| "The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around; It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound." |
By incessant watchfulness, almost constant movement, vigorous ramming, faithful working of the engines, and (most important of all) a favorable shift of wind, the good ship, under Divine Providence, escaped without damage or accident. Fortunately within easy reach of land and but twenty-five miles from Point Barrow refuge-station, I had no undue anxiety for life; but I have no hesitation in stating that the readiness, endurance, and subordination of the officers and men of the ship shown in the bringing out of the ship intact from the ice pack, after nearly five days' imprisonment, entitle them to great credit from the proper authorities and justify their commanding officer in the present expression of his high appreciation of their conduct and his warm feelings toward themselves.
About noon of the 25th of August, after a night of hard ramming, we anchored off the west side of Point Barrow, greeted by salutes from the whalers anchored there and by the hearty congratulations of the masters, who soon came on board and learned for the first time that Mackenzie Bay had been reached.
We found that the sailing fleet had gone to the westward, after having been shut in by the ice coming down on Point Barrow and Cape Smyth for several days, during our absence. The few whalers that remained had been watching us from their crows' nests during our imprisonment, but were unable, of course, to afford us any assistance, each ship having to work out her own salvation: companion-vessels are of great service only in case of damage or abandonment. Fortunately, the steam-whalers remaining behind us did not have the pack set down upon them in the shallow bights in which they were cruising, and the long continued north-easter which aided us in our escape enabled them to find leads to get through, not very long after we had escaped. We remained at Point Barrow for a week until they had all returned, except the two most easterly ones, left at Herschel island. As their return was so uncertain, at the end of a week I dropped down to the house of refuge at Cape Smyth, landing provisions to fill the deficiency in their stores, and went to the westward, first going to Icy cape to erect a needed beacon as a warning of the vicinity of Blossom shoals.
Leaving this vicinity on the 5th of September for the northward and westward, and rounding Blossom shoals, we stood to the north, reaching the supposed vicinity of the edge of the ice pack that night. As the nights were now dark we lay-to until morning, when the rapid fall of the temperature of the water and the lessening wind gave indications of its proximity, and a half hour's steaming brought us to the rugged white outline of the pack. Along this we skirted, having reached our highest north (less than 72° N. latitude).
All of that day and the next we continued our course, sighting a portion of the sailing fleet of whalers on the 7th. Communicating with them of our proposed movements and whereabouts during the rest of September and the beginning of October, we then stood to the westward. I must not forget to mention an interesting incident that occurred. A schooner stood down to us from the fleet, and was recognized as the schooner Jane Grey, picked up by the Thetis when under the command of my predecessor the previous summer in the ice—abandoned. She had been righted, pumped out, repaired, and restored to her owner, who had literally sold his farm and put his all into the vessel. As he came within hail our notification was given him, but I noticed that he fairly danced with impatience during its delivery, which was accounted for at the end of the message by his bringing out his men, who were gathered behind the foresail, and giving hearty and prolonged cheers for the Thetis which fairly rang in the silent Arctic air. To this we responded and then went on our way.
We now left the pack and steered through open water for Herald island, which we sighted at half past twelve the next day, the 8th of September; as we approached it closely the bareness and forbidding appearance, which had been concealed at first sight by the bluish dimness of the outline, became very marked. Its sides were almost inaccessible, except from the western end, and it was free from ice, an almost exceptional state of affairs. In close seasons it is impossible to reach it, and, even more than Point Barrow, it may be shut out of the world by ice that refuses to move during the short summer.
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Herald Island, bearing about W. by S. (magnetic). From a photograph by Assistant Paymaster J. Q. Lovell, U. S. N. |
We passed the island late in the afternoon within a comparatively short distance, standing on to the west with the hope of seeing Wrangel land before dark. At half past five land was reported ahead from aloft, and soon the high snowy peaks and mountainous outline of Wrangel land was sighted from deck. It stood out beautifully in the late Arctic afternoon, and as we approached it more closely its outline became more and more fantastic and brilliant. At sunset we were a little over ten miles distant, and at dark, as we turned to the southeast for Point Hope, we exchanged hearty congratulations upon our successful passage from Mackenzie Bay to Wrangel land. Arriving at Point Hope upon the evening of the 10th of September, we found that many of the hunting parties had returned from the interior, and preparations were going on for the winter season.
The natives of Point Hope, like the Eskimos generally of northwestern Alaska, have no tribal or other form of government except what exists by control of the head man, oomalik, or chief, whose superiority arises from his wealth and influence. The previous chief had lived a life that made him a terror to the community. His rule was by force alone and by the influence of the rifle, which was his inseparable companion. After a career distinguished for license, murder and robbery, he had come to a timely end by being assassinated by the brother of a wife he was tormenting to death. Since his death, up to the time of our stay in September, anarchy had prevailed. On account of the very indifferent treatment received by the survivors of the wrecked whaler "Little Ohio" from the Eskimos at Point Hope the previous winter, I determined to appoint a head man or chief who would be charged with the responsibility and duty of caring for any shipwrecked persons or destitute whites. Anokolut, who was appointed by me and whose appointment was afterwards confirmed by the Governor of Alaska, had married the niece of the previous chief, and was the best whaleman and hunter of the district. He had been in the employ of the whaling station established the previous year at Point Hope, and had been satisfactory in all his dealings with the whites. His wife was a very superior woman, and their desire for civilized usages was so great that a bread-pan of tin, some granite-ware bowls, and candles, were given and eagerly accepted as contributing to make their domestic lives more comfortable and civilized. An urgent request was made for a cooking-stove, which I promised to give them if I should return the following summer.