Other arguments, which have been offered in favour of the separation of Greenland from America, are deduced from the existence of a current setting from the north—from the circumstance of icebergs and drift-wood being brought down by the current—from whales wounded in the Spitzbergen seas having been caught in Davis’s Strait—from the position of the land, as represented on skins by the native American Indians—and from the occurrence of certain plants in Greenland, which are natives of Europe, but have never been found in any part of the American continent.
The opinion appears to be quite incorrect, that if a passage were discovered, it would, probably, be open above half the year. I imagine it would be only at intervals of years that it would be open at all, and then, perhaps, for no longer time than eight or ten weeks in a season. Hence, as affording a navigation to the Pacific Ocean, the discovery of a north-west passage would be of no service. For many reasons, however, the examination of these interesting countries is an object worthy of the attention of a great nation. The advantages that have already arisen to Britain from the voyages undertaken in search of a north-west passage are, the establishment of the Davis’s Strait’s whale-fishery, and of the trade of the Hudson’s Bay company, so that the expenditure has not altogether been lost.
The adventurous spirit manifested by our early navigators, in performing such hazardous voyages in small barks, in which we should be scrupulous of trusting ourselves across the German Ocean, is calculated to strike us with surprise and admiration, while the correctness of their investigations gives us a high opinion of their perseverance and talent. The famous voyage of Baffin, in which the bay bearing his name was discovered, was performed in a vessel of only fifty-five tons’ burden; that of Hudson, in which also the bay called by his name was first navigated, in the very same vessel; and the voyages of Davis chiefly in vessels of fifty, thirty-five, and ten tons’ burden.
In perusing the voyages of our old navigators, it is particularly gratifying to those who consider religion as the chief business of this life, to observe the strain of piety and dependence upon Divine Providence which runs through almost every narrative. Their honest and laudable acknowledgments of a particular interference of the Almighty, working out deliverance for them in times of difficulty and danger, and their frequent declarations expressive of their reliance upon Providence, for assistance and protection in their adventurous undertakings, are worthy of our imitation. Thus, while our modern voyagers are much in the habit of attributing their most remarkable deliverances to “luck,” “chance,” and “fortune,” those of old evidenced certainly a more Christian-like feeling, under such circumstances, by referring their deliverances to that great Being, from whom alone every good thing must be derived. They only who have a similar dependence on Providence, and who have been occasionally in trying situations, can duly appreciate the confidence and comfort which this belief is calculated to afford under the most appalling circumstances.
The class of vessels best adapted for discovery in the Polar seas, seems to be that of one hundred to two hundred tons’ burden. They are stronger, more easily managed, in less danger of being stoved or crushed by ice, and not so expensive as those of larger dimensions. An increase of size is a diminution of comparative strength; and hence it is evident, that a vessel intended for discovery should be just large enough for conveying the requisite stores and provisions, and for affording comfortable accommodation to the navigators, but no larger. Perhaps a vessel about one hundred and fifty tons’ burden would be fully sufficient to answer every purpose. The navigation of the Polar seas, which is peculiar, requires in a particular manner an extensive knowledge of the nature, properties, and usual motions of the ice, and it can only be performed to the best advantage by those who have had long experience in working a ship in icy situations. It might be a material assistance to those employed in completing the examination of Baffin’s Bay, as well as productive of some interesting information in meteorological phenomena, were a vessel or two to remain in the northern part of this bay through the winter. There is very little doubt that the vessel would, by this method, be released by the ice as early as May or June, and thus be afforded about double the time of research that could be obtained by wintering out of the bay. There would not, I imagine, be any very great danger in making this experiment, provided a sufficient quantity of fresh provisions, for the prevention of the scurvy among the crew, were taken out, and certain precautions adopted for the preservation of the ships. The ingenious apparatus invented by Mr. Thomas Morton designed to supersede, in repairing vessels, the necessity of dry docks, might be eminently advantageous.
In seas perpetually encumbered with ice, and probably crowded with islands, if not divided by necks of land, the chance of great discoveries and of extensive navigations towards the north-west, even under the best arrangements and under the boldest seamen, is but small. The most certain method of ascertaining the existence of a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific, along the northern face of America, would doubtless be by journeys on land. Men there are who, being long used to travel upon snow in the service of the Hudson’s Bay company, would readily undertake the journey by the interior lakes of North America to the Frozen Ocean, or, in case of a continuity of land being found, to the very Pole itself, of whose success we should certainly have a reasonable ground of hope. The practicability of this mode of making discoveries has been fully proved by the expeditions of Mackenzie and Hearne; and a possibility of performing very long journeys on snow can be attested, from personal experience, by those who have wintered a few times in Hudson’s Bay.
The plan of performing a journey in this way, for discovering the northern termination of the American continent, and for tracing it round to its junction with the coasts of the same country, washed by the Atlantic, might be in some measure as follows. The party intended for this expedition, which should consist of as few individuals as possible, ought, perhaps, in the course of one summer, to make their way to one of the interior settlements of the Hudson’s Bay company, or of the Canadian traders, such as Slave Fort, on the great Slave Lake, situated in the 62nd degree of latitude, or Fort Chepewyan, near the Athapescow Lake, in latitude 58° 40′, from whence sir Alexander Mackenzie embarked on his voyage to the Frozen Ocean, and there abide during the first winter. Supposing the travellers to winter at Slave Fort, they might calculate on being within the distance of two hundred leagues, or thirty or forty days’ journey, moderate travelling, of the Frozen Ocean. In the month of March or April, the party, consisting of two or three Europeans, one or two Esquimaux interpreters, and two or more Indian guides, provided with everything requisite for the undertaking, might set out towards the north. On the arrival of the travellers among the Esquimaux, their Indian guides, from fear of this nation, would probably desert them, but the presence of their Esquimaux interpreters would secure them a good reception. When once they should meet with this people, they would have a strong evidence of being near the sea, as it is well known the Esquimaux never retire far from the coast. On their arrival at the coast, it will be necessary to associate with the Esquimaux, to submit in some measure to their mode of living, and, to effect any considerable discovery, it might be requisite to spend a winter or two among them, in which case they might trace the line of the Frozen Ocean to such a length, that the place where it joins the western coast of Baffin’s Bay, or Hudson’s Bay, or the eastern side of Greenland, would be determined. Or, if it should be objectionable to winter among the Esquimaux, several expeditions might be sent out at the same time from different stations, and on different meridians. The expense of three or four such expeditions over land would probably be less than that of one expedition by sea.
The scheme suggested by Robert Thorne, of Bristol, of finding a passage to India across the North Pole, about the year 1527, appears to have been immediately attempted by an expedition, consisting of two ships, sent out by order of Henry VIII.; one of the ships, we are informed, was lost; of the nature of the success of the other we have but a very unsatisfactory account. After this voyage, Barentz, Heemskerke, and Ryp, attempted the transpolar navigation, in 1596; Hudson, in 1607; Jonas Poole, in 1610 and 1611; Baffin and Fotherby, in 1614; Fotherby, in 1615; Phipps, in 1773; and Buchan and Franklin, in 1818. The highest latitude attained by any of these navigators did not, it would appear, exceed 81°. My father, in the ship Resolution, of Whitby, in the year 1806, with whom I then served as chief mate, sailed to a much higher latitude. Our latitude, on three occasions, in the month of May, as derived from observations taken with a sextant by myself and my father, was 80° 50′ 28″, 81° 1′ 53″, and 81° 12′ 42″; after which we sailed so far to the northward as made it about 81° 30′, which is one of the closest approximations to the Pole which I conceive has been well authenticated.
Whatever may be our opinion of the accounts brought forward by some parties to prove the occasional accessibility of the 83rd or 84th parallel of north latitude, of this we may be assured, that the opinion of an open sea round the Pole is altogether chimerical. It is urged, indeed, that the extraordinary power of the sun, about the summer solstice, is so far greater at the Pole than at the Equator, as to destroy all the ice generated in the winter season, and to render the temperature of the Pole warmer and more congenial to feeling than it is in some places lying nearer the Equator. So far, however, from the actual influence of the sun, though acknowledged at a certain season to be greater at the Pole than at the Equator, being above what it is calculated to be by the ordinary formulæ for temperature, it is found by experiment in latitude 78° to be greatly below it—how then can the temperature of the Pole be expected to be so very different? From the remarks in the ensuing pages, it will be shown that ice is annually formed during nine months of the year in the Spitzbergen sea, and that neither calm weather, nor the proximity of land, is essential for its formation. Can it, then, be supposed, that at the Pole, where the mean temperature is probably as low as 10°, the sea is not full of ice? If the masses of ice, which usually prevent the advance of navigators beyond the 82nd degree of north latitude, be extended in a continued series to the Pole, (of which, unless there be land in the way, there appears no doubt,) the expectation of reaching the Pole by sea is altogether vain. By land, however, I do not conceive the journey would be impracticable. It would not exceed one thousand two hundred miles, (six hundred miles each way,) and might be performed on sledges, drawn by dogs or reindeer, or even on foot. Foot travellers would require to draw the apparatus and provisions, necessary for the undertaking, on sledges by hand, and in this way, with good dispatch, the journey would occupy at least two months; but, with the assistance of dogs, it might, probably, be accomplished in a little less time. With favourable winds, great advantage might be derived from sails set upon the sledges, which sails, when the travellers were at rest, would serve for the erection of tents. Small vacancies in the ice would not prevent the journey, as the sledges might be adapted so as to answer the purpose of boats, nor would the usual unevenness of the ice, nor the depth or softness of the snow, be an insurmountable difficulty, as journeys of nearly equal length, and under similar inconveniences, have been accomplished.
Among many similar accounts, there is one related by Muller, in his “Voyages from Asia to America,” of a Cossack having actually performed a journey of about eight hundred miles in a sledge, drawn by dogs, across a surface of ice lying to the northward of the Russian dominions, which sufficiently establishes the practicability of a journey across the ice to the Pole. Alexei Markoff, a Cossack, was sent to explore the Frozen Ocean, in the summer of the year 1714, by order of the Russian government, but finding the sea so crowded with ice that he was unable to make any progress in discovery, he formed the design of travelling in sledges, during the winter or spring of the year, over the ice, which might then be expected to be firm and compact. Accordingly, he prepared several of the country sledges, drawn by dogs, and accompanied by eight persons, he set out on the 10th of March from the mouth of the Jana, in latitude 70° 30′, and longitude about 138° east. He proceeded for seven days northward, as fast as his dogs could draw, which, under favourable circumstances, is eighty or one hundred versts a day, until his progress was impeded, about the 78th degree of latitude, by the ice elevated into prodigious mountains. This prevented his further advance; at the same time, falling short of provisions for his dogs, his return was effected with difficulty; several of his dogs died for want, and were given to the rest for their support. On the 3rd of April, he arrived at Ust-Jauskoe Simowie, the place from whence he started, after an absence of twenty-four days, during which time he appears to have travelled about eight hundred miles. The journey of Markoff was nearly equal in extent to the projected journey to the Pole, and there appears no very great reason why a person equally adventurous with Markoff, and better provided, might not in a similar manner reach the Pole.