On the 1st of October some small rain fell, which, immediately freezing, made the decks and ropes as smooth and slippery as if coated with glass; the thermometer had for several days past permanently fallen below the freezing point, and sometimes as low as 20° at night; which change, together with the altered appearance of the land, and the rapid formation of young ice near the shores, gave pretty evident notice of the approach of winter. The commencement of this dreary season in these regions may, indeed, be fairly dated from the time when the earth no longer receives and radiates heat enough to melt the snow which falls upon it. When the land is once covered with this substance, so little calculated to favour the absorption of heat, the frigorific process seems to be carried on with increased vigour, defining very clearly the change from summer to winter, with little or no immediate interval to which the name of autumn can be distinctly assigned.
We passed Cape Edwards on the 6th; but on the 8th the formation of young ice upon the surface of the water began most decidedly to put a stop to the navigation of these seas, and warned us that the season of active operations was nearly at an end.
When to the ordinary difficulties which the navigation of the Polar Seas presents were superadded the disadvantages of a temperature at or near zero, its necessary concomitant the young ice, and twelve hours of darkness daily, it was impossible any longer to entertain a doubt of the expediency of immediately placing the ships in the best security that could be found for them during the winter, rather than run the risk of being permanently detached from the land by an endeavour to regain the continent. We were in hopes of receiving effectual shelter from the numerous grounded masses, but could only find berths within one of them in five to six fathoms water. We now, for the first time, walked on board the ships; and, before night, had them moved into their places, by sawing a canal for two or three hundred yards through the ice. The average thickness of the new floe was already three inches and a quarter; but being in some places much less, several officers and men fell in, and, from the difficulty of getting a firm place to rest on, narrowly escaped a more serious inconvenience than a thorough wetting. The whole sheet of ice, even in those parts which easily bore a man's weight, had a waving motion under the feet, like that of leather or any other tough flexible substance set afloat, a property which is, I believe, peculiar to salt-water ice.
In reviewing the events of this our first season of navigation, and considering what progress we had made towards the accomplishment of our main object, it was impossible, however trifling that progress might appear upon the chart, not to experience considerable satisfaction. Small as our actual advance had been towards Behring's Strait, the extent of coast newly discovered and minutely explored in pursuit of our object, in the course of the last eight weeks, amounted to more than two hundred leagues, nearly half of which belonged to the Continent of North America. This service, notwithstanding our constant exposure to the risks which intricate, shoal, and unknown channels, a sea loaded with ice, and a rapid tide concurred in presenting, had providentially been effected without injury to the ships, or suffering to the officers and men; and we had now once more met with tolerable security for the season. Above all, however, I derived the most sincere satisfaction from a conviction of having left no part of the coast from Repulse Bay eastward in a state of doubt as to its connexion with the continent. And as the mainland now in sight from the hills extended no farther to the eastward than about a N.N.E. bearing, we ventured to indulge a sanguine hope of our being very near the northeastern boundary of America, and that the early part of the next season would find us employing our best efforts in pushing along its northern shores.
CHAPTER VI.
Precautions for the Security of the Ships and their Stores—And
for the Health and Comfort of the Crews.—Establishment of
Theatrical Entertainments and Schools.—Erection of an Observatory
and House on Shore.—State of Health at this Period.—Partial
Disruption of the Ice in the Bay.—Anchors and Cables taken to the
Shore.—Gradual Increase of Cold, Appearance of the Aurora
Borealis on several Occasions, and various other Meteorological
Phenomena to the Close of the Year 1821.
Our operations at sea being now at an end for the season, my chief attention was directed to the security of the ships, and to the various internal arrangements which experience suggested as necessary for the preservation of cleanliness, health, and comfort during the winter, as well as for the economical expenditure of provisions, fuel, and other stores.
The situation which circumstances obliged us to put up with for our winter-quarters was by no means as secure as could have been wished. The bay, though as fine a roadstead as could have been desired if situated in a more temperate climate, was still only a roadstead; and, being entirely open to the south, was exposed to a pressure from the ice in that direction, unless the solid floe now about to be formed round the ships should shortly become sufficient to guard them from external injury. There was some reason, however, to doubt the efficacy of this protection; for, as the spring-tides approached, the numerous grounded masses around the shores of the bay began to evince symptoms of instability, one or two having fallen over, and others turned round; so that these masses might be looked upon rather as dangerous neighbours, likely to create a premature disruption of the ice, than as the means of security, which, in seas not subject to any considerable rise of tide, they had so often proved to us on former occasions. To these circumstances was added our uncertainty whether very high tides during the winter might not crack the ice, thereby exposing the ships to the double danger of being "nipped" about their water-line, and of being drifted out of the bay by northerly gales. That which was, however, perhaps the most to be apprehended, was the possibility of the ships being forced into shoal water, without detaching themselves from the mass of ice cemented to their bends, the weight of which, hanging upon the sides of a ship left aground by the tide, could not but produce very serious injury.
About the time of our arrival in the bay, when the thermometer had fallen nearly to zero, the condensation of vapour upon the beams of the lower deck, and in the cabins near the hatchways, commenced just as it had done at a similar temperature before. To remedy this evil, no time was lost in lighting a fire in the warming-stove upon the orlop-deck, everything being previously moved from its neighbourhood that was likely to create danger. The iron tanks in the main hatchway were laid bare on the top, and the interstices between them filled with sand, to form a secure platform in front of the fire; and the sailroom, bulkheads, and stancheons covered with sheet copper. Four steady men, of whom one was a petty officer, were appointed to attend the fire in regular watches, being made responsible for the due expenditure of the fuel, and for the safety of everything about the stove. They had likewise particular charge of the fire-engine, buckets, and two tanks of water, all of which were kept in the hatchway in constant readiness in case of accidents. In addition to these precautions, some general regulations were established for stationing the officers and men in the event of fire; and a hole was directed to be kept open in the ice alongside each ship, to ensure at all times a sufficient supply of water. In twelve hours after lighting the stove not a drop of moisture remained.
The regulations for the maintenance of due cleanliness among the ships' companies were principally the same as those established on the preceding voyage. As a source of rational amusement to the men, soon after our arrival I proposed to Captain Lyon and the officers of both ships once more to set on foot a series of theatrical entertainments, from which so much benefit in this way had, on a former occasion, been derived. This proposal was immediately and unanimously acquiesced in; Captain Lyon obligingly undertook to be our, manager, and, some preparation having been made for this purpose previous to leaving England, everything was soon arranged for performing a play on board the Fury once a fortnight.