As the winter wore on matters became worse, for not only did the danger from the ice show no signs of diminishing, but scurvy broke out, and several men died of that terrible disease. For long and weary months the crew lived under the very shadow of death, and it was not until the beginning of May, by which time the Terror had drifted to the mouth of Hudson’s Strait, that they dared to entertain any hopes of ultimate deliverance. At last, however, the ice broke away from the ship’s sides, and she was afloat once more, but in so terribly crazy a condition that she was by no means fit for a voyage across the Atlantic. However chain cables were passed under her and made fast to ringbolts on the quarter deck, and, thus patched up, she accomplished the journey in safety, reaching British waters on September 3.
CHAPTER XI
THE DISCOVERIES OF DEASE AND SIMPSON
Meanwhile the exploration of the shores of Northern America was proceeding apace. At the time when the Terror sailed for Hudson’s Strait the situation was this. Beechey, starting from the west, had mapped out the coast as far as Point Barrow. No white man had yet examined the coast from Point Barrow to Return Reef, a matter of some 150 miles. The expeditions of Franklin and Richardson, however, had covered the whole distance between Return Reef and Point Turnagain, but the coast-line between that point and the mouth of the Great Fish or Back River still remained to be explored, as, too, did the shore of the Polar Sea eastward of the Great Fish River. It was to the last-named stretch of coast-line that the greatest importance was attached, because it was felt that search might very possibly reveal the existence of a waterway between Regent’s Inlet and the Polar Sea. There being so much work to be done in this direction, in 1836 the Hudson’s Bay Company determined to send out an expedition on its own account “to endeavour to complete the discovery and survey of the northern shores of the American continent.” The command of the expedition was given to two of the Company’s officers, Mr Peter Warren Dease and Mr Thomas Simpson. Dease had accompanied Franklin on his expedition of 1825-26, and, on account of his seniority in the Company’s service, the command of the party was given to him. Simpson was only a junior official, but he was a man of such immense enthusiasm and ability that, to all intents and purposes, before many weeks were over, he became the actual leader, and the most important discoveries made by the expedition must really be accredited to him.
According to the official instructions, the party, which was to consist of twelve men in addition to the two officers, was to proceed to the Athabasca Lake, and to winter either at Fort Chipewyan or at Fort Resolution. The summer of 1837 was to be devoted to the exploration of the coast-line between the mouth of the Mackenzie River, which would lead them to the sea, and Point Barrow. As soon as winter set in the party was to make its way to the Great Bear Lake, whence, in the summer of 1838, it was to pass down the Coppermine River, with a view to linking up Franklin’s discoveries with those of Back.
In pursuance of this plan Dease set out for the Athabasca Lake at the end of July, while Simpson, who was a man of extraordinary energy, went south to the Red River Settlement, with a view to rubbing up his astronomy, entirely undeterred by the fact that he would have to make the whole of his journey to the Athabasca Lake—a distance of 1277 miles—on foot, in the depth of winter, over a rugged and trackless waste. It was to energy of this kind that he owed so much of his success. Frequently during his subsequent trips he achieved feats which had hitherto been regarded as absolutely impossible, while he invariably travelled at a pace which none of his predecessors had ever approached. He covered the whole of the distance between the Red River Settlement and Lake Athabasca in sixty-two days; and what makes the achievement all the more remarkable is that he invariably insisted on “raising the road” himself—in other words, he marched on ahead of the party to mark out the track through the snow. This task is so exceedingly trying, that, as a rule, each member of a party undertakes it in turn for an hour at a time.
The winter at Fort Chipewyan was very largely occupied in the construction of the two boats that were to take the party down to the Polar Sea. The Castor and Pollux, as they were named, were light clinker-built craft of 24 feet keel and 6 feet beam, carrying two lug-sails apiece. They were duly launched at the end of May, and on June 1 the party set out on its way down to the sea. At Fort Norman four men were sent off to the Great Bear Lake to build winter quarters, establish a fishery, and make all the necessary preparations for the return of the party.
The voyage down the Mackenzie passed off without misadventure, and on July 9 the party found itself on the shores of the Polar Sea. The next fortnight was spent in verifying Franklin’s discoveries, but on July 23 they reached Return Reef, and there they began to open up new country. Fog, ice, and adverse winds now made their progress rather slow, and Simpson feared that if the conditions did not improve they would not reach Point Barrow before winter set in. Accordingly he determined to make a push for it, and selecting five men to accompany him, he started off to accomplish the rest of the journey on foot. The weather was bitterly cold, with a biting north-east wind and a thick fog. The coast, moreover, was intersected by countless salt creeks, through which it was necessary to wade, and the conditions altogether were as disagreeable as could well be imagined.
On the second day of the journey, however, when they had proceeded about thirty miles, they had the good fortune to come upon an Eskimo encampment. Here Simpson succeeded in borrowing an “oomiack,” or large family canoe, which proved of such material assistance that before long they were at their journey’s end.
The first part of their expedition was now safely accomplished, for they had surveyed the whole of the 150 miles of coast-line between Return Reef and Point Barrow, thus linking up the discoveries of Beechey and Franklin. There was, therefore, nothing left for them to do but to make the best of their way up the Mackenzie River to the Great Bear Lake, which they duly reached on September 25.
The winter passed without any misadventure whatever. The usual Indians, of course, swarmed to the Fort and expected to be fed by the Englishmen. Fortunately, however, provisions were plentiful, and the party, unlike some of the preceding expeditions, was never in danger of starvation, in spite of the enormous appetites in which most of its members rejoiced. The intense cold of these climates makes a liberal supply of animal food absolutely indispensable, and the daily ration served out to each man was 10 or 12 pounds of venison, or, when they could be obtained, four or five whole fish weighing from 15 to 20 pounds. Even this was found insufficient by some members of the party.