The weather cleared up towards evening, and land was clearly distinguished1 between Cape2 Sepping and Cape Clarence, which runs east, then south, and is joined to the coast on the west by a rather low neck of land. The sea at the entrance to Regent Strait was free from ice, with the exception of an impenetrable ice-bank, a little further than Port Leopold, which threatened to stop the Forward in her north-westerly course. Hatteras was greatly vexed3, but he did not show it; he was obliged to have recourse to petards in order to force an entrance to Port Leopold; he reached it on Sunday, the 27th of May; the brig was solidly anchored to the enormous icebergs4, which were as upright, hard, and solid as rocks.
The captain, followed by the doctor, Johnson, and his dog Dick, immediately leaped upon the ice, and soon reached land. Dick leaped with joy, for since he had recognised the captain he had become more sociable5, keeping his grudge6 against certain men of the crew for whom his master had no more friendship than he. The port was not then blocked up with ice that the east winds generally heaped up there; the earth, intersected with peaks, offered at their summits graceful7 undulations of snow. The house and lantern erected8 by James Ross were still in a tolerable state of preservation9; but the provisions seemed to have been ransacked10 by foxes and bears, the recent traces of which were easily distinguished. Men, too, had had something to do with the devastation11, for a few remains12 of Esquimaux huts remained upon the shores of the Bay. The six graves inclosing the remains of the six sailors of the Enterprise and the Investigator13 were recognisable by a slight swelling14 of the ground; they had been respected both by men and animals. In placing his foot for the first time on boreal land, the doctor experienced much emotion. It is impossible to imagine the feelings with which the heart is assailed15 at the sight of the remains of houses, tents, huts, and magazines that Nature so marvellously preserves in those cold countries.
“There is that residence,” he said to his companions, “which James Ross himself called the Camp of Refuge; if Franklin’s expedition had reached this spot, it would have been saved. There is the engine which was abandoned here, and the stove at which the crew of the Prince Albert warmed themselves in 1851. Things have remained just as they were, and any one would think that Captain Kennedy had only left yesterday. Here is the long boat which sheltered him and his for a few days, for this Kennedy, separated from his ship, was in reality saved by Lieutenant16 Bellot, who braved the October temperature in order to go to his assistance.”
“I knew that brave and worthy17 officer,” said Johnson.
Whilst the doctor was examining with all an antiquarian’s enthusiasm the vestiges18 of previous winterings, Hatteras was occupied in piling together the various provisions and articles of fuel, which were only to be found in very small quantities. The following day was employed in transporting them on board. The doctor, without going too far from the ship, surveyed the country, and took sketches19 of the most remarkable20 points of view. The temperature rose by degrees, and the heaped-up snow began to melt. The doctor made an almost complete collection of northern birds, such as gulls21, divers22, eider-down ducks, which are very much like common ducks, with white breasts and backs, blue bellies23, the top of the head blue, and the remainder of the plumage white, shaded with green; several of them had already their breasts stripped of that beautiful down with which the male and female line their nests. The doctor also perceived large seals taking breath on the surface of the ice, but could not shoot one. In his excursions he discovered the high water mark, a stone upon which the following signs are engraved24:
(E. I.)
1849,
and which indicate the passage of the Enterprise and Investigator; he pushed forward as far as Cape Clarence to the spot where John and James Ross, in 1833, waited with so much impatience25 for the breaking up of the ice. The land was strewn with skulls26 and bones of animals, and traces of Esquimaux habitations could be still distinguished.
The doctor wanted to raise up a cairn on Port Leopold, and deposit in it a note indicating the passage of the Forward, and the aim of the expedition. But Hatteras would not hear of it; he did not want to leave traces behind of which a competitor might take advantage. In spite of his good motives27 the doctor was forced to yield to the captain’s will. Shandon blamed the captain’s obstinacy28, which prevented any ships following the trace of the Forward in case of accident. Hatteras would not give way. His lading was finished on Monday night, and he attempted once more to gain the north by breaking open the ice-bank; but after dangerous efforts he was forced to resign himself, and to go down Regent’s Channel again; he would not stop at Port Leopold, which, open today, might be closed again tomorrow by an unexpected displacement29 of ice-fields, a very frequent phenomenon in these seas, and which navigators ought particularly to take into consideration.
If Hatteras did not allow his uneasiness to be outwardly perceived, it did not prevent him feeling it inwardly. His desire was to push northward30, whilst, on the contrary, he found himself constrained31 to put back southward. Where should he get to in that case? Should he be obliged to put back to Victoria Harbour, in Boothia Gulf32, where Sir John Ross wintered in 1833? Would he find Bellot Strait open at that epoch33, and could he ascend34 Peel Strait by rounding North Somerset? Or, again, should he, like his predecessors35, find himself captured during several winters, and be compelled to exhaust his strength and provisions? These fears were fermenting36 in his brain; he must decide one way or other. He heaved about, and struck out south. The width of Prince Regent’s Channel is about the same from Port Leopold to Adelaide Bay. The Forward, more favoured than the ships which had preceded her, and of which the greater number had required more than a month to descend37 the channel, even in a more favourable38 season, made her way rapidly amongst the icebergs; it is true that other ships, with the exception of the Fox, had no steam at their disposal, and had to endure the caprices of an uncertain and often foul39 wind.
In general the crew showed little wish to push on with the enterprising Hatteras; the men were only too glad to perceive that the vessel40 was taking a southerly direction. Hatteras would have liked to go on regardless of consequences.
The Forward rushed along under the pressure of her engines, the smoke from which twisted round the shining points of the icebergs; the weather was constantly changing from dry cold to snowy fogs. The brig, which drew little water, sailed along the west coast; Hatteras did not wish to miss the entrance to Bellot Strait, as the only outlet41 to the Gulf of Boothia on the south was the strait, only partially42 known to the Fury and the Hecla; if he missed the Bellot Strait, he might be shut up without possibility of egress43.
In the evening the Forward was in sight of Elwin Bay, known by its high perpendicular44 rocks; on the Tuesday morning Batty Bay was sighted, where the Prince Albert anchored for its long wintering on the 10th of September, 1851. The doctor swept the whole coast with his telescope. It was from this point that the expeditions radiated that established the geographical45 configuration46 of North Somerset. The weather was clear, and the profound ravines by which the bay is surrounded could be clearly distinguished.
The doctor and Johnson were perhaps the only beings on board who took any interest in these deserted47 countries. Hatteras was always intent upon his maps, and said little; his taciturnity increased as the brig got more and more south; he often mounted the poop, and there with folded arms, and eyes lost in vacancy48, he stood for hours. His orders, when he gave any, were curt49 and rough. Shandon kept a cold silence, and kept himself so much aloof50 by degrees that at last he had no relations with Hatteras except those exacted by the service; James Wall remained devoted51 to Shandon, and regulated his conduct accordingly. The remainder of the crew waited for something to turn up, ready to take any advantage in their own interest. There was no longer that unity52 of thought and communion of ideas on board which are so necessary for the accomplishment53 of anything great, and this Hatteras knew to his sorrow.
During the day two whales were perceived rushing towards the south; a white bear was also seen, and was shot at without any apparent success. The captain knew the value of an hour under the circumstances, and would not allow the animal to be chased.
On Wednesday morning the extremity54 of Regent’s Channel was passed; the angle on the west coast was followed by a deep curve in the land. By consulting his map the doctor recognised the point of Somerset House, or Fury Point.
“There,” said he to his habitual55 companion —“there is the very spot where the first English ship, sent into these seas in 1815, was lost, during the third of Parry’s voyages to the Pole; the Fury was so damaged by the ice on her second wintering, that her crew were obliged to desert her and return to England on board her companion ship the Hecla.”
“That shows the advantage of having a second ship,” answered Johnson. “It is a precaution that Polar navigators ought not to neglect, but Captain Hatteras wasn’t the sort of man to trouble himself with another ship.”
“Do you think he is imprudent, Johnson?” asked the doctor.
“I? I think nothing, Mr. Clawbonny. Do you see those stakes over there with some rotten tent-rags still hanging to them?”
“Yes; that’s where Parry disembarked his provisions from his ship, and, if I remember rightly, the roof of his tent was a topsail.”
“Everything must be greatly changed since 1825!”
“Not so much as any one might think. John Ross owed the health and safety of his crew to that fragile habitation in 1829. When the Prince Albert sent an expedition there in 1851, it was still existing; Captain Kennedy had it repaired, nine years ago now. It would be interesting to visit it, but Hatteras isn’t in the humour to stop!”
“I daresay he is right, Mr. Clawbonny; if time is money in England, here it is life, and a day’s or even an hour’s delay might make all the difference.”
During the day of Thursday, the 1st of June, the Forward cut across Creswell Bay; from Fury Point the coast rose towards the north in perpendicular rocks three hundred feet high; it began to get lower towards the south; some snow summits looked like neatly-cut tables, whilst others were shaped like pyramids, and had other strange forms.
The weather grew milder during that day, but was not so clear; land was lost to sight, and the thermometer went up to thirty-two degrees; seafowl fluttered about, the flocks of wild ducks were seen flying north; the crew could divest56 themselves of some of their garments, and the influence of the Arctic summer began to be felt. Towards evening the Forward doubled Cape Garry at a quarter of a mile from the shore, where the soundings gave from ten to twelve fathoms57; from thence she kept near the coast as far as Brentford Bay. It was under this latitude58 that Bellot Strait was to be met with; a strait the existence of which Sir John Ross did not even guess at during his expedition in 1828; his maps indicated an uninterrupted coast-line, whose irregularities he noted59 with the utmost care; the entrance to the strait must therefore have been blocked up by ice at the time. It was really discovered by Kennedy in April, 1852, and he gave it the name of his lieutenant, Bellot, as “a just tribute,” he said, “to the important services rendered to our expedition by the French officer.”
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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vexed
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| adj.争论不休的；（指问题等）棘手的；争论不休的问题；烦恼的v.使烦恼( vex的过去式和过去分词 )；使苦恼；使生气；详细讨论 | |
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icebergs
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| n.冰山，流冰( iceberg的名词复数 ) | |
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sociable
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| adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的 | |
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grudge
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| n.不满，怨恨，妒嫉；vt.勉强给，不情愿做 | |
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graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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preservation
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| n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持 | |
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ransacked
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| v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺 | |
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devastation
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| n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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investigator
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| n.研究者，调查者，审查者 | |
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swelling
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| n.肿胀 | |
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assailed
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| v.攻击( assail的过去式和过去分词 )；困扰；质问；毅然应对 | |
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lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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worthy
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| adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的 | |
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vestiges
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| 残余部分( vestige的名词复数 )； 遗迹； 痕迹； 毫不 | |
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sketches
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| n.草图( sketch的名词复数 )；素描；速写；梗概 | |
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remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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gulls
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| n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 ) | |
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divers
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| adj.不同的；种种的 | |
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bellies
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| n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的 | |
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engraved
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| v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中） | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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skulls
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| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
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27
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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obstinacy
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| n.顽固；（病痛等）难治 | |
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displacement
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| n.移置，取代，位移，排水量 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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constrained
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| adj.束缚的,节制的 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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epoch
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| n.(新)时代；历元 | |
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ascend
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| vi.渐渐上升，升高；vt.攀登，登上 | |
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predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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fermenting
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| v.（使）发酵( ferment的现在分词 )；（使）激动；骚动；骚扰 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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favourable
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| adj.赞成的，称赞的，有利的，良好的，顺利的 | |
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foul
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| adj.污秽的；邪恶的；v.弄脏；妨害；犯规；n.犯规 | |
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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partially
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| adv.部分地，从某些方面讲 | |
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egress
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| n.出去；出口 | |
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perpendicular
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| adj.垂直的，直立的；n.垂直线，垂直的位置 | |
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geographical
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| adj.地理的；地区(性)的 | |
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configuration
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| n.结构，布局，形态，(计算机)配置 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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vacancy
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| n.（旅馆的）空位，空房，（职务的）空缺 | |
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curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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aloof
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| adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的 | |
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51
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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extremity
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| n.末端，尽头；尽力；终极；极度 | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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56
divest
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| v.脱去，剥除 | |
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57
fathoms
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| 英寻( fathom的名词复数 ) | |
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58
latitude
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| n.纬度，行动或言论的自由(范围)，(pl.)地区 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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