Our uncertainty respecting the true situation of the Frozen Strait, together with the want of observations during the day, left us, at this time, in doubt whether we had already penetrated through that passage, or had still to encounter the difficulties which the former accounts of it had led us to anticipate.
We stood up the bay towards daylight, and at seven A.M. I left the Fury, accompanied by a large party of officers, having by signal requested Captain Lyon to join us. We landed upon a point just to the eastward of this bight, in which neighbourhood are several little islands and coves, probably affording good anchorage, but which the more immediate objects we had in view did not permit us to examine. Upon the point we found the remains of no less than sixty Esquimaux habitations, consisting of stones laid one over the other in very regular circles, eight or nine feet in diameter, besides nearly a hundred other rude, though certainly artificial structures, some of which had been fireplaces, others storehouses, and the rest tolerably-built walls four or five feet high, placed two and two, and generally eight or nine feet apart, which these people use for their canoes, as well as to keep the dogs from gnawing them. A great many circles of stones were also seen more inland. About three miles to the N.N.W. of our landing-place, our people reported having seen fifteen others of the same kind, and what they took to be a burying-ground, consisting of nine or ten heaps of large stones, of three feet in diameter, and as many in height. Under these were found a variety of little implements, such as arrow or spear heads tipped with stone or iron, arrows, small models of canoes and paddles, some rough pieces of bone and wood, and one or two strips of asbestos, which, as Crantz informs us, is used by the natives of Greenland for the wick of their lamps, and for applying hot, in certain diseases, to the afflicted part.[*] Under these articles were found smaller stones, placed as a pavement, six or seven feet in length, which, in the part not concealed by the larger stones, was covered with earth. Our men had not the curiosity or inclination to dig any deeper, but a human scull was found near the spot. Our people also reported that, several miles inland of this, they observed stones set up as marks, many of which we also met with in the neighbourhood of the point. Of these marks, which occur so abundantly in every part of the American coast that we visited, we could not then conjecture the probable use, but we afterward learned that the Esquimaux set them up to guide them in travelling from place to place, when a covering of snow renders it difficult to distinguish one spot from another. We found among the stones some seals' bones, with the flesh still upon them, which seemed to indicate that the natives had occupied this station during a part of the same season and judging from the number of circles collected in this place, and still more from our subsequent knowledge of these people, it is probable that not less than one hundred and twenty persons had taken up their residence here at the same time.
[Footnote: Crantz, i., 236. The Esquimaux on this part of the coast use it only as sticks for trimming their lamps.]
The latitude observed on shore was 66° 30' 58", being the first observation we had yet obtained so near the Arctic Circle, but far to the southward of that given by Captain Middleton.[*] The longitude, by chronometers, was 86° 30' 20"; the dip of the magnetic needle, 88° 07' 28"; and the variation, 48° 32' 57" westerly; being only a degree and a half less than that observed by Middleton in 1742.
[Footnote: The difference amounts to about twenty miles. It is but justice, however, to the memory of Captain Middleton to add, that several miles of this error may have been occasioned by the imperfection of nautical instruments in his day, combined with the unavoidable inaccuracy of observations made by the horizon of the sea when encumbered with much ice. On this latter account, as well as from the extraordinary terrestrial refraction, no observation can be here depended upon, unless made with an artificial horizon.]
CHAPTER III.
Return to the Eastward through the Frozen Strait.—Discovery of Hurd Channel.—Examined in a Boat.—Loss of the Fury's Anchor.—Providential Escape of the Fury from Shipwreck.—Anchor in Duckett Cove.—Farther Examination of the Coast by Boats and Walking-parties.—Ships proceed through Hurd Channel.—Are drifted by the Ice back to Southampton Island.—Unobstructed Run to the Entrance of a large Inlet leading to the Northwestward.—Ships made fast by Hawsers to the Rocks.—Farther Examination of the Inlet commenced in the Boats.
Having now satisfactorily determined the non-existence of a passage to the westward through Repulse Bay, to which point I was particularly directed in my instructions, it now remained for me, in compliance with my orders, to "keep along the line of this coast to the northward, always examining every bend or inlet which might appear likely to afford a practicable passage to the westward." It was here, indeed, that our voyage, as regarded its main object, may be said to have commenced, and we could not but congratulate ourselves on having reached this point so early, and especially at having passed, almost without impediment, the strait to which, on nearly the same day[*] seventy-nine years before, so forbidding a name had been applied.
[Footnote: Middleton discovered the Frozen Strait on the 20th
August 1742, according to the New Style.]
All sail was made at daylight on the 23d along the northern shore of the Frozen Strait, which here continues about the same height as that of Repulse Bay, and was at this time quite free from snow. At nine A.M. the weather became squally with thick snow, which rendered great caution necessary in running. There was something in the appearance of this part of the coast which held out so favourable a prospect of a direct passage to the northward, that I determined more closely to examine it. Having beat up to the mouth of an opening which, the nearer we approached, assumed a more and more favourable appearance, we found that a body of ice occupied the greater part of the channel, rendering it impracticable then to enter it either with the ships or the boats. The only mode left, therefore, of examining it without loss of time, was to despatch a party equipped for travelling by land, to ascertain enough of its extent and communications to enable me to decide as to our farther progress. As, however, in their present situation, I did not feel myself justified in leaving the ships, I requested Captain Lyon to undertake this service. He was accompanied by Mr. Bushnan and two seamen from each ship, and was furnished with a tent, blankets, and four days' provisions.