all intercourse between the natives and the strangers. A boat's crew of five men went ashore. Their long absence caused alarm. Trumpets were blown and a cannon was fired to call them back, but in vain. Frobisher hastily and unwisely assumed that they had been violently treated by the Esquimo. His method of revenge was equally unwise and unworthy of his character. He enticed one of them alongside " by the tinkling of a bell." He then "pluckt him up, boat and all." The poor fellow bit his tongue in his rage and despair — " bit it in half by the way."

Frobisher immediately sailed for England, where he was cordially received, though we cannot see what he had accomplished, except to meanly steal a suspected, but unsuspecting, confiding native. A little incident inflamed this cordiality into a wild enthusiasm. Each of the adventurers had brought home some mementos of the exploration, such as flowers, grass, and stones. Frobisher, among other things, presented his friends with specimens of the minerals of the discovered land. One piece, as the story goes, was thrown into the fire. It burned for some time and was then taken out, and " being quenched in a little vinegar it glistened with a bright marquesset of golde." The

An Arctic Gold Fever. 21

fever which followed was much like the California "gold fever" of our day, or the diamond fever of the Cape of Good Hope. Frobisher was the lion of the hour, though he seems no way responsible for the public faith in the character of his exhibited minerals. Some " gold-fmers " gave opinions to suit the people's wishes, though it is said that a responsible assayer declared that the minerals in question did not contain a particle of the precious ore. But the steam was up, the frenzied train which was to return laden with gold was set in motion, and common sense was run off the track. Both the common people and the queen and her court shared alike in the excitement. The queen commanded that another expedition should be immediately put in readiness. She gave her u loving friend, Martin Frobisher " very full directions for his guidance. In some of these she had an eye to other interests than those of discovery, or even those of golden treasures. She assumed that he would again attempt to land on the stormy coast of " Friesland," So she directed him to take certain condemned persons and leave them there. This little service would relieve her of some troublesome subjects, and he might, as a matter of good-will, " speak with them if possible on his return voyage," giving them at the first such food and weapons as he could well spare, duly instructing them to conduct themselves well and get the good-will of the natives. She further directed him to bring home a few of the natives as specimens. As they were not to be returned, and their consent to the transportation was not to be taken into the account, he was cautioned to be careful where and how they were taken away. There is one excuse for such transactions, which, though poor, is the best we know; it was in accordance with the spirit of the times.

But a better suggestion from the queen was this : He should, if possible, leave some persons to winter on the golden shores of the new country. They were to be instructed to make notes of the state of the country, nature of the air, and observe what time of the year the coast was free from ice. He was to leave them well supplied with food and arms, with a " pinnace," and all other things necessary for their comfort and safety. It does not appear that these last suggestions were acted upon by the explorer. The voyage, however, was made. A little island in what has been known as Frobisher Strait, called Countess of Warwick Isle, was selected, and two hundred tons of the mineral were brought back to the delighted queen, and to her equally delighted people. She called the new land " Meta Incognita," and declared that this voyage greatly increased her hopes that the north-west passage to India would be found.

A new expedition was immediately put in sailing order. One hundred persons, representing various trades and callings, were appointed as settlers. Fifteen vessels were to convey them to the goodly land, Frobisher being commander. Twelve of the ships were to return with the ore, and three were to remain with the colonists.

An Arctic Gold Fever. 23

The expedition sailed, attended with the great expectations of the nation, and a heroism of its men worthy a better aim. Dangers and distresses beset them during the voyage. One vessel, carrying the materials for a large wooden house for the use of the colonists on their arrival, was crushed by icebergs and sunk. Another, under cover of the night, had turned her prow homeward, and sailed for England. The rest were tossed amid " incredible pain and peril." At last a fresh breeze cleared away the ice, and they sailed through a clear sea and soon sighted land, which they supposed to be near Frobisher Strait. But soon this dawn of hope was followed by the darkness of despair. A fog enveloped them, and the vessels were separated, each lost to the proper course. They were driven about at random, while their ears were saluted by the dismal sound of ice crushing against the ship, and of colliding icebergs.

When at last the sky became clear, and the scattered ships, reunited, the pilot confessed that he knew not where they were. But Frobisher declared that he knew the coast, and that they were all right. But they failed, after many attempts, to effect a landing. The natives refused to be conciliated, which is not strange, if the policy of former expeditions had been practiced among them. We shall see that later explorers found them kindly disposed.

Thus hindered in his main design, Frobisher fell back upon the passion of his life, and proposed to the other commanders to abandon the colonization scheme and sail on a voyage of discovery. But they rejected the proposal.

Much time had been wasted by these baffled efforts and divided counsels, and their provisions began to fail, while at the same time the vessels were crippled by their icy foe ; orders were therefore given to spread sail for home. No settlers had been landed, no gold obtained, not even the deceitful ore of former voyages, and no discoveries had been made.

Thus ended the arctic gold fever. Frobisher fell into neglect, but did not lose his credit, nor the people all of their faith in northern gold mines ; for they were slow to believe that he had brought home only " fool's gold " — a micaceous sand — and that "it is not all gold that glitters."

Chapter III. Perils By Sea

FAILURE to secure any substantial success did not restrain the zeal of the queen, nor the spirit of enterprise in other explorers. Immediately on the completion of Frobisher's last voyage, Sir Humphrey Gilbert obtained from Elizabeth full power to undertake a voyage of discovery in the western waters, and to colonize such land as was not already claimed by some Christian sovereign.

Sir Humphrey was a man of mental force and culture. He had studied the north-west passage theory, and given to the world his conclusions in well-written pages. He belonged to a distinguished family, being half-brother to Sir Walter Raleigh. His brother Adrian was already at the head of an influential company for discovery in the north-west.

The queen's terms with Sir Humphrey were very generous. He was to have for his own, forever, all the heathen countries which he might discover, to exercise absolute authority over them, only that they should do homage to his sovereign. Exactly where the distinguishing line was to run between the discover's absolute rule and due homage to England's queen, is not defined in his patent. It was expected probably that both would exist mainly on paper. The queen, however, added a more substantial qualification. Sir Humphrey was to pay her one fifth of all revenues the countries in question might yield. The right of the natives to the land of their fathers was, of course, not considered. It was to be a blessing great enough for them to be owned and governed by the enlightened strangers.

Sir Humphrey left England June, 1583, with five vessels. They had not been long at sea before a fatal sickness occurred among the crew of one of them, and it returned to England. With his remaining fleet the commander landed on Newfoundland and took possession in the name of his queen. A very cool beginning of ownership in the new world, as he was not even the discoverer of this land.

A Saxon miner of the expedition soon reported that he had found a silver mine. But lands and precious ore could not stay the progress of disease. Another vessel was sent home with the sick. The exploring squadron consisted now of the " Delight," the largest and best vessel, the " Golden Hind," and the " Squirrel," a small affair of ten tons, in which the commander himself sailed. With these he put to sea the 20th of August. On the ninth day out a tempest came down upon them, and the " Delight" and " Golden Hind" were driven among rocks and shoals. The " Delight " was on the lead, ajid struck a quicksand, in which her prow was held firmly. Her stern was soon beaten to fragments by the waves. When the ship struck her boat was afloat at the stern, having been hoisted out the day before to pick up some birds which had been shot from the deck of the vessel. Into this a part of the crew entered. All could not enter; and the question, severely testing the unselfish heroism of every one, was pressed upon them : Who shall remain by the ship ? Captain Browne, who had been transferred from the " Swallow " into the " Delight, " at once set the noble example of preferring the safety of others to himself. Others followed this example, and sixteen only, including Mr. Clarke, the master, escaped in the boat. The captain and one hundred men calmly awaited their fate, and perished on the breaking up of the vessel.

Those who were in the boat were scarcely to be congratulated. Overladen, and without provisions, they drifted before the furious tempest. The nights were starless, and the darkness awful. At the end of two days it seemed that the boat could not longer float in the heavy sea, and one of the sailors, by the name of Headly, proposed that they draw lots, and that the four getting the four shortest lots be thrown overboard, to increase the chance of the safety of the rest. To this proposal the master gave an emphatic " No ! " " We will all live," he exclaimed, " or die together ! "

Four days passed away, and no relief came. On the fifth, Headly and one other man died. All except Clarke were in despair, and cried for death to end their misery. He calmly exhorted them still to trust the Divine arm and hope for deliverance. On the sixth day, when hope seemed to be gone, he boldly declared that the morrow would bring deliverance, adding, u If it does not, throw me overboard." About noon of the seventh day the shore of Newfoundland was seen. In the middle of the afternoon they landed, with difficulty creeping from the boats. Their first act, most fittingly, was to fall on their knees and thank God for their deliverance. The stronger then brought water from a brook, and all quenched their thirst. They found near them a good supply of wild berries, and, building a hut of boughs, they remained on shore a few days and were sufficiently recruited to row quietly along the shore, landing for water and their supply of fruit. Soon a Spanish whaler picked them up and landed them at a port in the Bay of Biscay. They traveled on foot through France, and arrived in England the latter part of 1583, to tell the sad result of their hopefully begun expedition.