Report on the Dominion Government Expedition to Hudson Bay and the Arctic Islands on board the D.G.S. Neptune, 1903-1904

by A. P. Low

Like all the great northern bays, Baffin bay has a current flowing northward along the eastern or Greenland coast, and a cold Arctic current setting southward along the western shores. These currents have a considerable influence upon the climate of the adjoining land, and the mean annual temperature at points of corresponding latitude is several degrees higher on the Greenland side. This difference of climate is marked along the middle and northern coasts, that of Greenland being practically free from ice and snow, except where glaciers from the great central ice-cap flow down into the sea. The fiords and bays are open early in summer, while the current sweeps northward all the ice accumulated along the coast during the winter, leaving an open sea, usually early in July, as far as Melville bay.

A portion of this southern current evidently comes from the North Atlantic, and the remainder sweeps around the southern end of Greenland, bringing with it a stream of Arctic ice brought south on the Arctic current of east Greenland. This stream of ice is soon deflected from the west coast, and appears to melt in the southeastern part of Davis strait, as there is a lane of open water separating the southern ice from that of the west coast.

The distance from Wilcox head to Cape York, across Melville bay, is 180 miles; that from the centre of this line to the head of the bay is upwards of 100 miles. Much of the shore-line of the bay is still unexplored, but sufficient is known to state that it is an almost unbroken line of glaciers, which constantly discharge large icebergs into the waters of the bay. A large number of rocky islands break its surface, and the bottom appears to be very uneven, with much shallow water; in consequence, many of the icebergs are grounded in the shallower parts of the bay. The islands and grounded bergs break the winds and waves, and so allow of the formation of heavy sheets of ice between them during the winter months, while in the summer they act as anchors for this sheet, or floe ice. As before stated, the southerly current carries a great part of the shore ice of central Greenland north to Melville bay, where it acts as an aggravation to the congestion of ice there, so that it is always late in the season before the bay is even partly clear of ice, which must pass westward, until being influenced by the northern current from Smith sound, it is deflected south and goes to increase the great mass of ice known as the ‘middle pack,’ which all summer fills the southwestern part of Baffin bay. In the days of sailing ships the whalers made their way across the bay by tracking, or sailing along the edge of the solid land-ice, and many a vessel was lost there. Even with steam-power this is a place of terror to the whalers, and they never feel safe until they have reached the ‘north water’ at Cape York. As an illustration of the dangers and difficulties of this crossing, the Vega was crushed and sunk in the summer of 1903, and the Balaena was at the same time eighty days tightly jammed in the ice. In 1904 the Eclipse took thirty days to cross the bay, and the Diana was thirty-five days in crossing. The Neptune, on the 8th of August, crossed in twenty hours, when little ice was seen until within a few miles of Cape York; and from there to Cape Alexander, at the entrance to Smith sound, only ‘pan’ or sheet ice was observed at the heads of the larger bays, all the eastern side of the northern part of Baffin bay being free of ice. This open ‘north water’ is caused as follows: The ice to the southward of Cape Alexander breaks up towards the end of June or early in July, and is soon carried southward on the southerly current of the west side. Smith sound and its continuation northward remain tightly frozen until August, when it sends its heavy ice southward; in consequence there is always a wide interval of open water between these two streams of ice from the north. The Smith sound ice continues to pour out in heavy floes, often square miles in area, until the end of the year, and this stream finally joins the earlier ice in the western part of Baffin bay, where other streams of Arctic ice gather from Jones, Lancaster and Ponds inlet sounds. All these form the great mass of the ‘middle pack,’ which slowly empties on the northern current, flowing southward along the west side of Davis strait, blocking the mouths of Cumberland gulf and Frobisher bay in the late summer, later appearing on the coast of Labrador, and finally forming the heavy pack upon which the seals are found in March and April off the shores of Newfoundland.

The whaling grounds of Hudson bay have been confined to the north side of Hudson strait and to the northwestern part of the bay. The great island of Southampton lies in the north part of the bay and divides it into two unequal portions. The eastern or Fox channel is by far the larger, extending northward from latitude 64° to latitude 70°, and exceeds 200 miles in width. The western, or Roes Welcome, is much smaller; its length from Cape Fullerton to the head of Repulse bay is 150 miles, while it rarely exceeds 40 miles across.

In the early days of the Hudson bay fishery, whales were plentiful as far south as Marble island, and from there northward to Repulse bay. Of late years few whales have been taken in these southern waters, and the whalers now confine themselves to the southern shores of Southampton and the waters of Roes Welcome.

The northern and eastern parts of Fox channel are still unexplored, and owing to the large masses of ice found there continuously, and to the numerous shoals and reefs in the known parts, it has never been a favourite place for whalers, its waters being the only portion of the bay where the whales have been left undisturbed.

The favourite resort for whales both in Baffin and Hudson bays is along the edge of the ice still fast to the shore, with an abundance of loose ice outside. When the shore ice is all melted or loosened they prefer to remain about the edge of the large masses of floating ice. This habit of remaining close to the ice-masses appears to be due to two causes—food and protection. The whale is a very timid animal, and is easily frightened by anything out of the ordinary; it then either takes to the protection of the tightly packed ice, or leaves for distant parts. The food of the whale consists of small crustaceans (called sealice by the whalers), and swimming pterepods known as ‘whale-food’ and ‘blackberries.’ These creatures in turn feed upon minute animal organisms, known as diatoms, which are found in countless numbers in these northern waters, where they are so numerous as to discolour large areas of the sea, giving it a light-green, or a brownish hue. The diatoms are known to be propagated in the fresh-water pools upon the large pans of ice, and it would appear that they thrive best in the comparatively fresh surface-water in the vicinity of melting ice; this may be the chief reason for the whales frequenting such localities.

The whales are known to enter Hudson strait early in the spring; they have been captured around Big island in April and May, and at the western end of the strait in the latter part of May. They then cross to the west side of the bay along the edge of the open water, being found in June and early July along the land-floe on both sides of the southern part of Roes Welcome. As the Welcome clears of ice they proceed north to Repulse bay, and, still later, pass through Frozen strait into Fox channel. Late in the autumn they again pass through Hudson strait going eastward. By far the greater number of whales taken in Hudson bay have been killed in the vicinity of Whale point near the southern entrance to the Welcome.

Some whales are supposed to remain during the winter in the waters of Hudson bay, as they have been reported by the Eskimos as being seen in the depth of winter off Mansfield and some of the more southern islands of the east side of the bay.

The migration of the whales in Davis strait and Baffin bay is fairly well known. In March they are found along the edge of the land-floe of Cumberland gulf and Frobisher bay, where they remain until the beginning of May, when they cross to the Greenland coast, and in June are found on the ‘middle ground’ to the south of Disko. From there they follow the shore ice north to Melville bay, and then cross along the southern edge of the ‘north water’ to the western shores of Baffin bay. Should there be a good land-floe in Jones and Lancaster sounds, they are found there late in July and in the beginning of August, but the greater number go south to the mouth of Ponds inlet, where the principal summer catch is made. During September and October they are found along the western edge of the ‘middle pack,’ and the whalers pass southward from Ponds inlet, making use of a number of good harbours known only to themselves on the eastern side of Baffin island, and going out only in fine weather. According to the season they remain on that coast, to the northward of Cumberland gulf, until the middle or end of October, when they leave for Scotland. In October the whales again enter Cumberland gulf, and remain along the edge of the newly-formed land ice until December, when their position is unknown until their return in the following March. They are supposed to go in the meantime, to the southward, off the mouth of Hudson strait and along the northern Atlantic coast of Labrador, but the weather then is too severe to permit of the use of open whaleboats.