The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras Part 24

The boiler of the _Forward_ needed cleaning; the captain anch.o.r.ed his s.h.i.+p to a field of ice, and gave the doctor leave to go ash.o.r.e with the boatswain. For himself, being indifferent to everything outside of his own plans, he shut himself up in his cabin, and studied the chart of the Pole.

The doctor and his companion easily reached land; the first-named carried a compa.s.s for his experiments; he wanted to test the work of James Ross; he easily made out the mound of stones erected by him; he ran towards it; an opening in the cairn let him see a tin box in which James Ross had placed an account of his discovery. No living being had visited this lonely spot for thirty years.

At this place a needle suspended as delicately as possible a.s.sumed a nearly vertical position under the magnetic influence; hence the centre of attraction was near, if not immediately beneath, the needle.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The doctor made the experiment with all care. But if James Ross, owing to the imperfection of his instruments, found a declination of only 89 50', the real magnetic point is found within a minute of this spot. Dr. Clawbonny was more fortunate, and at a little distance from there he found a declination of 90.

"This is exactly the magnetic pole of the earth!" he cried, stamping on the ground.

"Just here?" asked Johnson.

"Precisely here, my friend!"

"Well, then," resumed the boatswain, "we must give up all the stories of a magnetic mountain or large ma.s.s."

"Yes, Johnson," answered the doctor, laughing, "those are empty hypotheses! As you see, there is no mountain capable of attracting s.h.i.+ps, of drawing their iron from them anchor after anchor, bolt after bolt! and your shoes here are as light as anywhere in the world."

"But how do you explain--"

"There is no explanation, Johnson; we are not wise enough for that.

But what is mathematically certain is that the magnetic pole is at this very spot!"

"Ah, Dr. Clawbonny, how glad the captain would be to say as much of the North Pole!"

"He'll say it, Johnson; he'll say it!"

"G.o.d grant it!" was the answer.

The doctor and his companion raised a cairn at the spot where they tried their experiment, and the signal for their return being made, they returned to the s.h.i.+p at five o'clock of the evening.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.

The _Forward_ succeeded, though not without difficulty, in getting by James Ross Sound, by frequent use of the ice-saws and gunpowder; the crew was very much fatigued. Fortunately the temperature was agreeable, and even thirty degrees above what James Ross found at the same time of year. The thermometer marked 34.

Sat.u.r.day they doubled Cape Felix at the northern end of King William's Land, one of the smaller islands of northern seas.

At that time the crew became very much depressed; they gazed wistfully and sadly at its far-stretching sh.o.r.es.

In fact, they were gazing at King William's Land, the scene of one of the saddest tragedies of modern times! Only a few miles to the west the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ were lost.

The sailors of the _Forward_ were familiar with the attempts made to find Franklin, and the result they had obtained, but they did not know all the sad details. Now, while the doctor was following on his chart the course of the s.h.i.+p, many of them, Bell, Bolton, and Simpson, drew near him and began to talk with him. Soon the others followed to satisfy their curiosity; meanwhile the brig was advancing rapidly, and the bays, capes, and promontories of the coast pa.s.sed before their gaze like a gigantic panorama.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

Hatteras was pacing nervously to and fro on the quarter-deck; the doctor found himself on the bridge, surrounded by the men of the crew; he readily understood the interest of the situation, and the impression that would be made by an account given under those circ.u.mstances, hence he resumed the talk he had begun with Johnson.

"You know, my friends, how Franklin began: like Cook and Nelson, he was first a cabin-boy; after spending his youth in long sea-voyages, he made up his mind, in 1845, to seek the Northwest Pa.s.sage; he commanded the _Erebus_ and the _Terror_, two stanch vessels, which had visited the antarctic seas in 1840, under the command of James Ross.

The _Erebus_, in which Franklin sailed, carried a crew of seventy men, all told, with Fitz-James as captain; Gore and Le Vesconte, lieutenants; Des Voeux, Sargent, and Couch, boatswains; and Stanley, surgeon. The _Terror_ carried sixty-eight men. Crozier was the captain; the lieutenants were Little, Hodgson, and Irving; boatswains, h.o.r.esby and Thomas; the surgeon, Peddie. In the names of the bays, capes, straits, promontories, channels, and islands of these lat.i.tudes you find memorials of most of these unlucky men, of whom not one has ever again seen his home! In all one hundred and thirty-eight men! We know that the last of Franklin's letters were written from Disco Island, and dated July 12, 1845. He said, 'I hope to set sail to-night for Lancaster Sound.' What followed his departure from Dis...o...b..y? The captains of the whalers, the _Prince of Wales_ and the _Enterprise_, saw these two s.h.i.+ps for the last time in Melville Bay, and nothing more was heard of them. Still we can follow Franklin in his course westward; he went through Lancaster and Barrow Sounds and reached Beechey Island, where he pa.s.sed the winter of 1845-46."

"But how is this known?" asked Bell, the carpenter.

"By three tombs which the Austin expedition found there in 1850. Three of Franklin's sailors had been buried there; and, moreover, by a paper found by Lieutenant Hobson of the _Fox_, dated April 25, 1848. We know also that, after leaving winter-quarters, the _Erebus_ and _Terror_ ascended Wellington Channel as far as lat.i.tude 77; but instead of pus.h.i.+ng to the north, which they doubtless found impossible, they returned towards the south--"

"And that was a fatal mistake!" uttered a grave voice. "Safety lay to the north."

Every one turned round. It was Hatteras, who, leaning on the rail of the quarter-deck, had just made that solemn remark.

"Without doubt," resumed the doctor, "Franklin intended to make his way to the American sh.o.r.e; but tempests beset him, and September 12, 1846, the two s.h.i.+ps were caught in the ice, a few miles from here, to the northwest of Cape Felix; they were carried to the north-northwest of Point Victory; there," said the doctor, pointing out to the sea.

"Now," he added, "the s.h.i.+ps were not abandoned till April 22, 1848.

What happened during these nineteen months? What did these poor men do? Doubtless they explored the surrounding lands, made every effort to escape, for the admiral was an energetic man; and if he did not succeed--"

"It's because his men betrayed him," said Hatteras in a deep voice.

The sailors did not dare to lift their eyes; these words made them feel abashed.

"To be brief, this paper, of which I spoke, tells us, besides, that Sir John Franklin died, worn out by his sufferings, June 11, 1847. All honor to his memory!" said the doctor, removing his hat.

The men did the same in silence.

"What became of these poor men, deprived of their leader, during the next ten months? They remained on board of their s.h.i.+ps, and it was not till April, 1848, that they made up their mind to abandon them; one hundred and five men survived out of the hundred and thirty-eight.

Thirty-three had died! Then Captains Crozier and Fitz-James erected a cairn at Point Victory, and left their last paper there. See, my friends, we are pa.s.sing by that point. You can see traces of the cairn, placed, so to speak, at the farthest point reached by John Ross in 1831! There is Cape Jane Franklin! There Point Franklin! There Point Le Vesconte! There Erebus Bay, where the launch, made of pieces of one of the s.h.i.+ps, was found on a sledge! There were found silver spoons, plenty of food, chocolate, tea, and religious books. The hundred and five survivors, under the command of Captain Crozier, set out for Great Fish River. How far did they get? Did they reach Hudson's Bay? Have any survived? What became of them after that?--"

"I will tell you what became of them," said John Hatteras in an energetic voice. "Yes, they tried to reach Hudson's Bay, and separated into several parties. They took the road to the south. In 1854 a letter from Dr. Rae states that in 1850 the Esquimaux had met in King William's Land a detachment of forty men, chasing sea-cows, travelling on the ice, dragging a boat along with them, thin, pale, and worn out with suffering and fatigue. Later, they discovered thirty corpses on the mainland and five on a neighboring island, some half buried, others left without burial; some lying beneath an overturned boat, others under the ruins of a tent; here lay an officer with his gla.s.s swung around his shoulder, and his loaded gun near him; farther on were kettles with the remains of a horrible meal. At this news, the Admiralty urged the Hudson's Bay Company to send its most skilful agents to this place. They descended Black River to its mouth. They visited Montreal and Maconochie Islands, and Point Ogle. In vain! All these poor fellows had died of misery, suffering, and starvation, after trying to prolong their lives by having recourse to cannibalism.

That is what became of them along their way towards the south, which was lined with their mutilated bodies. Well, do you want to follow their path?"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "All these poor fellows had died of misery, suffering, and starvation."]

Hatteras's ringing voice, pa.s.sionate gestures, and glowing face produced an indescribable effect. The crew, moved by the sight of these ill-omened lands, cried with one voice,--

"To the north! to the north!"

"Well, to the north! Safety and glory await us there at the north!

Heaven is declaring for us! The wind is changing! The pa.s.sage is free!

Prepare to go about!"

The sailors hastened to their places; the ice-streams grew slowly free; the _Forward_ went about rapidly, and ran under full steam towards MacClintock's Channel.

Hatteras was justified in counting on a freer sea; on his way he retraced the probable path of Franklin; he went along the eastern side of Prince of Wales Land, which is clearly defined, while the other sh.o.r.e is still unknown. Evidently the clearing away of the ice towards the south took place through the eastern strait, for it appeared perfectly clear; so the _Forward_ was able to make up for lost time; she was put under full steam, so that the 14th they pa.s.sed Osborne Bay, and the farthest points reached by the expeditions of 1851. There was still a great deal of ice about them, but there was every indication that the _Forward_ would have clear sailing-way before her.