 Preface and Epigraph. Two stories of North Pole Adventure. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Stories of North Pole Adventure by Frank Mundell Preface and Epigraph. This volume does not pretend to be a history of Arctic exploration. My aim has been to narrate some of the most thrilling incidents of polar adventure in such a graphic manner that the reader may feel something of the fascination which induces explorers in spite of reverses and disasters to attempt again and again to penetrate the vast region of snow and silence and solitude around the North Pole. Great care has been taken to ensure accuracy and, wherever possible, the actual journals of the various expeditions have been consulted, besides a host of minor publications. Signed Frank Mundell. And now there came both mist and snow and it grew wondrous cold and ice-marsed high came floating by as green as emerald and through the drifts the snowy cliffs did send a dismal sheen nor shapes of men or beasts we can the ice was all between 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 Samuel Taylor Coleridge. End of Preface and Epigraph. Chapter 1 of Stories of North Pole Adventure by Frank Mundell This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The North Pole. The Little Bear, Ursa Minor, is the name given to one of the most famous groups of stars in the Northern Hemisphere. One star in that constellation is called the Pole Star because it is directly over that point of the Earth's surface known as the North Pole. This mysterious spot is surrounded by extensive fields and vast mountains of ice which the most daring explorers have tried in vain to penetrate. The Arctic Circle includes all the land and water contained within a line drawn round the Earth at a distance of twenty three and a half degrees or sixteen hundred miles from the North Pole. In this portion of the globe known as the polar regions eternal winter rains. The ocean is either frozen over or is full of floating masses of ice and the land is almost entirely covered with ice and snow throughout the year. During several months the sun never rises over this part of the globe and the winter is one long night. No sound breaks the awful silence which rains over this vast region and scarcely a living creature is to be seen. After the long winter has set in strange lights are seen in the heavens. Mock suns appear surrounded by circles of vapour tinted with the brightest hues of the rainbow. Then two are seen the most brilliant meteors shedding a marvellous radiance over crag and pinnacle of glistening eyes. These singular streams of light form across the sky great archers through which flash bright streaks of red, blue, green, purple and yellow flame. They are known as the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. The Untaught Indian regards this strange natural phenomenon with awe believing them to be the spirits of his fathers roaming through the land of souls. Within the Arctic Circle are found the white bear, the reindeer, the musk ox, the wolf and the fox and it is the home of the seal, the walrus and the wile. The Eskimos who inhabit this inhospitable region are for the most part a simple kindly race who know nothing of the arts of civilised life. Their dwellings are of the rudest description. Their clothing consists of garments made of the skins of animals and they obtain a livelihood by hunting and fishing. The polar regions were first explored by navigators who wished to obtain a passage to India and China along the northern shores of America. It was for this purpose that the cabots and other early explorers made their famous voyages hundreds of years ago. Out of these attempts at length they grew a strong desire on the part of some of the most celebrated seamen to penetrate to the North Pole itself. The story of these various expeditions is one of the most romantic and thrilling in the world's history. In no other field of naval enterprise have more indomitable courage, unwarying perseverance, complete self-denial and skillful management of resources been displayed than in that of arctic discovery. The following are a number of arctic discoverers from 1500 to 1892. Aldrich 1876 Carlson 1863 and 1871 Collinson 1851 to 1852 Dees and Simpson 1837 to 1839 Edge 1616 to 1617 Fisher 1858 Giles 1707 Hagerman 1870 Hayes 1860 to 1861 Hamilton 1853 Inglefield 1853 Johansson 1878 Cain 1853 to 1855 Kellett 1849 Colduy 1870 Leikef 1773 Lambert 1670 Leperu 1787 Melgen and Skiratov 1757 McClintock 1859 Ney 1594 Opt Zinn 1736 to 1737 Pett 1580 Payer 1870 Rosmulov 1718 to 1719 Richards and Osborne 1853 Lee Smith 1881 Sannikov 1805 Scorsby 1822 Syrovatskoe 1886 Willoughby 1553 Rangel 1821 Weyprecht 1872 to 1874 End of Chapter 1 Chapter 2 of Stories of North Pole Adventure by Frank Mundell This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. First attempts to reach the North Pole. In more modern times we erect monuments in honour of the men who do great deeds. But many of the old explorers, to whom neither tablet nor statue were erected, will never be forgotten. For they have written their names in large characters on the map of the world. Among these is Henry Hudson. A bay, one of the largest in the world. A river, one of the most important in America. A strait, a vast territory and several towns. Remind us of one of the most enterprising navigators that ever lived. The London merchants, in spite of repeated failures, do not seem to have been discouraged in their hope of finding a northern route to the rich countries of the east. To them it mattered not whether they reached the land of spices and of gold by a northeast or a northwest passage, so they tried both. Then a still bolder idea presented itself to the minds of these keen businessmen, who were determined not to allow the Spaniards and the Portuguese to reap all the golden harvests of India and China. They decided to attempt to reach the other side of the globe by sailing over the North Pole itself. They were the sons of the famous sea rovers who founded the English nation. But who was there among the daring seamen of that adventurous age able and willing to conduct such an enterprise? The merchants found the man they wanted in Henry Hudson, who was an experienced and intrepid seamen of the country. When we read the detailed accounts of the preparations made by the various expeditions of today, their iron ships propelled by steam power, their hundred and one appliances to serve every conceivable purpose, and their wealth of stores and their carefully chosen crews of picked men, or to admire the audacity of such a man as Hudson, who, in a small bark manned by ten men and a boy, attempted a feat of such magnitude. In his tiny vessel with its scanty crew, Hudson sailed from Gravesend on the 1st of May 1607 and within a fortnight he reached Greenland in foggy weather, with frozen sails and shrouds. Then he turned in a northeasterly direction until he reached Spitzbergen. Here they saw a large number of seals and white bears, one of which was killed, and many of the crew made themselves ill with eating the animals' flesh. Hudson vainly attempted to make his way through the masses of ice, and, as his stores were exhausted, he returned to England in September. His brief voyage, however, was not a failure from a commercial point of view. He did not reach the pole, and probably had no idea how great a distance or what insurmountable obstacles lay between him and that mysterious spot, but he made the English acquainted with the whale fishery of the Spitzbergen seas, which since then has been a continuous source of wealth. In his first voyage Hudson reached a higher latitude than any of the explorers who had preceded him. He was therefore eager to try again, and in the following year he undertook a second expedition, and endeavoured to find a northeast passage by Nova Zembler. When he returned, some of his crew told an extraordinary story of having seen a mermaid, the upper part of whose body resembled that of a woman, with white skin and long black hair, while the lower part of the body was that of a fish. No doubt the imagination of the sailors had transformed a Greenland seal into this creature of fancy, which, however, still exists in poetry and fairy tales. Hudson's third voyage was made in the service of the Dutch, when, failing to find a northwest passage, he sailed down the coast of North America and discovered an opening up which he sailed. This, he thought, might be a straight through which he could pass to eastern lands. It was, however, the beautiful river which bears his name, and on which the city of New York now stands. This discovery led to the establishment of a Dutch settlement for the purpose of carrying on the fur trade with the Indians. A fourth time do we find Hudson crossing the Atlantic, this time in an English ship, and which bore the same name as one of those in the recent expedition of Captain Nairs, namely the Discovery. He sailed from the Thames in April 1610 on what proved to be his last voyage, and June found him at the mouth of Robesher Strait. Numerous icebergs and contrary winds drove him out of his course, and threw a hither too unknown straight into an extensive inland sea. Both of these waters, as Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay, still bear the great explorer's name. Day after day the vessel sailed on, but no opening presented itself by which they could escape from the icebound sea into which they had unwittingly entered, and at length winter overtook them, and they were frozen in. By this time the men had become dissatisfied, for their provisions were exhausted, and they were afraid of being lost in the frozen regions. At length the ice broke up, and the ship stood to the north west. The scanty provisions which remained in the vessel were fairly divided by the commander, who, seeing nothing but starvation before them, was so much moved that he wept when he gave it unto them. It seemed to him that a mutiny broke out among the crew, some of whom declared that they would rather be hanged at home than starved abroad. To make the food last as long as possible, some of the crew resolved on a deed unworthy of British seamen. Seizing Hudson they forced him, his son and all the men who were sick, into a boat and cast them adrift. Beatt said to his honour that John King, the carpenter, unable to prevent this terrible outrage, sprang into the boat, resolved rather to die with the captain, than to abandon him. The boat and its unfortunate crew were never heard of again, and Henry Hudson, one of the bravest and most daring of English seamen, found a grave in the waters of the sea he had discovered. Of all the sea shapes death has worn, may mariners never know such fate as Henry Hudson found in the labyrinths of snow. The ship reached Ireland in safety, but the few survivors were in a terrible plight. Some of the mutineers had been killed and wounded in quarrels among themselves and all had suffered terribly from starvation. William Baffin described as the Oblast, the Prince of Arctic Navigators and who had already taken part in several expeditions in northern seas, went out in the discovery on her fifth voyage in search of a north-west passage in 1616. Icebergs over two hundred feet high and which Baffin reckoned as over sixteen hundred feet from top to bottom, were met with off the coast of Greenland. Pushing northward, the cold was so intense that on Midsummer Day the shrouds, ropes and sails were so frozen that the men would scarcely handle them. Determined not to be turned aside by any difficulty Baffin succeeded in discovering a great opening which he named Smith Sound after Sir Thomas Smith the Chief of the Merchant Adventurers who had fitted out the expedition. It is interesting to note that this opening a hundred years ago by William Baffin has been regarded by all explorers from that time to the present as the only one by which there is any hope of reaching the North Pole. While in this sound Baffin noted the greatest variation of the compass that had yet been known. In fact he says, a course north-east by east true north, a thing incredible and matchless in all the world besides. The lateness of the season obliged the explorers to turn back to avoid being frozen in for many months. They therefore made their way southward through the wide passage known as Baffin Bay, and thence by Davis Strait to the Atlantic Ocean reaching England in August of the same year. The solitude of those icy regions was not again broken for two hundred years. End of Chapter 2 Chapter 3 of Stories of North Pole Adventure by Frank Mundell. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The first Royal Arctic Islands. The discovery of Hudson Bay and its valuable fisheries became famous about the middle of the 17th century. The French who at this time had settlements in North America were anxious to obtain possession of the ports and harbours on the great inland sea. But before any decided action was taken, Charles II had granted a charter to Prince Rupert and other adventurers to undertake an expedition to Hudson Bay for the discovery of a new passage into the South Sea, and for the finding of some trade for furs, minerals and other considerable commodities. This charter, granted in 1669, declared that the king wishing to promote their endeavours for the good of his people was pleased to confer upon them the exclusive possession with all the trade thereof of all the land and territories in and around Hudson Bay. No sooner had the adventurers obtained this charter and found that for a trifling cost they could obtain most valuable furs from the Indians then they at once gave themselves up to building forts and factories, and in their desire to amass wealth paid no further attention to the claws which at any rate implied that their work was largely one of exploration and discovery. After this, for a considerable period, we hear a good deal about the Hudson Bay Company of Traders but nothing about the North West Passage which was still unknown. In 1769 just one hundred years after the company had received their charter, attention was called to the fact that the geographical discoveries contemplated had never been made, and afraid of losing the valuable privileges which they possessed, the company undertook to make expeditions into unknown regions. This, however, was done in such a careless and half-hearted way that the failure which followed was a foregone conclusion. Samuel Hearn, the leader chosen by the company, had with him a number of Indians from the Hudson Bay Territory. They accompanied the explorers in the capacity of guides and hunters. These men came across an Eskimo encampment which they attacked in the night and, in the most barbarous and cruel manner, put to death about twenty men, women and children. It is a matterful regret that the agents of the company stood quietly by without in any way attempting to prevent the massacre. The inhuman conduct of Hearn and his companions brought no punishment on them, but it was the cause of great suffering to Franklin and his men when they afterwards visited that region. The route by the North Pole, which Robert Thorn, merchant of Bristol, had suggested many years before, once more received royal attention, and George III was pleased to give every encouragement to countenance such an undertaking and every assistance that could contribute to its success. Two of the steltas ships in the navy, the racehorse and the caucus under the command of Captain Phipps sailed from the North in 1773 on the first royal expedition to the Arctic seas. There is no doubt that this was fitted out in a much superior manner to any of the previous expeditions. The pilots on board the two vessels had already served as captains of Greenland ships. There was an astronomer in the company, and all instruments and appliances were the best that could be obtained. The first land they saw consisted of the high barren and black rocks of Spitzbergen and, having reached the point where the old discoverers had turned back, they made a determined effort to work their way among the ice with but little success. The weather was exceedingly fine, mild, and unusually clear. There was not a breath of air, and everywhere, as far as they could see, they were surrounded with ice, which soon closed in upon them. The men amused themselves by playing on the ice, but the Greenland pilots who had never been so far before were alarmed at the approach of winter. Soon the ice which had been almost level with the water's edge was forced higher than the main yard of the vessels by the pieces squeezing together. On the advice of the pilots the men were set to work to cut a passage and warp the vessel through the small openings, hoping in this way to reach the open sea. With great labour, pieces of ice 12 feet thick were sawn through, but the utmost efforts of the sailors did not move the ships more than 300 yards. On board the carcass there was a young midshipman who was appointed to command one of the boats sent out to explore a passage into the open water. While so engaged, some of the officers fired at and wounded a walrus, an animal remarkable for the human-like appearance of its head and the human passions it displays under provocation. The wounded animal dived into the water and brought a number of its companions when they all joined in an attack on the boat which contained their assailants. The animals succeeded in resting an oar from one of the men, and if they had not been reinforced from the vessels there is no doubt that their boat would have been staved in or upset. One night the young midshipman to whom we have already referred set out with one companion to pursue a large white bear which he had seen on the ice. A fog came on and when the lads were missed the officers became exceedingly alarmed for their safety. Several hours afterwards when the fog cleared away the two adventurers were seen at a considerable distance from the ship engaged in conflict with the monarch of the northern seas. At once a signal was made for them to return to the vessel. One of the lads obeyed, but it was unheeded by the young midshipman for at that moment his ammunition was expended and his only means of defence was the butt-end of his gun. Seeing the lads danger the captain of the ship fired a gun which frightened the beast and caused it to make off. The midshipman then returned and was severely reprimanded by the captain first for leaving the ship to hunt the bear without permission and second for not returning immediately the signal was made. On being asked for the reason of such conduct the lad replied I wish to kill the bear that I might carry the skin to my father. This youth who so fearlessly held his ground in combat with a polar bear afterwards rose to high rank in the Royal Navy and brilliant fame in history and it may be that part of the success of his after life could be attributed to the training he had in the Arctic Seas while yet a midshipman. History does not record many stories of the boyhood of Lord Nelson, but this is one worthy of England's greatest sailor. Unwilling to winter in such an inhospitable region the work of moving the vessels was carried on most vigorously and at the same time all preparations were made to leave the vessels if by any chance they ran aground. By keeping both ships and boats in motion a little progress was made so that when a breeze sprang up and all sail was set the vessel succeeded in breaking through and returned to England. The voyage of Captain Phipps added nothing to what was already known of the Arctic Seas. On the contrary it did more harm than good. For the impenetrable wall of ice which he reported as existing at the point where he turned back is now known to be open during a part of almost every year. Captain Cook one of the most famous navigators of any voyage was now chosen to find a passage from the Pacific Ocean north through Bering Strait and round the coast of North America into the Atlantic. This route we must remember is exactly the opposite to that which so many of the early explorers had taken in their search for the northwest passage. In short Cook was about to attempt to enter the northern seas at the point at which they had sought to leave them and to reach the Atlantic at their point of entrance. Twice before had this brave hearted sailor successfully made his way round the world. He had revealed to his countrymen the existence of a New Island continent and was believed to be a man who could carry through any expedition on which he set out. Some years before a reward of twenty thousand pounds had been offered by Parliament to any British ships not being of the Royal Navy which should succeed in finding a northwest passage by the Hudson Bay route. A change was now made in the terms of this offer to the effect that the reward would be paid to either kingships or merchantmen which succeeded in discovering any northern passage between the two great oceans. In 1776 the resolution and discovery sailed from Plymouth Sound and spent a considerable time exploring the South Pacific Ocean. Therefore it was not until near the end of 1779 that Cook entered Bering Strait. He had found the gateway to the northern seas but in spite of all his efforts he could not force an entrance. The passage was completely blocked with ice that resisted all his efforts to penetrate. Returning to the southern seas he called at the Samwich Islands where he was killed by the natives. While Cook was absent on his third and last voyage which occupied over three years the lion, a vessel of the Royal Navy, was sent to Davis Strait to protect the British whale fishery and to obtain information which would be useful to the vessel which the government intended to send out in the following year to meet Captain Cook who it was confidently believed would discover a passage eastward from the Pacific. The lion went out again in the following year but the explorers became so bewildered among the icebergs that they soon returned. In 1789 Alexander Mackenzie made an overland journey to the shores of the polar sea. In this expedition he discovered the Great River of Canada which bears his name and here ends the story of arctic exploration to the close of the 18th century. One remarkable thing which all must notice in connection with the early adventurers is the fearless manner in which they conducted their expeditions when the art of navigation was in its infancy, the science but little understood, the instruments few and imperfect in barks of twenty-five or thirty tons burden, ill-constructed, ill-found and apparently ill-suited to brave the mountains of ice between which they had to force their way and the dark and dismal storms which beset them. End of Chapter 3 Chapter 4 of Stories of North Pole Adventure by Frank Mundell. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Two famous voyages From the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 until the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 in which Europe was little more than one wide battlefield there was no breathing time to continue the explorations round the pole. The activity of the British Navy during this period of unrest had created a large number of first-rate officers and well-trained seamen who, when peace was declared, were eager to take part in any mission to satisfy their desire to win fame and fortune. Much money and many lives had already been spent in the various attempts to reach the Pacific through the icy regions of the North, and as we have already seen more than one attempt had been made to reach the pole itself. Splendid results had followed the various attempts and had again and again shown that British sailors would not give in but were ready to suffer and, if need be, to die rather than confess themselves beaten. Failure to reach the goal had only served to whet the curiosity of the nation, and after all enough success had attended the brave explorers of the past to encourage those in the present to try again. From the reports made by the navigators who had carefully examined the Arctic regions, everyone believed that the passage was blocked by ice and not by land and that therefore there was every reason to suppose that somewhere an opening existed that ships might pass. Even the pole itself was thought to be surrounded by an open sea if only the icy barrier which encircled it could be penetrated. In 1817 the British government decided to send out four vessels. Two of them were to attempt to reach the Pacific by proceeding in a northerly direction across the pole, while the other two were to find a western route through Baffin Bay. Never before had so many experienced officers of the Royal Navy taken part in such an expedition. The Dorothea and the Trent were commanded by Captain Buckin and Lieutenant John Franklin who afterwards became the greatest of the Arctic explorers. Both of these officers had seen much service and Buckin had spent several years on the coast of Newfoundland while Franklin had been through the recent wars and had fought under Nelson at Trafalgar. These then were the two men sent out by the Admiralty to sail across the pole to the Pacific. In the control of the following year the vessel sailed out of the Thames and soon reached a high degree of latitude. Many of the crew had never before been in the Arctic seas and they looked with curious eyes on the huge and often grotesque masses of ice which floated past them. When they saw for the first time the sun at midnight on the scene caused them to stand in groups on the deck long after they should have retired to rest. Severe weather came on, accompanied by heavy snow storms and the accumulation of ice on the rigging was so great that it had to be cut away with axes. At length they reached the spot where Phipps had been hemmed in. They found one vast unbroken plane of ice connected so closely with the shore as to leave no passage for a vessel. They saw immense flocks of birds which passed over their heads in a living cloud of more than three miles in length completely darkening the air. From daylight till dark could be heard the cries of divers, cormorants, gulls, and other seabirds. While numberless seals and walruses were seen sporting in the water or basking on the shore all sounds of life ceased when the sun set and the silence of the night was only broken by the thundering boom of a bursting iceberg or the mighty crash of a falling rock. The walruses were so fearless that they swam round about the boats and regarding them as intruders endeavored to destroy them with their tusks. Several of these huge animals were killed and found to be fourteen feet in length. One which received several shots before it was killed had nothing in its stomach but the garter of a Greenland sailor. While moored to the ice-flow, unable either to reach the land or the open sea, the crews spent much of their time watching the strange animals who sported around them and were greatly interested in the cunning displayed by the bears in their attempts to capture a seal or a walrus. An opening appeared in the ice and the crews had to leave their walrus hunting, reindeer stalking and shooting wildfowl to attend to the working of the ships. Their progress however was very slow and a large number of the men were employed walking along the ice, hauling the vessels as best they could. The danger which they feared most for the ships was that they might be nipped in the ice. This nipping is caused by the constant changes which the ice undergoes by the influence of wind and weather, when the edges of the pack meet with a terrific crash which nothing made of wood can withstand. In that case a ship is either cut in two or buried all together unless it is sufficiently light to be forced up and allow the edges of the ice to meet beneath it. Unable to find a northern route along the shores of Spitzbergen Buckin and Franklin endeavoured to reach Greenland when they suddenly found themselves threatened by an enormous pack of ice. Shock after shock took place which made the timbers shiver. Finding it impossible to proceed they had to resort to the desperate expedient of charging the pack. Iron plates and walrus hides were hung round the bowels of the vessels to lessen the effect of the contact. The masks were also securely tied and the hatches were batten down nearer and nearer came the glittering masses which were being tossed hither and thither like corks on the bosom of the tempestuous ocean. Suddenly the vessels dashed amongst the churning breakers which were beating with thundering noise on the pack. Above the sound of the wind and waves was heard the cry hold on for your lives. And every man laid hold of the parts of the vessel nearest to him as it cut its way through the lighter ice and then met the pack with a shock that threw every man on the deck. It is impossible to describe the successive dangers through which the vessels passed as they were helplessly lost from pack to flow at the mercy of wind and wave and iceberg. At length the open sea was reached but both ships were in such a battered condition that no time was lost in making for fairhaven in Spitsbergen where they came to anchor. It was then found that the Dorothea was practically a wreck. While the vessels were being repaired and refitted for the homeward voyage the north-west coast of Spitsbergen was surveyed and enormous glaciers of great height and length were seen. On more than one occasion the edge nearest the sea broke off with a noise resembling thunder and floated away to add one more to the countless icebergs of those dangerous seas. In October the Dorothea and the Trent arrived safely in the Thames. Thus says one of the officers. Terminated the third endeavour made under the auspices of the British Government to reach the pole. An attempt in which was accomplished everything that human skill and perseverance under the circumstances could have affected and in which dangers difficulties and hardships were endured such as have rarely been met with in any preceding voyage. While Buckin and Franklin were endeavouring to find a passage to the pole by sailing north the Alexander and the Isabella under Captain Ross and Lieutenant Perry were engaged in a similar expedition in search of a north-west passage to India. Ross and Perry had both been employed in the navy from their earliest years and Perry was familiar with the dangers and difficulties of navigation in Arctic Seas. Reaching the coast of Greenland in May the explorers saw their first iceberg which was of an enormous size and which was regarded with great curiosity by most of the crew though as the commander remarks they ere long became only too familiar with these large masses. Off one of the islands the vessels anchored and an Eskimo who had been on a visit to England and was now acting as interpreter proceeded on shore and shortly afterwards returned with a number of natives in their canoes. Captain Ross and his officers soon became very friendly with the natives who gave him a sledge and dogs in return for a musket. Some of the women came on board and after partaking of coffee and biscuits in the cabin enjoyed a dance with the sailors on deck. The master of ceremonies was the travelled Eskimo who was at once seaman, interpreter, draftsman, fisher of seals and hunter of white bears. A few days afterwards the vessels were found to be in the track of Baffin and had not been followed for 200 years but the fogs which surrounded them greatly hindered their progress and the vessels had to be assisted by the whole ships company dragging at a rope and marching to music the performer leading the way. At length they came to a large bay which Ross named after Lord Melville Lord of the Admiralty. It abounds with whales many of which were captured by the explorers. This bay has been the scene of many terrible catastrophes. Whole whaling fleets have been nipped in the ice and crushed like walnuts. In one instance 19 vessels were destroyed occasioning a loss of over £150,000. When this disaster befell the ships more than a thousand men were encamped on the ice on which they had erected tents and were engaged in dancing and frolic. The day received the name of Baffin's Fair. Few lives have been lost in Melville Bay for a long time. It is not difficult to reach the Danish settlements. Day after day was spent in slowly cutting a passage through the ice with great sores worked over a block suspended between poles. On one occasion the pressure of the ice resulted in a trial of strength which for some time but when it appeared impossible for the ship longer to withstand the advancing ice she rose several feet and avoided the contact. This was followed by a terrible collision between the two vessels which it was impossible to prevent as they were born together by the ice. Anchors and cables were broken and one boat was smashed to pieces. Just when all hope was gone the two fields of ice began to recede or there is little doubt that both ships would have been destroyed. Not long afterwards the vessels were clear. The Eskimos now appeared in large numbers and drove backwards and forwards on the ice in their dog sledgers but the explorers had some difficulty in opening up communications with them as they seemed afraid that their visitors meant mischief. Friendly signs and presence thrown to them had last succeeded in quieting their fears and when they found that the interpreter could speak their language they were very curious to know what kind of creatures the ships were and whether they came from the sun or the moon. Nor could they be persuaded that the vessels were not alive as they had seen them move. After a time Ross and Parry ventured to land and approached the natives in a friendly manner for fear of frightening them. On reaching the group they displayed a number of presents. The article created the most astonishment was a looking glass in which for the first time they saw their own faces reflected. They were then persuaded to go on board and to the amusement of the crews they persisted in regarding the ships as living creatures and saying who are you what are you where do you come from from the sun or the moon. The interpreter then showed them every part of the vessel and assured them that it was nothing but a floating house. It was clear from the manner in which they tried to lift the various objects they saw that they had no idea of the weight of iron. Leaving this place they saw large numbers of wiles which approached the ships without showing any signs of alarm. A native dance was here given by two Eskimo girls which much resembled certain dancers practised in India. Two days later such dense flocks of birds appeared that from 15 to 20 fell at every shot and proved a welcome addition to their food supply. Having reached Smith's sound Captain Ross came to the conclusion that no passage northward could be found. Here he also observed the dip of the needle which was an evidence that they had approached very near the magnetic pole being as he supposed surrounded by mountains which in the following year were proved to be only a species of cloud. He sailed westward and southward and again saw what he believed to be ridges of high mountains but which were nothing but deceptive appearances and to which he gave various names. On the 14th of November the vessels reached Grimsby in safety and though very little was added to the geographical knowledge which previous explorers had obtained he called attention to the productive fishing ground of Melville Bay which from that day to this has been frequented every summer by British whalers. Chapter 5 of Stories of North Pole Adventure by Frank Mundell The first winter in the Arctic regions Lieutenant Perry who in the previous voyage was only second in command under Captain Ross had no sooner returned to England than he expressed his dissatisfaction at the results achieved in fact he said that he could not understand why they had returned when they did and he also declared that he was perfectly certain that a north-west passage existed and would not be very hard to find. After an interview with Lord Melville the first Lord of the Admiralty Perry was placed in command of two vessels the Heckler and the Gripper with instructions to discover a north-west passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. On the 4th of May 1819 the Heckler set sail and was followed next day by the Gripper and in little more than a month the two vessels were among the icebergs of the northern seas wishing as far as possible to avoid the great enemy of the Arctic explorer Perry gave the icebergs a wide berth and made considerable progress along the west coast of Greenland here however the enemy could no longer be avoided icebergs became so numerous that from the mast Perry counted nearly a hundred of the largest size while smaller ones seemed to be bigger. In the middle of Baffin Bay the vessels were scarcely able to proceed on account of the flows or ice fields and even assisted by the men hauling at ropes they only made four miles in eleven hours to the great delight of Perry however open water was again reached and in one day miles were seen. Making all sail the vessels at length reached Lancaster Sound which Perry regarded as the gate to the unknown region of which he was in search. The mountains which Ross had so graphically described on the previous voyage were now found to be only creations of his imagination for the vessels sailed over the spot where they had been said to stand Such rapid progress was now made that the officers and men were filled with excitement and the mast were crowded all day by an eager crowd of watchers. So little ice was seen that the explorers really thought that they had at last entered the polar sea which was said to encircle the North Pole. At midnight the sun shone with the brightness of noonday and the colour of the surrounding waters was the deep blue of the ocean they had now reached the western part of Lancaster Sound and two islands which they discovered were named Leopold Islands after Prince Leopold. Then the ice once more appeared in such masses that their hopes of an open passage were shaken. Small white whales about twenty feet in length and gnarls called by the sailors sea unicorns were very numerous and afforded some amusement to the men who hunted them in boats. Unable to proceed farther westward the vessels were turned in a southerly direction and succeeded in entering an inlet which at its narrowest part was only five miles wide and which was named Prince Region Inlet. Not wishing to be carried too far to the south Harry returned to Lancaster Sound where he found so much open water that his hopes revived and as the crews were in good health and spirits and the ships well provisioned he determined to prosecute his search although the early winter of the northern regions was fast approaching. For some days rapid progress was made. New capes islands and inlets were passed in succession to all of which names were given and it was noticed that the farther north the vessels proceeded the compasses became more and more untrustworthy until they were no longer of any use for purposes of navigation. At length they saw the coast of a large island which was named Melville Island in honour of Lord Melville Now there appeared in the sky the first star which warned them that winter was rapidly approaching and that they could not hope to sail much longer in open water. An excursion on land was made but no traces could be found of any inhabitants Large numbers of deer however were seen On the 4th of September 1819 the explorers crossed to their great satisfaction the meridian of 110 degrees west of Greenwich which entitled them to the reward of 5000 pounds offered by the government to such of his majesty's subjects as might succeed in reaching that distant point. Their success was celebrated by such festivities as they could command under the circumstances the headland which they passed on that day was named Bounty Cape. Before settling down for the winter Perry decided to proceed still farther west and as the nights were now very dark the vessels were made fast to an ice flow till daybreak The rate of progress was now very slow and for days together the ships were moored between the shore and the icebergs One day seven men went ashore to hunt the deer When they did not return at night the officers became alarmed for their safety and men were sent out to look for them. The search party lost themselves in a snowstorm and only found their way back in a most exhausted condition late at night by seeing the signal rockets of the ships On the following day a flagstaff was erected on the highest part of land and a large ensign hoisted to serve as a guide to the lost men Search parties were also sent out in all directions and pikes bearing small flags were stuck into the ground at certain distances while to each pike a bottle was fastened containing instructions what to do On the third day four of the men guided by the flagstaff succeeded in reaching the ships and shortly afterwards the other three were discovered and brought in. They had all suffered much from cold and fatigue and some of them were severely spitten. Then says Parry In humble gratitude to God for this signal act of mercy we distinguished the headland to the west word of the ships by the name of Cape Providence Unable to find a safe anchorage Parry decided to run back to Melville Island and on the 24th of September they sailed into a bay which they had previously visited Here they cut a canal through the ice by means of ice sores and two days later the ships were anchored a cable's length from the beach where they intended to remain during the winter The preparations made by Parry were so thorough for the maintenance of good order and cleanliness for the preservation of the health of the crews and for the careful use of the stores that he proved himself to be one of the most capable officers ever entrusted with so difficult an expedition. In the matter of food and clothing and exercise rules were made and rigidly enforced for Parry knew only too well that it was easier to prevent the men from falling sick than to restore them to health He was also careful to retain the confidence of all by his instructions that not in a single instance should the officers food be larger in quantity or better in quality than that given to the men Knowing also how much cheerfulness promotes health he entered heartily into a variety of plans for their amusement and in the plays which were performed he was one of the actors A weekly newspaper called The North Georgia Gazette and Winter Chronicle was established to prevent any of the men from being lost when out hunting finger posts were erected on all the hills round about the harbour On the 4th of November the sun set and was not again seen for 96 days and it was during this period of darkness that Parry found the greatest difficulty in keeping his men sufficiently employed in work, exercise and amusements. Christmas Day the first spent by a body of Englishman in the Arctic regions was celebrated in a thoroughly old fashioned manner. An extra allowance of rations was given out and while everyone tried to add to the general enjoyment they did not forget the friends at home The cold during the winter was intense and frostbites were very common among the men Yet beyond the slight cold none of them were offered from any lung complaint The air was so clear that talking or singing in an ordinary tone of voice could be heard more than a mile away At length the sun again appeared to the great joy of the men and during the month of March the sky scenery was of the most magnificent description made an exploration into the interior of the island and was away for several days In July the melting of the ice was so rapid that before the end of the month the two vessels were once more riding at anchor On the 1st of August the ice broke up and the heckler and the gripper sailed out of their winter harbour where they had been detained for ten months To his great regret Parry was obliged to give up the idea of proceeding farther westward and made the best of his way home reaching England on the 29th of October 1820 after an absence of nearly 18 months End of Chapter 5 Chapter 6 of Stories of North Pole Adventure by Frank Mundell While Parry was making the splendid discoveries recorded in the previous chapter his friend Lieutenant John Franklin was engaged in an enterprise which has come to be regarded as one of the most extraordinary ever undertaken by man The main objects of this expedition were to determine the latitudes and longitudes of all bays, rivers, harbours, etc on the North Coast of America from the mouth of the Coppermine River eastwards to place conspicuous marks at places where ships might enter and to deposit information as to the nature of the coast which might be useful to Lieutenant Parry should he succeed in finding a north-west passage along the American shore Accompanied by Dr John Richardson, George Back, Robert Hood and a seaman named Hepburn Franklin embarked at Graves End on the 23rd of May and reached York Factory Hudson Bay at the end of August On the 9th of the following month the explorers set out and travelled a distance of 857 miles to Fort Chippewan on Lake Athabasca which was reached on the 8th of February, 1820 In the summer the explorers embarked on Lake Athabasca in three canoes accompanied by 16 Canadian voyages Passing out at the north-west end of the lake the canoes entered Slave River which connects Lake Athabasca with the Great Slave Lake Their progress was rapid and in 11 days they reached Fort Providence on the other side of the Great Slave Lake Then they advanced to Winter Lake where they arrived on the 19th of August Here they decided to pass the winter and erect to the house to which they gave the name of Fort Enterprise Early in the month of June, 1821 the party quitted the fort most sincerely rejoicing that the long wishful day had arrived when they were to proceed towards the final objects of the expedition By the end of the month the Coppermine River was reached and in 18 days Franklin and his men launched their frail boats on the waters of the polar sea Sailing eastward they discovered and named several islands Then the canoes were steered to the north and reigned to the east in the vain hope of finding a way to the eastern side of the continent Storms arose and the canoes were so badly damaged as to make it impossible to proceed farther Only a few days provisions remained and sorely against his will Franklin was obliged to turn his back on the sea which it had cost him so much to reach Yet he had succeeded in tracing the unknown shores of the polar sea a distance of 840 miles and navigated waters which had never before been sailed on except by Eskimos He only abandoned the Enterprise when he saw that a father advance would endanger the lives of the whole party and the voyage of what had been done from reaching England The return journey was therefore commenced and after a perilous voyage the canoes reached Hood River Here, says Franklin, terminated our voyage on the Arctic sea during which we had gone over 650 geographical miles On the 1st of September the Great March Inland began What follows is a record of unparalleled hardships endured with heroic patience With each man carrying about 90 pounds of baggage and weakened by long exposure to the rigors of the climate and insufficient food, the progress was necessarily slow and they advanced at the rate of about a mile an hour On the 4th of September the last piece of Pemicon and a small quantity of Arrowroot were served out Rain, snow and wind added to the misery of the situation For days they lived on a kind of lichen called by the Canadians Rock Tribe Bones made brittle by burning pieces of skin and even the remains of their old shoes and whatever scraps of leather they had were utilized to lessen the pangs of hunger which distressed them even more than the cold Starvation looked them in the face and back volunteered to go forward and prepare for their arrival at Fort Enterprise His offer was accepted accompanied by a few men he set out Several days passed and then the men were so thoroughly exhausted that Franklin determined to push forward and send assistance Leaving Dr Richardson, Hood and Hepburn in charge of the remainder of the party he set out, accompanied by four men Cheered with the thought of the comfort that awaited them at Fort Enterprise the weary and starving little band struggled on walking in garments frozen and stiff and eating their spare pairs of shoes At length they reached the fort but what a different sight met their gaze from that which they expected There was no fire on the hearth or bare walls A note left by Beck told them that he had gone on to the Indian encampment Soup made of pounded bones and singed hide together with rock-tripe was their only food for 18 days When Richardson and Hepburn arrived they had a melancholy tale to tell who the doctor afterwards shot in self-defense They brought with them a partridge which Hepburn had shot and the sixth part of this was the first morsel of flesh that Franklin and his companions had tasted for 31 days Relief came at last Beck had lost no time in sending food to the fort Although he had undergone hardships which nothing but the hope of obtaining help for his friends could have enabled him to endure The difficulties which afterwards beset Franklin and his companions were slight in comparison with those through which they had already passed and on the 14th of July 1822 they embarked for England Thus says Franklin ended our long, fatiguing and disastrous travels in North America having journeyed by water and by land including our navigation of the polar sea 5,550 miles Undaunted by the disasters and the sufferings of the coast, Franklin determined to make a further exploration of the North American coast He therefore laid before the lords of the Admiralty a plan for an expedition overland to the mouth of the Mackenzie River and then by sea to the northwestern extremity of America with the combined object also of surveying the coast for mine rivers His proposals were favourably received and preparations were made to fit out an expedition Three boats were specially built at Woolwich for the navigation of the polar sea and arrangements were made for a supply of provisions along the proposed route Franklin, now a captain, set sail from Liverpool on the 14th of February 1825 accompanied by Dr Richardson and Lieutenant Bag For some time before the day of sailing Franklin's wife had been in weak health and to relieve the monotony of the sick room she made a small silken union jack Her husband wanted to delay his departure but she didn't hear of Go, she said, giving him the flag Never unfurl it until you plant it on the shores of the polar sea A few days after the expedition sailed she crossed the boundary line of that undiscovered country from whose born no traveller returns On their arriving at New York in March Franklin and his companions lost no time in making their way to the Canadian lakes and in about six months reached the mouth of the Mackenzie River The men pitched their tent on the beach and Franklin caused the union jack to be hoisted which his wife had presented to him as a parting gift His feelings over part him only for a moment and suppressing his emotion as best he could he received with becoming cheerfulness the congratulations of his companions on having thus planted the British flag on this remote shore of the polar sea After sailing about for some time they returned to the winter quarters which had been erected at Great Bear Lake during their absence and named Fort Franklin Here they spent Christmas Day The best food they had at command was placed before the men and on the following evening a dance was given The party numbered about 60 persons and included Englishmen, Highlanders, Canadians and Indians as Franklin remarks Seldom perhaps in such a confined space as our hall was their greater variety of character or greater confusion of tongues but perfect harmony prevailed and no unpleasant incident occurred to mar the joy of the occasion In the early summer of 1826 the explorers returned to the mouth of the Mackenzie River where they separated into two parties the one under Franklin exploring to the west and the other under Richardson to the east A few days later Franklin's party encountered a number of Eskimos Trade was opened with the natives and for a time all went well but their cupidity at length overcame their friendship and they beset the boats with the evident intention of plundering them For some time the men tried to keep them at bay but as Franklin had forbidden the shedding of blood their resistance was not altogether effective and it was not till a volley had been fired over their heads that they retreated and the verticals had, however, been stolen and several of the sailors had narrowly escaped severe wounds Franklin afterwards made a speech to the Eskimos through an interpreter in which he warned them that the first man who came within range would be shot this caution had the desired effect and the explorers were left in peace After this Franklin resumed his voyage westward along the shores of the polar sea but his progress was greatly obstructed by drifting ice and fogs He persevered, however, in face of these difficulties and before the approach of winter compelled him to return he had explored about 400 miles of a previously unknown coast Meanwhile Dr Richardson had been carrying on his explorations to the eastward and giving names to the more striking bays and headlands of the coast On reaching the copper mine river he disembarked and made his way by land and river to Fort Franklin On the way he came across the remains of some of the fires made in the former terrible march The journey was accomplished without mishap and on the first of September the fort was reached A few weeks later Franklin also arrived safe and well Thus ended the second land expedition and the narrative is a pleasing relief to the succession of disasters which attended the former enterprise We do not again meet with Sir John Franklin in the Arctic regions till the year 1845 About that time the most eminent scientific men and explorers of the day urged the government to fit out an expedition to make one more attempt at the discovery of the northwest passage Six years which Sir John Franklin had spent as governor of Tasmania had increased rather than diminished his enthusiasm for Arctic discovery and when on his arrival in England he heard of the proposed enterprise he laid claim to the post of commander as his by right The government only too glad to avail themselves of the services of so experienced an explorer were prepared to accept him at once The first lord of the Admiralty kindly suggested however that Franklin should rest on his laurels I might find a good excuse for not letting you go Sir John said he in the rumour that informs me that you are 60 years of age No, no my lord I am only 59 This characteristic reply swept away the last and only objection to Franklin's appointment Two ships of the Royal Navy the Erebus and Terror were thoroughly overhauled and fitted out for the voyage A warming and ventilating apparatus of the most improved construction was fitted up in each ship and for the first time in the annals of Arctic exploration both were fitted with an auxiliary screw and engine The outfit included warm bedding, clothing medicines and an ample store of provisions for three years On the 19th of May 1845 the two ships each with 69 officers and men on board set sail from the Thames on what proved to be their last voyage On the 12th of July they reached Greenland and a fortnight later they were seen by a whaler moored to an iceberg and waiting for an opportunity to cross over to Lancaster Sound A message was sent on board the whaler inviting the captain to dinner with Sir John Franklin next day but the meeting never took place A favourable breeze sprang up and the vessels parted This was the last ever seen of these good ships and of that company of gallant hearts among the most truly noble that ever left the shores of England Chapter 7 of Stories of North Pole Adventure by Frank Mundell This LibriVox recording is in the public domain The Champion of the North It will be remembered that Parry returned from his first expedition in 1820 The success which had attended this voyage left its captain in the foremost rank of arctic discoverers As a result of his voyage the existence of a north-west passage was now regarded as certain and there was no doubt that persistent attempt would ultimately lead to its discovery Another expedition was accordingly fitted out and the command was given to Parry The vessels engaged were the Fury and the Heckler On the 8th of May, 1821 they left the gnaw and in about two months reached Hudson Strait Thence they sailed to Repulse Bay Parry thoroughly explored this inlet in the hope of finding an opening to the westward but it was found to be completely landlocked This discovery was the first notable achievement of Parry's second arctic expedition August, September, and the first few days of October were spent in a minute examination of the coast of the American continent Signs of the speedily approaching winter warned the captain that it was time to be making everything snug and he then began to look about for a harbour After great toil the vessels reached a suitable bay on the south side of Winter Island but before the ships could be got into position a channel about half a mile long had to be sawn through the ice The arrangements which Parry made for the health and comfort of the sailors were much the same as on the previous occasion Schools were established in each ship and the hardy Tars set themselves with great zeal to master the three Rs At Christmas 16 well written copies were produced by those who, two months before could scarcely form a letter The scientific side of the expedition was not forgotten and an observatory and house were built for magnetic and astronomical observations On Christmas Day divine service was held on board the fury and attended by both officers and men of the expedition Among the luxuries which the dinner on that day afforded was a joint of English roast beef served by rubbing the outside with salt On the first of February 1822 a number of strange people were seen coming over the ice towards the ships When they were viewed through glasses the cry was raised Eskimos! Eskimos! Parry and several of the officers went forward to meet them As they approached the Eskimos stood still and saluted the strangers by beating their breasts An act of traffic was soon set on foot The sailors receiving furs and well bone in exchange for nails, knives and other similar commodities The strangers were now invited to visit the Eskimo dwellings and they eagerly availed themselves of the opportunity The village consisted of five huts constructed simply of snow and ice After creeping through two low passages they gained the interior and saw a sight at once interesting a novel The inner apartments were circular with arch domes about seven feet high in the centre The women were seated on the beds at the sides of the hut each having her little fireplace or lamp with all her children, domestic utensils and dogs about her A block of clear ice in the roof served as a window It was not until the beginning of July that the ice opened sufficiently to allow the ships to be taken out of their winter quarters At starting many dangers were encountered The heckler was almost crushed to pieces in the ice and within a short distance of the fury two icebergs collided with such force that numberless huge masses were thrown fifty or sixty feet into the air Fortunately the ship was kept clear or she would have founded Proceeding northward the explorers saw before them a bold and high range of coast A reference to a rough chart which had been drawn by one of the Eskimos informed them that they were approaching a straight of which the natives had often spoken as leading westward into the open sea and which Parry regarded as the gate of the north west passage Their further progress was again stopped however by an unbroken sheet of ice extending as far as the eye could reach A party therefore left the ships and made their way on foot across the ice and over the islands that lined the southern shore of the straight In four days they reached a peninsula overlooking the narrowest part of the straight at this point not more than two miles wide Beyond us to the west says Parry The shores again separated to a distance of several leagues and in that direction no land could be seen to the utmost limits of a clear horizon Over this we could not entertain a doubt Parry and his men celebrated the discovery by three hearty cheers and named it Fury and Heckler straight An unsuccessful attempt was afterwards made to navigate the channel when it was found that a solid ice field shut out all possibility of a passage The winter was passed in a manner similar to the previous one at Winter Island and in the middle of August 1823 the ships were freed from the ice Parry was so anxious to achieve the north west passage that he proposed spending a third winter in the polar regions But an outbreak of scurvy among the sailors caused him to give up the plan and he began the voyage moving in England in October This expedition greatly increased the geographical knowledge of the regions explored and though unsuccessful in its main object it was regarded by those in authority as giving great promise of future success Accordingly within two months after Parry's return he was appointed to the command of the new expedition for the further exploration of the polar seas With the Heckler and the Fury under his command he set sail from North Fleet on the 19th of May 1824 He was ordered to sail to Lancaster Sound and to proceed through Barrow Strait and Prince Regent Inlet and endeavour to reach the sea which was discovered at the mouth of the Coppermine River and so westward to the Pacific Unfortunately the season was unusually severe and it was not till the 10th of August that they entered Lancaster Sound which was found to be free from ice except that here and there a burg was seen floating about in that solitary grandeur of which these enormous masses when occurring in the midst of an extensive sea are calculated to convey so sublime an idea. Pushing on Prince Regent Inlet was reached about six weeks later and Parry prepared to spend his fourth winter in the Arctic regions On the 20th of July 1825 Heckler and the Fury were enabled through the breaking up of the ice to get clear out to sea but, steer in whatever direction he might Parry constantly found his progress barred by immense masses of ice. At length there seemed a chance of a passage to the south but again the ice closed in upon him to lose a foot of open water he pushed on as far as possible and then moored his vessels to the grounded masses upon the beach. Suddenly to his great alarm he observed that the sea ice was in motion and that there was the greatest danger of the ships being crushed between the advancing icefield and the shore. Unfortunately these fares were well grounded although the Heckler escaped without serious injury the Fury was repeatedly driven on the beach and had many of her stout timbers stove in the commander trusted that this would prove as harmless as the many shocks which the vessel had already received but it was soon found that the water came in faster and more pumps could keep it out. An examination of the vessel was accordingly made when it was seen that she was no longer sea worthy so after a consultation with his officers Parry decided to abandon her the crew of the Fury were therefore received on board the Heckler but the stores owing to want of room were left behind this disaster entirely altered the plans of the expedition so far little progress had been made and the difficulties of navigation coupled with the lateness of the season and the reduction of the stores determined the commander to return to England at once the voyage though stormy was accomplished without further mishap on the 12th of October 1825 within six months after his arrival in England we find the indefatigable Parry once more before the Admiralty with a plan for reaching the North Pole by means of travelling in sledge boats over the ice or through any spaces of open water that might occur that science might arrive from such a journey even if it did not reach the goal cause the Admiralty to look favorably on this daring scheme and Captain Parry was instructed to make preparations for carrying it out two boats 20 feet long by 7 feet broad were constructed at Woolwich under Parry's direction they were called what were called troop boats and had a capacious flat floor they were framed of ash and hickory covered with waterproof canvas over this were successive layers of fur and oak with a sheet of steltfelt between runners on each side of the keel fitted them to be drawn over the ice like a sledge Hecler left the Noor on the 4th of April 1827 on her fourth arctic voyage staring northward Spitzbergen was reached and then began a long and tedious search for a suitable harbour in which the Hecler might lie safely at anchor during the absence of the boats it was not till the 18th of June that a secure haven was found on the northern Spitzbergen coast and named Hecler Cove no time was now lost and two days later the boats named respectively the enterprise and the endeavour were ready to start the party numbered four officers and 24 men provisions for 71 days were taken out of Pemmican, Biscuits, Cocoa etc a quantity of spirit of wine was also carried to serve as fuel next day the boats quitted the ship amid three hearty cheers from those left behind for two days they sailed over a calm sea and then they reached a small flow onto which they hoisted their boats Captain Perry describes in an interesting manner the singular mode of travelling which they now adopted the first step was to turn night into day that is they began their journey in the evening and ended it in the morning thus while they had quite enough light they avoided the glare of the sun on the snow and the blindness it often produces besides the snow being harder at night presented a firmer surface to the runners of the sledge this travelling by night and sleeping by day says Perry so completely inverted the natural order of things that it was difficult to persuade ourselves of the reality and there were several of the men who declared that they never knew night from day during the whole excursion their day was always commenced by prayers after which they took off their first sleeping dresses and put on those for travelling breakfast consisted of warm cocoa and biscuit after a journey of five or six hours a halt was made for dinner after which the journey was resumed for another five or six hours according to circumstances they then stopped for the night as they called it though it was usually early in the morning the boats were hauled close alongside each other and the sails supported by the masts and oars were spread over as an awning every man then put on dry stockings and fur boots the officers and the men smoked their pipes and forgetting the toils of the day enjoyed an interval of ease after prayers they lay down to sleep in the bottom of the boat and in seven hours the sound of a bugle blown by the man on guard rails them to their breakfast of cocoa and to a repetition of the same arduous duties the progress for several days was very slow and laborious the flows were small, exceedingly rough and cut up by lanes of water which could not be crossed without unloading the boats this obliged them to make three and sometimes four journeys with the boats and baggage thus on one occasion we find them a mile to the northward travelling to and fro about ten miles in order to keep the party and the supplies together rain accompanied by dense fogs added to the difficulties of the route many a time parry was so beset in the soft snow that after trying in vain to extricate his legs he was compelled to sit down and rest before making further attempts while the men who were dragging the sledgers were often obliged to crawl on all fours to make any progress at all such was the stupendously laborious manner in which the expedition crept northward from day to day still they pressed forward full of hope in the solid fields of unbroken ice which former explorers had spoken of as stretching away to the north these hopes were however doomed to disappointment from a hummock forty feet in height parry had a view of the surrounding masses but all presented the same broken and rugged appearance all hope of reaching the pole but resolved to push on and try to reach the eighty third parallel of latitude on the twenty second of july the expedition had reached latitude eighty two degrees forty three minutes and it seemed as if success was fairly within their reach when parry made a discovery which filled him with disappointment though their progress had been better for some days he found that they did not get proportionably nearer the eighty third parallel then the unpleasant fact forced itself on his notice that during their eight hours of sleep they were being drifted to the southward by the current which prevailed in this part of the polar sea he therefore made up his mind to return a day was spent in making observations and then on the twenty seventh the return voyage was commenced sincerely as we regretted writes parry not having been able to hoist the british flag in the highest latitude to which we had aspired we shall perhaps be excused in having felt some little pride in being the bearers of it to a parallel considerably beyond that mentioned in any other well authenticated record no incident of any importance occurred on the return journey and heckler cove was reached without mishap on the twenty first of august after an absence of sixty one days during which they had traveled twelve thousand one hundred and twenty seven miles a week later the heckler set sail on her homeward voyage and reached england in safety by a singular coincidence captain franklin had returned from his second expedition to the polar sea on the same day as parry and the two great seamen arriving at the admiralty within ten minutes of each other were both surprised and pleased at this most remarkable and unexpected meeting thus ended parry's last voyage for months after his return he was received with enthusiasm wherever he went and honors including knighthood was showered upon him both at home and on the continent in 1955 the times spoke of him in language which is as true at the present time as on the day when it was written no successor on the path of arctic adventure has yet snatched the chaplet from the brow of this great navigator parry is still the champion of the north End of chapter seven