ALBERT H. MARKHAM, F. R. G. S.
“Whilst attempting to secure the ships,” continues Markham, “an alarming catastrophe occurred. The boat had been despatched containing three men with the necessary implements, such as an ice drill and anchor for making the vessel fast. As soon as the first blow of the drill was delivered, the berg, to our horror, split in two with a loud report, one half with one of our men on it toppling over, whilst the other half swayed rapidly backwards and forwards. On this latter piece was another of our men, who was observed with his heels in the air, the violent agitation of the berg having precipitated him head foremost into a rent or crevasse. The water alongside was a mass of seething foam and spray, but curious to relate, the boat with the third man in it was in no way injured. They were all speedily rescued from their perilous position and brought on board, sustaining no further harm than that inflicted by a cold bath. Their escape appeared miraculous.”
On the 19th of July, the ships came to anchor off the Danish settlement of Proven, and here Hans Hendrik, the Eskimo, dog-driver and hunter, who had accompanied so many expeditions to Smith Sound, was engaged. Putting to sea once more, they passed the headland of “Sanderson, his hope,” the 21st of July, anchoring off Upernavik the following morning.
Pushing boldly through the middle ice, the passage through Melville Bay was safely accomplished and the North Water reached without incident. Arriving off the Gary Islands on the morning of the 27th, a cache of provisions was landed sufficient to sustain sixty men for two months. Other depots were cached at Cape Hawkes and Cape Lincoln. By the 28th of July both ships came to anchor at Port Foulke, the winter quarters of Dr. Hayes in 1860. An excursion from this point was taken by Captain Nares and Commander Markham to Life-boat Cove, the winter quarters of the remnant of the Polaris crew in 1872-1873. Traces of that expedition were immediately found upon landing; various relics such as a trunk, an old basket lined with tin, boxes, stores, pieces of wood, gun-barrels, and odds and ends lay strewn about. A collection was made of such articles as were of any value for the purpose of returning them to the United States. Nares and Markham now proceeded to Littleton Island in the hopes of finding an iron boat left there by Dr. Hayes in 1860. Though a careful search was made, no traces of it were discovered.
After erecting a cairn at the southwest end of the island on a hill some five or six hundred feet above sea level, from which point Cape Sabine and Cape Fraser could be seen, the intervening distance navigable open water, Captain Nares and Commander Markham congratulated themselves on the prospect of rapid progress.
A few hours after the return to the ship the favourable conditions suddenly changed, and from that time on the two ships battled with the ice-pack. Hugging the west shore, and keeping free from the main pack after leaving Cape Sabine, Captain Nares hardly left the crow’s-nest in his heroic efforts to take advantage of every lead and opening.
“Little rest was enjoyed by any on these days during which we were subjected to the wayward will of the pack,” writes Commander Markham. On the 19th of August, he says, “During the last three weeks we had advanced exactly ninety miles, or at the rate of about four and a quarter a day. This cannot be considered a rapid rate of travelling, yet to accomplish even this necessitated a constant and vigilant lookout.”
Pushing their way steadily onward, they passed Cape Lieber and crossed Lady Franklin Bay. On the 25th of August, while threading among the ice-floes that bordered the coast, a herd of musk-oxen were seen browsing on an adjacent hill. A shooting party was sent ashore, which separated into three parties upon landing and advanced cautiously toward the spot where the animals were seen grazing. So successful was the hunt that twenty-one hundred and twenty-four pounds of fresh meat was the result of the “morning’s bag.”
The harbour in which the ships were anchored possessed all the necessary qualifications for comfortable winter quarters, so that Captain Nares decided to leave the Discovery and proceed with the Alert. Everything having been satisfactorily arranged, the Alert steamed away from Discovery Harbor on the morning of the 26th, pushing her cautious way along the west shore of Kennedy Channel. “September 1st (1875),” writes Commander Markham, “must always be regarded at least by all those connected with, or interested in, Arctic research, as a red letter day in the annals of naval enterprise, and indeed in English history, for on this day a British man-of-war reached a higher northern latitude than had ever yet been reached by any ship (82° 25´ N., 62° W.), and we had the extreme gratification of hoisting the colours at noon to celebrate the event.”