Friday, 21st.On the 21st strong winds and foggy weather, with a considerable surf on the beach, detained us until after eight o'clock in the morning, when many large masses of ice coming in, took the ground near the shore, and smoothed the water sufficiently to enable us to embark. The fog was dense to seaward and over the land, but the height of the cliffs left a space of about a mile from the beach, over which it was carried by the violence of the wind.
About two miles from our late encampment, the bituminous shale was again noticed to be on fire, giving out much smoke; and as we advanced, the cliffs became less precipitous, appearing as if they had fallen down from the consumption of the combustible strata. They gradually terminated in a green and sloping bank, whose summit, about two miles from the sea, rose to the height of about six hundred feet. For the information of the general reader, I may mention that the shale takes fire in consequence of its containing a considerable quantity of sulphur in a state of such minute division, that it very readily attracts oxygen from the atmosphere, and inflames. The combustion is rendered more lively by the presence of bitumen; and the sulphuric acid, which is one of its products, unites with the alumina of the shale to form, with the addition of a small quantity of potass, the triple salt, well known by the name of alum. The moistening of the strata by the sea-spray accelerates the process. In some alum-works, where nature has not been so favourable as in the cliffs of Cape Bathurst, a deficiency of the bituminous matter requisite to keep up the proper intensity of combustion, is supplied by brush-wood, which is strewed in alternate layers with shale that has been previously much divided by long exposure to the weather, and the whole is then moistened with salt-water. A further account of these cliffs is given in page xl. of the Appendix.
In the forenoon we passed the mouths of two small rivers, which were designated after Sir Henry Jardine, Bart., King's Remembrancer in the Court of Exchequer for Scotland; and Dr. Burnett, Commissioner of the Victualling Board. A meridian observation was obtained in latitude 69° 38' N.
In the afternoon the wind blowing more on the shore, caused a tumbling sea. We sailed amongst much stranded ice, and, following the line of coast, were gradually led into a deep bay, whose east side, having a northerly direction, was formed by low land, and so much broken by numerous and extensive inlets, as to look more like a collection of islands than a part of the main land. We were now, reckoning by degrees of longitude, fully half way from Point Separation to the Coppermine River, and the coast from Cape Bathurst had been so exactly in the proper direction, as to excite high hopes of a short and prosperous voyage: it was, therefore, no pleasant sight to us to behold land running out at right angles to our course, and we were willing to believe that a passage existed betwixt it and the main. This opinion was supported by the direction of the high land, which had hitherto skirted the shore, continuing to be south-easterly, until lost to the sight at the distance of fifteen or twenty miles. We, therefore, endeavoured to find a passage, but the first opening that we came to, led into a circular basin of water, apparently land-locked, and about five miles in diameter. We halted at its entrance to cook our supper, and, during our stay, perceiving that the ebb-tide set out of it, we determined on searching for a passage elsewhere. This inlet is six fathoms deep at its entrance, and would prove an excellent harbour for a ship, only for the sand-banks, which skirt this part of the coast, and which render the passage into it too intricate for vessels having a greater draught of water than our boats. It was named Langton Harbour, after the agent for the Hudson's Bay Company at Liverpool.
Leaving this harbour, and steering to the northward, we passed several inlets, into which the flood-tide set with a strong current. We could not see land towards their bottoms, but their mouths were shoal, and we felt convinced that there was no passage through them, because the flood-tide entered them from the westward. Saturday, 22nd.We therefore, proceeded on our voyage without wasting time in examining them; and at two o'clock, on the morning of the 22nd, having come fifty-four miles, we encamped on a beach composed of small fragments of limestone, and strewed with sea-weed. This beach, which received the name of Point Stivens, separates an extensive sheet of salt-water from the sea, and is similar in character to the Chesil Beach, that connects the Isle of Portland to the shore. It varies in breadth from one hundred yards to a quarter of a mile, is several miles long, has a northern direction, and seems to have been formed by the sweep of the tide round the bay, meeting the ebb from the basins that intersects the peninsular promontory with which it is connected. There are several narrow breaches in it through which the tide flows. Anxious to discover the termination of this promontory which was leading us so much out of the direct course to the Coppermine, I went to the summit of a rising ground, about five miles distant, but the view was closed by some small hills, two or three miles off. The soil was clayey, and vegetation scanty.
In taking wood to make a fire, from a large pile of drift-timber which had been collected by the Esquimaux, the nest of a snow-bird, containing four young, was discovered. The parent bird was at first scared away, but affection for its offspring at length gave it courage to approach them with food; and as it was not molested it soon became quite fearless, and fed them with the larvæ of insects, whilst the party were seated at breakfast close by the nest.
At nine o'clock, a.m., we embarked again, and running before a favourable breeze, came to a point consisting of cliffs of limestone, twenty feet high, with a small island of the same kind of rock at its extremity. Many large boulders of greenstone were seen here. After ascertaining the latitude by meridian observation to be 69° 42' N., we continued our voyage along a bold shore, consisting of precipices of limestone, forty or fifty feet high, with three or four fathoms of water at the base. In the evening, having reached a projection which appeared to be the western pitch of the cape, we encamped in a bay near a remarkable perforated rock, having come twenty-six miles since leaving Point Stivens. In the course of the day's voyage we had to make our way through some pretty extensive streams of ice, composed of pieces which rose eight or ten feet above the water; and we saw a considerable quantity of what is termed sailing ice to seaward, being such as a ship could make her way through. I had now the gratification of naming the extensive bay we had been coasting for three days, after my friend and commanding officer; and to the several inlets on its eastern side I assigned the names of Wright, Cracroft, and Sellwood, in honour of his near relatives. A group of islands to the northward was named Booth Islands on the same account.
In bestowing the name of Franklin on this remarkable bay, I paid an appropriate compliment to the officer, under whose orders and by whose arrangements the delineation of all that is known of the northern coast of the American Continent has been effected; with the exception of the parts in the vicinity of Icy Cape discovered by Captain Beechey. It would not be proper, nor is it my intention, to descant on the professional merits of my superior officer; but after having served under Captain Franklin for nearly seven years, in two successive voyages of discovery, I trust I may be allowed to say, that however high his brother officers may rate his courage and talents, either in the ordinary line of his professional duty, or in the field of discovery, the hold he acquires upon the affections of those under his command, by a continued series of the most conciliating attentions to their feelings, and an uniform and unremitting regard to their best interests, is not less conspicuous. I feel that the sentiments of my friends and companions, Captain Back and Lieutenant Kendall, are in unison with my own, when I affirm, that gratitude and attachment to our late commanding officer will animate our breasts to the latest period of our lives. After this feeble but sincere tribute of respect and regard, in which I hope I have not overstepped the proper bounds of a narrative, I hasten to resume the details of the voyage.
The country in the neighbourhood of the encampment consisted entirely of limestone, mostly of the variety named dolomite, and, as is usual where that stone prevails, it was extremely barren. The cliffs and points of land present many caverns and perforated rocks, which have very strong resemblances to the windows and crypts of Gothic buildings. The common kittiwake breeds in great numbers on the rocky ledges in this quarter, and their young were already fledged. The temperature during the day was nearly stationary at 46°, the wind south. The evening being very fine, the pemmican was taken out of the bags, which were scraped and dried; and our loss of provision, by the wetting it sustained in the gale of the 20th, proved to be less than we had expected.
Sunday, 23rd.Embarking at four o'clock, a.m. of the 23d, we sailed with a favourable breeze for nine miles, betwixt Booth Islands and a shore presenting alternately projecting rocky shoals and narrow inlets. We then landed, and ascended a hill, about seven hundred feet high, to ascertain the direction of the coast, and had the satisfaction of finding that we had now reached the northern extremity of this remarkable promontory. It was named Cape Parry after the distinguished navigator whose skill and perseverance have created an era in the progress of northern discovery, and a letter addressed to him, containing information of our proceedings and of Captain Franklin's as far as was known to us, was deposited under a pile of stones which we erected on the summit of the hill. From this elevated situation, land was faintly seen bearing S.E. by S., about forty miles distant; and from thence round to Booth Islands there appeared an open sea, merely studded with a few streams of sailing ice, but no islands were seen in that direction. There are many well sheltered coves in the vicinity of Cape Parry and amongst Booth Islands, but the bottom is rocky, and numerous reefs render the navigation unsafe for a ship. The eastern side of Cape Parry exhibits a succession of limestone cliffs, similar to those which form its western shores; and as we continued our voyage, we passed many excavations ornamented by graceful slender pillars, and exhibiting so perfect a similarity to the pure Gothic arch, that had Nature made many such displays in the Old world, there would be but one opinion as to the origin of that style of architecture. A small island, on which we landed to cook breakfast, was named after the late Daniel Moore, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn. It was composed of a cellular limestone, containing many crystals of quartz. The whole party went in pursuit of a polar hare which was seen here, but, although it had no other shelter than the rocks, it contrived to escape from us all.