The Pandora put to sea on her second voyage from the Southampton Docks, May 17, 1876, for the double purpose of making another attempt to sail through Peel and Franklin straits, and navigate the coast of North America to Behring Strait, and to carry out the instructions of the British Admiralty in an attempt to communicate with the Alert and Discovery, at Littleton Island or Cape Isabella. Proceeding under sail, she reached Godhaven by the 7th of July.
Here desolation and gloom seemed to overwhelm the little settlement, owing to the storehouse having burned and consumed the entire winter’s production of oil and blubber, some two hundred barrels, as well as all the store belonging to the United States Polaris expedition. Such a disaster to the poor Greenlanders was quite as great a catastrophe as the burning of half of London would be to a Britisher. However, a cordial welcome awaited Captain Young from the hospitable natives, and, “In fact,” he writes, “we thoroughly enjoyed our stay in port, and all made great friends with the Greenlanders. The only drawback was caused by the quantities of the most venomous mosquitoes I ever saw, and they did their very best thoroughly to torment us. I never in any climate knew such a pest as we found these Greenland mosquitoes, for wherever we went, either on shore or in a boat, and even on board ship, they followed us persistently, and at whatever hour, night or day, it was always the same. I was this time more bitten than I ever was before. My head and hands were completely swollen, and one of my eyes shut up.”
On the 11th of July, the Pandora steamed out of Godhaven, in the direction of Waigat, making a brief stop at Njaragsugssuk, and putting in for coal at Kudliest. By the 16th, she stood off Hare Island, and two days later was running under canvas towards Upernavik. Leaving on the 19th, the ship proceeded slowly through a dense fog toward Brown Island. The Duck Islands were passed on the 21st, the fog again made progress extremely difficult, and the complications of thousands of icebergs, of every conceivable form and shape, intermingled with the drifting floes of ice, almost blocked the way to the north.
The following days were passed in the greatest anxiety by Captain Young. The Pandora was beset in the ice-pack of Melville Bay, and in spite of blasting with gunpowder all around her, where the pressure was greatest, the enormous icebergs driving through towards her position threatened her destruction at any moment.
On the 29th of July, a frightful storm disrupted the pack, and, after twenty-four hours of uncertainty and danger, the Pandora steamed her way, inch by inch, yard by yard, into the open sea. “Cheers burst spontaneously from the crew as we launched out into the ocean and made all sail to a fair wind from the S. W.”
The “North Water” at last, with the whole season ahead and a straight course for Cape York and the Cary Islands; a brief stop to examine the Pandora’s depot of the previous year, and by August 2 the ship was passing west of Hakluyt Island. A stop was made at Sutherland Island for the purpose of finding any despatches from Captain Nares that may have been left there, but only Captain Hartstein’s record was found, left there August 16, 1855, when he touched at this point in his search for Dr. Kane.
At Littleton Island, which was reached August 3, Captain Young was more successful, and a record written July 28, 1875, and left there by Captain Nares, gave full information of the British expedition up to that date. As it was evident that no sledging party had touched at that point in the spring, Captain Young’s mission was over, and he turned his attention to the main object of his voyage, that of attempting the Northwest Passage via Peel Strait, previous to which, however, he made an examination of the bays and inlets between Littleton Island and Cape Alexander.
Touching at Cape Isabella, Lieutenants Arbuthnot and Becker landed and found a second communication from Captain Nares, left there July 29, 1875. Letters for the Alert and Discovery and a record of the Pandora’s visit were deposited at this point. A second attempt to reach Cape Isabella for the purpose of a more thorough examination of a cask, described by the first landing party, and supposed by Captain Young to contain letters or despatches, resulted in the Pandora’s spending three weeks in a struggle with the ice for an approach. When Cape Isabella was finally reached, after days of delay and disappointment, the cask which had caused so much anxiety and interest was found to be empty.