The same evening a return was made to Blacklead, where, taking on board Captain Jackson, the new master of Cape Haven station, and his boat’s crew of natives, we left again, under a brilliant moon, for Cape Haven. The south shore of the gulf was closely followed, past innumerable bays and narrow channels formed by the islands and deeply indented shores of that side.
Cyrus Field bay was reached late the next afternoon, with a strong northwesterly breeze. As the approach to Cape Haven is filled with dangerous shoals, it was thought unadvisable to attempt to enter it so late in the day, and the ship was headed up the bay, for a harbour known as Frenchman cove. We arrived at dusk, to find the narrow entrance blocked by a large iceberg, and the water too deep to anchor outside. A boat was sent off, and soon returned, reporting a narrow passage between the ice and rocks; with some danger this was passed, and the ship anchored safely in the small bay. Two small deserted houses perched on a narrow ledge of rock, close to the water, with a number of oil barrels in the rear, represent the remains of a former small trading station. The diminutive harbour is surrounded by sharply ragged hills of granite, whose summits are splotched with patches of snow; the valleys between are narrow and irregular, and are so thickly strewn with boulders and broken rock that nearly every trace of soil is hidden. The scant Arctic vegetation and the deserted houses enhance the desolation of the scene.
Having taken on board the casks of oil and a supply of fresh water, the ship was headed for Cape Haven, where a station, similar to those already described, was found on a snug harbour, behind a large island, near the end of the cape. This station belongs to Potter and Wrightington, of Boston, United States. For several years past it has been unlucky, and the few whales taken have paid neither the expenses of maintaining the station nor the cost of supplying it by a special vessel. Natives sufficient to man four whaleboats live about this station.
The general aspect of the country about Cyrus Field bay is somewhat similar to that of Cumberland gulf: high, rugged hills of gneiss and granite rise from 500 feet to 1,000 feet above the sea. The land on the northern side of the bay is lower, and the waters of this portion are broken by low islands and reefs, many of which become connected at low tide.
A long chain of islands separates this bay from Frobisher bay to the southward. These islands are all high and rocky; strong tides rush through the channels between them, and although several of the channels are reported to be safe for large ships, they are only used by the natives as short cuts to Frobisher bay.
Blacklead Island, Cumberland Gulf.
Cape Haven was left late on the afternoon of the 8th, and Hall island, at the eastern extremity of the chain separating the bays, was passed in the early evening. The course was then laid across the mouth of Frobisher bay, to pass to the eastward of the great island of Resolution, lying on the north side of the entrance to Hudson strait.
Monumental and Lady Franklin islands lie some twenty miles off the mouth of Cyrus Field bay, and are about ten miles apart. A continuous string of large icebergs stretched in a line between the islands, and continued for some miles beyond them, both north and south. They showed that the islands were but the exposed portions of a long dangerous bank, upon which the bergs had grounded. A similar line of bergs was observed about ten miles inside and parallel to the outer line. As this is the only knowledge possessed of these reefs, ships crossing them should use caution, although, in most places, sufficient water will probably be found.