The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism Volume III Part 15

[Ill.u.s.tration: CUTTING ICE DOCKS.]

"A hundred songs from hoa.r.s.e throats resounded through the gale, the sharp chipping of the saws told that the work was flying, and the laugh and broad witticisms of the crews mingled with the words of command and encouragement to exertion given by the officers.

"The pencil of a Wilkie could hardly convey the characteristics of such a scene, and it is far beyond my humble pen to tell of the stirring animation exhibited by twenty s.h.i.+ps' companies, who knew that on their own exertions depended the safety of their vessels and the success of their voyage. The ice was of an average thickness of three feet, and to cut this, saws of ten feet long were used, the length of stroke being about as far as the men directing the saw could reach up and down. A little powder was used to break up the pieces that were cut, so as to get them easily out of the mouth of the dock-an operation which the officers of our vessels performed while the men cut away with the saws. In a very short time all the vessels were in safety, the pressure of the pack expending itself on a chain of bergs some ten miles north of our present position.

The unequal contest between floe and iceberg exhibited itself there in a fearful manner; for the former, pressing onward against the huge grounded ma.s.ses, were torn into shreds, and thrown back piecemeal, layer on layer of many feet in elevation, as if mere shreds of some flimsy material, instead of solid, hard ice, every cubic yard of which weighed nearly a ton."

[Ill.u.s.tration: ICE MOUNTAINS.]

They were not always so fortunate. A little later they were again beset, and escape seemed hopeless. The commander, called from his berth to deck, found the vessel thrown considerably over by the pressure of the ice on one side, while every timber was straining, cracking, and groaning. "On reaching the deck," says...o...b..rn, "I saw, indeed, that the poor _Pioneer_ was in sad peril: the deck was arching with the pressure on her sides, the scupper pieces were turned up out of the mortices, and a quiver of agony wrung my craft's frame from stem to taffrail, whilst the floe, as if impatient to overwhelm its victim, had piled up as high as the bulwark in many places. The men who, whaler fas.h.i.+on, had without orders brought their clothes on deck, ready to save their little property, stood in knots waiting for directions from their officers, who, with anxious eyes, watched the floe-edge as it ground past the side to see whether the strain was easing. Suddenly it did so, and we were safe. But a deep dent in the _Pioneer's_ side, extending for some forty feet, and the fact, as we afterwards learned, of twenty-one timbers being broken on one side, proved that the trial had been a severe one."

After overtaking Captain Penny, Osborn learned of the former's discoveries on Beechey Island, the first wintering place of Sir John Franklin, and on August 29th paid a visit to the spot. "It needed not," says he, "a dark wintry sky or a gloomy day to throw a sombre shade around my feelings as I landed on Beechey Island and looked down upon the bay on whose bosom had ridden Her Majesty's s.h.i.+ps _Erebus_ and _Terror_. There was a sickening anxiety of the heart as one involuntarily clutched at every relic which they of Franklin's squadron had left behind, in the vain hope that some clue as to the route they had taken hence might be found." The hope was vain: no doc.u.ment of any kind was discovered, although a carefully constructed cairn, formed of meat-tins filled with gravel, was found and carefully searched. There was the embankment of a house, with a carpenter's and armourer's workshops, coal-bags, tubs, pieces of old clothing, rope, cinders, chips, &c.; the remnants of a garden, probably made in joke, but with neat borders of moss and lichens, and even poppies and anemones transplanted from some more genial part of the island. The graves of three of the crews of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_, bearing the dates of 1845 and 1846, proved conclusively that the expedition had wintered there.

Osborn's description of an Arctic dinner is interesting. "'The pemmican is all ready, sir,' reports our Soyer. In troth, appet.i.te need wait on one, for the greasy compound would pall on moderate taste or hunger. Tradition said that it was composed of the best rump-steaks and suet, and cost 1s.

6d. per pound. To our then untutored tastes it seemed composed of broken-down horses and Russian tallow. If not sweet in savour, it was strong in nourishment, and after six table-spoonfuls we cried, 'Hold!

enough!' But there came a day when we sat hungry and lean, longing for this coa.r.s.e mess, and eating a pound of it with avidity, and declaring it to be delicious!" Frozen cold pork was found delicious with biscuit and a steaming cup of tea.

During the long winter, fancying it possible they were in the neighbourhood of Franklin's party, rockets were fired and small balloons sent off. The latter carried slow matches five feet long, which, as they burned, let loose pieces of coloured paper, on which were printed their position and other information. A carrier pigeon, despatched on one occasion by Sir John Ross from his quarters in the Arctic in 1850, reached its old home in Ayr, Scotland, in five days, having flown 3,000 miles!

Numerous sledging parties were despatched from the various s.h.i.+ps above-named, but without obtaining any further information regarding Franklin.

M'Clure's expedition has been generally regarded only in connection with the discovery of the North-west Pa.s.sage, but he also engaged in the search for Franklin. With him was a.s.sociated Captain Collinson, and both were ordered to proceed _via_ Behring Straits to the Arctic. The _Enterprise_, commanded by the latter, proceeded a little in advance of the _Investigator_, commanded by M'Clure, which left Plymouth on January 20th, 1850. Late in July the Arctic Circle was crossed, and shortly afterwards, at different dates, the _Plover_ and _Herald_ were met. Captain Kellett, of the latter, reported the discovery of the new land north of Behring Straits since always a.s.sociated with his name. It was covered with lofty and broken peaks, and Kellett thought it to be the same as described by Wrangell, the Russian explorer, on the authority of natives. Some doubt has at times been thrown on this discovery, but it has been since sighted by an American whaler.

On August 21st the _Investigator_ reached the Pelly Islands, and crossed the mouth of the great Mackenzie River. Little did M'Clure think that the day after, Lieutenant Pullen, H.M.S. _Herald_, with a boat's crew, was returning from a visit to Cape Bathurst, and must have pa.s.sed at a distance of a few miles, a convincing proof of the easiness of missing one another in the Arctic seas. Shortly afterwards they met a number of natives, and held some communication with them. Osborn says that "when asked why they did not trade with the white men up the big river (_i.e._, the Mackenzie), the reply was they had given the Indians a water which had killed a great many of them, and had made others foolish, and they did not want any of it!" This statement is rather doubtful, as the Hudson's Bay Company does not, as the writer well knows, trade in spirits, at least in those remote districts; and further, if they did, it would be a very unusual circ.u.mstance for natives to decline it, as the whalers and traders on the coast know full well.

"On September 17th the _Investigator_ had reached her farthest eastward position in long. 117 10'; and a couple of days afterwards, it was decided, instead of returning to seek a harbour, to winter in the pack ice. It was a dangerous, though a daring experiment, but the fact that it might facilitate expeditions for the relief of Franklin seems to have been uppermost in the commander's mind. The ice was not yet strong enough to remain tranquil, and M'Clure had provisions and fuel on deck, and boats ready, in case of the vessel being crushed. On September 27th a change of wind set the ice in motion, and drove the vessel towards some abrupt and dangerous cliffs, 400 feet high, where there was no beach, and not a ledge where a goat could get a foothold. Should the vessel strike their only hope was in the boats. Happily the ice current changed, and swept them past the rocks. At this period the cras.h.i.+ng of the ice and creaking and straining of the vessel's timbers were deafening, and the officer of the watch when speaking had to put his mouth close to his commander's ear, and shout out. The neighbouring land was searched for game, the unpleasant discovery having been made that nearly 500 pounds of their preserved meat had become putrid."

The 26th of October, 1850, was an important day in the history of Arctic adventure. Five days before, M'Clure, with six men and a sledge, had left the s.h.i.+p, and had since travelled through Barrow's Straits. On the clear and cloudless morning of the 26th they ascended a hill before dawn. "As the sun rose the panorama slowly unveiled itself. First, the land called after H.R.H. Prince Albert showed out on an easterly bearing, and from a point, since called after the late Sir Robert Peel, it evidently turned away to the east, and formed the northern entrance to the channel upon that side. The coast of Bank's Land, on which the party stood, terminated at a low point about twelve miles further on.... Away to the north, and across the entrance of Prince of Wales Straits, lay the frozen waters of Barrow, or, as it is now called, Melville Straits, and raised as our explorers were, at an alt.i.tude of 600 feet above its level, the eyesight embraced a distance which precluded the possibility of any land lying in that direction between them and Melville Island. _A north-west pa.s.sage_ was discovered. All doubt as to the existence of a water communication between the two great oceans was removed." On the return journey M'Clure, hastening forward to order a warm meal for his men at the s.h.i.+p, lost his way in a snow-storm and had to wander about all night. In the morning he found that he had pa.s.sed the _Investigator_ by four miles.

The winter pa.s.sed away, and, as the spring advanced, preparations were made for continuing the voyage. On May 21st a curious event occurred.

"About 10.30 a large bear was pa.s.sing the s.h.i.+p, when Captain M'Clure killed it with a rifle shot. On examining the stomach, great was the astonishment of all present at the medley it contained. There were raisins that had not been long swallowed, a few small pieces of tobacco leaf, bits of pork fat cut into cubes, which the s.h.i.+p's cook declared must have been used for making mock turtle soup, an article often found on board a s.h.i.+p in a preserved form; and, lastly, fragments of sticking-plaster, which, from the forms into which they had been cut, must evidently have pa.s.sed through the hands of a surgeon." Better evidences of the proximity of some other vessel or exploring party could not be afforded. But from which of them had this miscellaneous collection been derived?

On July 17th the vessel got out of the ice, and soon pa.s.sed round the south end of Bank's Land; but, after many perils, did not succeed in making a further eastward progress, and had again to go into winter quarters towards the end of September. This was a severe winter for them.

The scurvy made its appearance, and the provisions were running short.

M'Clure had now decided to keep only thirty men in the vessel, and send the remainder in two divisions, one up Mackenzie River, the other to Beechey Island, where Captain Pullen, of H.M.S. _North Star_ was stationed for purposes of relief. At the beginning of April all the preparations for these sledge parties had been made, when an unexpected event occurred, which M'Clure's own words will best describe:-

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAPTAIN ROBERT LE MESURIER M'CLURE.]

While walking near the s.h.i.+p with the first lieutenant "we perceived a figure walking rapidly towards us from the rough ice at the entrance of the bay. From his pace and gestures we both naturally supposed at first that he was some one of our party pursued by a bear; but, as we approached him, doubts arose as to who it could be. He was certainly unlike any of our men; but, recollecting that it was possible some one might be trying on a new travelling dress preparatory to the departure of our sledges, and certain that no one else was near, we continued to advance. When within about two hundred yards of us, this strange figure threw up his arms, and made gesticulations resembling those used by Esquimaux, besides shouting, at the top of his voice, words which, from the wind and intense excitement of the moment, sounded like a wild screech, and this brought us fairly to a standstill. The stranger came quietly on, and we saw that his face was as black as ebony; and really at the moment we might be pardoned for wondering whether he was a denizen of this or the other world; and had he but given us a glimpse of a tail or a cloven hoof, we should a.s.suredly have taken to our legs. As it was, we gallantly stood our ground; and, had the skies fallen upon us we could hardly have been more astonished than when the dark stranger called out-

"'I'm Lieutenant Pim, late of the _Herald_, and now in the _Resolute_.

Captain Kellett is in her at Dealy Island!'

"To rush at and seize him by the hand was the first impulse, for the heart was too full for the tongue to speak. The announcement of relief being close at hand, when none was supposed to be within the Arctic Circle, was too sudden, unexpected, and joyous, for our minds to comprehend it at once. The news flew with lightning rapidity. The s.h.i.+p was all in commotion; the sick, forgetful of their maladies, leaped from their hammocks; the artificers dropped their tools, and the lower deck was cleared of men; for they all rushed for the hatchway, to be a.s.sured that a stranger was actually amongst them, and that his tale was true.

Despondency fled from the s.h.i.+p, and Lieutenant Pim received a welcome which he will never forget."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE SLEDGE PARTY OF THE _RESOLUTE_, UNDER LIEUT. BEDFORD PIM, FINDING THE _INVESTIGATOR_.]

Of course M'Clure immediately started to visit Captain Kellett. At first there were some hopes of saving the _Investigator_; but the reports of both s.h.i.+ps' surgeons on the state of the crew were so unfavourable, that the men were at once transferred to the _Resolute_ and _Intrepid_, and the former abandoned. These also had in their turn to be abandoned; but the united crews in the end reached England in safety. A court-martial was held on M'Clure, and he was, of course, honourably acquitted. In the following session a reward of 10,000 was awarded to the officers and crew of the _Investigator_, and every one of its brave company received a medal from the Queen, which, doubtless, they have treasured as a memento of the three dreary yet eventful winters pa.s.sed by them on the ice.(36)

Among the earlier vessels employed in the search for Franklin were the _Advance_ and _Rescue_, sent out from America in 1850, at the expense of H. Grinnell, Esq., a n.o.ble-hearted New York merchant. Lieutenant De Haven had charge of the expedition, while the afterwards celebrated Dr. Kane accompanied him as surgeon. De Haven fell in with Ross and Penny, and examined the first winter quarters of Franklin's party, discovered by the latter, and of which mention has been already made. He was very much hampered by the ice, and at the end of the season returned to the United States from a somewhat fruitless expedition. In addition to the several expeditions already briefly mentioned here, many attempts, both by land and sea, to rescue Franklin's band were made between 1851 and 1855.

Captains Inglefield, Frederick, Sir Edward Belcher, Kellett, M'Clintock (first voyage), Pullen, Maguire, Dr. Kane, and others, sought in vain for traces of the lost expedition. As we shall see in our succeeding chapter, Dr. John Rae, an indefatigable and experienced traveller, was more successful; whilst the crowning discoveries, which for ever settled the fate of Franklin, were reserved for the gallant M'Clintock of the ever memorable _Fox_ expedition.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE FRANKLIN SEARCH.

The Franklin Expedition-The First Relics-Dr. Rae's Discoveries-The Government tired of the Search-n.o.ble Lady Franklin-The Voyage of the _Fox_-Beset in the Ice for Eight Months-Enormous Icebergs-Seal and Bear Hunts-Unearthly Noises under the Floes-Guy Fawkes in the Arctic-The Fiftieth Seal Shot-A Funeral-A Merry Christmas-New Year Celebration-Winter Gales-Their Miraculous Escape-Experience of a Whaler-Breakfast and s.h.i.+p lost together.

In October, 1854, the startling news came from Dr. Rae that he had at length found some definite traces of the lost expedition. For several years he had been engaged in the search-princ.i.p.ally at the expense of the Hudson's Bay Company-during which time he had descended the Mackenzie and Coppermine Rivers, and explored the sh.o.r.es and islands of the Polar Ocean without success. During his last journey, however, in 1853-4, he had obtained positive evidence from the Esquimaux regarding the fate of the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ and their crews. Six years before, in the spring-time, some forty white men had been seen painfully straggling over the ice, dragging with them a boat and sledges. They had indicated by signs that their vessels had been crushed in the ice, and that they were now trying to reach a habitable part of the country where they might find game. They were much emaciated from the effects of starvation, exposure, and unwonted exertion. Later in the same year the corpses of some thirty persons and some graves were discovered by the Esquimaux on the mainland, and five other bodies were subsequently found on an island close to it, and about a day's journey north-west of Back's Great Fish River. Several of them had died in their tents, and one, believed to have been an officer, was described as lying on his double-barrelled gun, with his telescope yet strapped to his shoulders. Dr. Rae obtained a number of relics from the Esquimaux, including pieces of plate and other articles known to have belonged to the officers. The Government was satisfied that these facts indicated the entire loss of the party, and the long outstanding reward of 10,000 offered to any one who should bring intelligence of their fate was paid to Dr. Rae and his party. Next season, Mr. John Anderson, a chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, while making a canoe voyage down Great Fish River to Montreal Island and Point Ogle, obtained some confirmatory evidence and a few more relics from the natives.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BACK'S GREAT FISH RIVER.]

The Government had now become tired of the search, and perhaps for good reason, for its own officers had not been, as we have seen, successful in obtaining the desired information, while there had been an immense expenditure of the public money in fruitless expeditions. It cannot, however, be wondered at that Lady Franklin had not abandoned all hope, and that she, in common with many others, was not satisfied with the meagre evidence of their fate so far obtained. That it pointed to the loss of the larger part of the officers and men could not be doubted, but there was yet the possibility of some of them surviving at some distant point it might be among the Esquimaux. Backed by distinguished naval officers and men of science and influence, she appealed to the Government to make one more last effort. It was in vain, and there was nothing for it but a private expedition. Lady Franklin purchased the steam-yacht _Fox_, and aided, in a limited degree only, by private subscriptions and some Government aid, fitted her out most completely. She was soon gratified by obtaining the willing and gratuitous services of several distinguished officers. Captain (now Sir) F. L. M'Clintock, who had braved the dangers of the Arctic with (James) Ross, Austin, and Kellett; Lieutenant W. R.

Hobson, an officer of much experience; Captain Allen Young, of the merchant marine, who not merely threw his services into the cause, but subscribed 500 in furtherance of it; and Dr. David Walker, an accomplished surgeon and scientific man-were all volunteers whose services were secured. "Many worthy old s.h.i.+pmates," says M'Clintock, "my companions in the previous Arctic voyages, most readily volunteered their services, and were as gratefully accepted, for it was my anxious wish to gather around me well-tried men, who were aware of the duties expected of them and accustomed to naval discipline. Hence, out of the twenty-five souls composing our small company, seventeen had previously served in the Arctic search." Just before starting, Carl Petersen, now so well known to Arctic readers on account of his subsequent connection with Dr. Kane's expedition, joined the vessel as interpreter. The vessel was amply provisioned for twenty-eight months, and the supplies included preserved vegetables, lemon-juice, and pickles, for daily consumption. The Admiralty caused 6,682 lbs. of pemmican(37) to be prepared for the expedition, and the Board of Ordnance furnished the arms, powder and shot, rockets, and powder for ice blasting. M'Clintock, being anxious to retain for his vessel the privileges she formerly enjoyed as a yacht, was enrolled as a member of several of the leading clubs.

The _Fox_ left England on the last day of June, 1857, and after visiting some of the Greenland settlements, turned seawards. Seventy miles to the west of Upernavik the edge of the "middle ice" was reached, and the vessel caught in its margin of loose ice. They soon steamed out of what might have been to a sailing vessel a serious predicament, and closely examined the field for forty miles without finding an opening. M'Clintock, being satisfied that he could not force a pa.s.sage through it across Baffin's Bay, steered to the northward, and on August 12th was in Melville Bay, where the vessel was made fast to an iceberg which was _grounded_ in fifty-eight fathoms (348 feet) of water. Here they were again beset by the ice. Alas! this was but the commencement of their troubles. For 242 days-or, in other words, for eight months after this-the little _Fox_ was helplessly and, as it often appeared, hopelessly, drifting with the ice packed and piled around her, with but a feeble chance of escape, and with a very strong probability of being crushed to nothing without a moment's warning. Some extracts from M'Clintock's journal will be found interesting at this juncture.

"20th. No favourable ice-drift; this detention has become most painful.

The _Enterprise_ reached the open water upon this day in 1848, within fifty miles of our present position. Unfortunately, our prospects are not so cheering. There is no relative motion in the floes of ice, except a gradual closing together, the small s.p.a.ces and streaks of water being still further diminished. The temperature has fallen, and is usually below the freezing point. I feel most keenly the difficulty of my position. We cannot afford to lose many more days.

"The men enjoy a game of rounders on the ice each evening. Petersen and Christian are constantly on the look-out for seals, as well as Hobson and Young occasionally. If in good condition and killed instantaneously the seals float. Several have already been shot. The liver fried with bacon is excellent.

"Birds have become scarce. The few we see are returning southward. How anxiously I watch the ice, weather, barometer, and thermometer! Wind from any other quarter than south-east would oblige the floe-pieces to re-arrange themselves, in doing which they would become loose, and then would be our opportunity to proceed.

"24th. Fine weather, with very light northerly winds. We have drifted seven miles to the west in the last two days. The ice is now a close pack, so close that one may walk for many miles over it in any direction by merely turning a little to the right or left to avoid the small water s.p.a.ces. My frequent visits to the crow's-nest are not inspiriting. How absolutely distressing this imprisonment is to me no one without similar experience can form any idea. As yet the crew have but little suspicion how blighted our prospects are.

"The dreaded reality of wintering in the pack is gradually forcing itself upon my mind; but I must not write on this subject: it is bad enough to brood over it unceasingly. We can see the land all round Melville Bay, from Cape Walker nearly to Cape York. Petersen is indefatigable at seal shooting; he is so anxious to secure them for our dogs. He says they must be hit in the head; 'if you hit him in the beef that is not good,' meaning that a flesh wound does not prevent their escaping under the ice. Petersen and Christian practise an Esquimaux mode of attracting the seals. They sc.r.a.pe the ice, thus making a noise like that produced by a seal in making a hole with its flippers, and then place one end of a pole in the water and put their mouths close to the other end, making noises in imitation of the snorts and grunts of their intended victims. Whether the device is successful or not I do not know, but it looks laughable enough.

"Christian came back a few days ago, like a true seal hunter, carrying his kaiyack on his head, and dragging a seal behind him. Only two years ago Petersen returned across this bay with Dr. Kane's retreating party. He shot a seal, which they devoured, and which, under Providence, saved their lives. Petersen is a good ice pilot, knows all these coasts as well as, or better than, any man living, and, from long experience and habits of observation, is almost unerring in his prognostications of the weather.

Besides his great value to us as interpreter, few men are better adapted for Arctic work-an ardent sportsman, an agreeable companion, never at a loss for occupation or amus.e.m.e.nt, and always contented and sanguine. But we have, happily, many such dispositions in the _Fox_.

"30th. The whole distance across Melville Bay is 170 miles; of this we have performed about 120, forty of which we have drifted in the last fourteen days.

"Yesterday we set to work as usual to warp the s.h.i.+p along, and moved her ten feet. An insignificant hummock then blocked up the narrow pa.s.sage. As we could not push it before us, a two-pound blasting charge was exploded, and the surface ice was shattered; but such an immense quant.i.ty of broken ice came up from beneath that the difficulty was greatly increased instead of being removed. This is one of the many instances in which our small vessel labours under very great disadvantages in ice navigation; we have neither sufficient manual power, steam power, nor impetus to force the floes asunder. I am convinced that a steamer of moderate size and power, with a crew of forty or fifty men, would have got through a hundred miles of such ice in less time than we have been beset."

And so it went on from day to day, M'Clintock knowing that it was fast becoming hopeless to expect a release, but, nevertheless, keeping his men well employed in preparations for wintering and sledge-travelling. Every now and then a "lane" of water opening in the ice would mock their hopes.

On one occasion such an opening appeared within 170 yards of the vessel, and by the aid of steam and blasting powder they advanced 100 yards towards it, when the floes again closed up tightly, and they had their trouble for their pains. Numerous large icebergs were around them. Allen Young examined one, which was 250 feet high, and aground in 83 fathoms (498 feet) of water. In other words, the enormous ma.s.s was nearly 750 feet from top to bottom. The reader can judge of such dimensions by comparison: St. Paul's is only 370 feet in height. The looser ice drifting past this berg was crushed, and piled up against its sides to a height of fifty feet.

Meantime they were very successful in the hunt. Seals were caught in numbers, and their twenty-nine dogs kept in good condition on the meat.

The dogs were at this period kept on the ice outside the s.h.i.+p, and occasionally one would start out on a solitary expedition, remaining away all night, but invariably returning for meal-time. On the evening of November 2nd there was a sudden call "to arms," and every one, whether "sleeping, prosing, or schooling"-for Dr. Walker held a school on board-flew to the ice, where a large he-bear was seen struggling with the dogs. He had approached within twenty-five yards of the s.h.i.+p before the quartermaster's eye detected his indistinct outline against the snow. In crossing some very thin ice he broke through into the water, where he was surrounded by yelping dogs. Hobson, Young, and Petersen, had each lodged a bullet in him, but these only seemed to increase his rage. At length he got out of the water, and would doubtless have demolished some of the dogs, when M'Clintock, with a well-directed shot, put a bullet through his brain. The bear was a large one, and its carcase fed the dogs for nearly a month. M'Clintock says:-"For the few moments of its duration the chase and death was exciting. And how strange and novel the scene! A misty moon affording but scanty light, dark figures gliding singly about, not daring to approach each other, for the ice trembled under their feet, the enraged bear, the wolfish, howling dogs, and the bright flashes of the deadly rifles."

About this period, and while the weather was reasonably fair, unearthly noises were heard under the ice, and alarming disruptions occurred close to the s.h.i.+p. Of one of the former occasions M'Clintock writes:-"A renewal of ice-crus.h.i.+ng within a few hundred yards of us; I can hear it in my bed.

The ordinary sound resembles the roar of distant surf breaking heavily and continuously; but when heavy ma.s.ses come in collision with much impetus it fully realises the justness of Dr. Kane's descriptive epithet, 'ice artillery.' Fortunately for us, our poor little _Fox_ is well within the margin of a stout old floe; we are therefore undisturbed spectators of ice-conflicts which would be irresistible to anything of human construction. Immediately about the s.h.i.+p all is still, and, as far as appearances go, she is precisely as she would be in a secure harbour, housed all over, banked up with snow to the gunwales. In fact, her winter plumage is so complete that the masts alone are visible."