As soon as summer began Simpson and his companions set out on their journey to the Coppermine River. Their way lay up Dease River and across the Dismal Lakes, and, as the ice had not yet given way to the thaw, the journey was attended by not a few difficulties. However, with characteristic enterprise, Simpson fixed his boats firmly on stout iron sledges, and having hoisted his sails sped away over the lakes at a good pace, to the immense astonishment of the natives.
On reaching the Coppermine they found it greatly swollen with the melting snow and strewn with loose ice. Delay, however, was intolerable to the explorers, and they determined to make the best of their way down to the sea without more ado. Navigation was extremely dangerous, for the river went raging down between gigantic precipices, along whose base the breakers raged and foamed with overwhelming fury. Simpson’s account of the shooting of Escape Rapid, which they reached at noon on the first day of their journey, is well worth quoting as showing the sort of difficulties with which they had to contend: “A glance at the overhanging cliffs,” he says, “told us that there was no alternative but to run down with a full cargo. In an instant we were in the vortex, and, before we were aware, my boat was borne towards an isolated rock which the boiling surge almost concealed. To clear it on the outside was no longer possible; our only chance was to run between it and the lofty eastern cliff. The word was passed, and every breath was hushed. A stream which dashed down upon us over the brow of the precipice, more than a hundred feet in height, mingled with the spray that whirled upwards from the rapid, forming a terrific shower bath. The pass was about eight feet wide, and the error of a single foot would have been instant destruction. As, guided by Sinclair’s consummate skill, the boat shot safely through those jaws of death, an involuntary cheer arose. Our next impulse was to turn round to view the fate of our comrades behind. They had profited by the peril we incurred and kept without the treacherous rock in time. The waves there were still higher, and for a while we lost sight of our friends. When they emerged the first object visible was the bowman disgorging part of an intrusive wave which he had swallowed and looking half-drowned. Mr Dease afterwards told me that the spray, which completely enveloped them, formed a gorgeous rainbow round the boat.”
They reached the shores of the Polar Sea on July 1, and here they were doomed to disappointment. The winter had been one of exceptional length and severity, and in consequence the shores of the sea itself were so encumbered with ice as to make navigation almost impossible. They pushed slowly along, but they found both Coronation Gulf and Melville Sound completely covered with solid ice, and by August 19, when the time was rapidly approaching for them to return, they were still three miles short of the furthest point reached by Franklin.
There was no chance of proceeding any further in their boats, but Simpson was determined to set foot on land which had never been trodden by an European, so with a party of seven men he set out on a ten days’ tramp eastward. Travelling was very painful, for the way lay mostly over loose stones and was intersected by numberless brooks and streams. Their labours, however, were well rewarded. Simpson had feared from the formation of the land along which he was travelling that the coast-line of the Polar Sea was not continuous. On August 23, however, he reached a lofty cape, on ascending which he discovered that in reality he had merely been travelling along the southern shore of a strait. Beneath his feet lay an immense sea rolling away eastward as far as the eye could reach, while to the north he saw an extensive land to which he gave the name of Queen Victoria Land.
After travelling a few miles south-south-east the expedition was obliged to start on their way back, the five days allotted to the outgoing journey having now expired. On the 29th they rejoined the rest of the party at Boathaven, and on September 4 they began the journey up the Coppermine. Hitherto the ascent of the Coppermine by boat had been considered impossible. Simpson, however, determined to prove that the reverse was the case, and with infinite labour he succeeded in towing the boats safely up all the rapids. On September 5 they reached a spot about four miles below the junction of Kendal River, which they considered to be the nearest point to Fort Confidence. Here, accordingly, they dragged the boats out of the water, and leaving them high and dry in a wood, they made their way back to their winter quarters on foot, reaching their journey’s end on September 14.
There everything had been got in perfect readiness for the long winter. The buildings had been put in order, a quantity of dried venison had been purchased from the Indians, and several thousand fish had been caught and cured. Consequently they were in no danger of want, and spent their time in comparative comfort until June brought a release from the frost. As soon as it was possible they set off for the point on the Coppermine at which they had left the Castor and Pollux, and in due time they reached the Polar Sea.
In the first week or so their progress was rather slow. The season was, however, far more open than was that of the preceding year and, on reaching Coronation Gulf, they found it, to their great delight, perfectly navigable. From that point they pushed on apace. On the night of the 20th they stopped at Boathaven, and thence, helped by a favouring wind, they ran rapidly along the west coast of Kent Peninsula to Cape Franklin, which they reached exactly a month earlier than Simpson’s party had reached it in the preceding year. Here again they were favoured by fortune, for they found an open passage of water, two miles wide, along which the boats bowled merrily. They reached Cape Alexander on the 26th, and then, rounding the eastern extremity of Kent Peninsula, they ran along the shore which they had been previously obliged to traverse on foot, discovering and naming Melbourne Island and Roxborough Cape as they went.
On the 10th they entered the strait which is now called by Simpson’s name, and it was then that they realised that they were on the verge of linking up Franklin’s discoveries with those of Back, for the rapid rush of the tide from the east told them that they were about to enter the open sea into which the Great Fish River disgorged its waters. On the 13th all doubts on this point were set at rest for, on rounding a very sharp cape, they saw before them a sandy desert which they knew to be Back’s Ogle Point.
By reaching the estuary of the Great Fish River they had practically accomplished the objects of their expedition. Simpson, however, was by no means disposed to rest upon his laurels, and he determined to make an effort to discover whether or not the North American continent was linked to Boothia Felix or whether a strait connected the Boothia Gulf with the Arctic Sea. Accordingly, with his wonted energy, he selected three volunteers and set off on a short voyage of exploration in one of the boats. He was not destined, however, to succeed in his search, for on the 20th adverse winds compelled him to take shelter in a small river, which he named after the Castor and Pollux. To attempt to proceed any further would have been foolhardy, and might well have resulted in the loss of the entire party. Accordingly, having decided his position as lat. 68° 28´ N., long. 94° 14´ W., he turned back and reached Cape Britannia, where Dease had remained, on August 20.
They decided to vary their homeward journey by sailing along the coast of Victoria Land, which had never, of course, been explored. They made its nearest point, which they named Cape Colborne, on September 6. The 7th and 8th were spent in sailing across two great bays, to which they gave the names of Cambridge and Wellington Bays, and on the 9th they were nearly opposite Cape Franklin, the shore of the American continent being then about twenty miles away. On the following day they made for Cape Barrow, having explored some 156 miles of the new country.