A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15 (of 18) by Robert Kerr

R >> Robert Kerr >> A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 15 (of 18)

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50

[Footnote 34: See the Statutes at Large, 18 George II. chap. 17.]

"And whereas ships employed, both in the Spitzbergen Seas, and in
Davis's Straits, have frequent opportunities of approaching the North
Pole, though they have not time, during the course of one summer, to
penetrate into the Pacific Ocean; and whereas such approaches may
greatly tend to the discovery of a communication between the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans, as well as be attended with many advantages to
commerce and science, &c. be it enacted, That if any ship shall approach
to within 1 deg. of the North Pole, the owner, &c. or commander, &c. so
approaching, shall receive, as a reward for such first approach, the sum
of five thousand pounds."[35]

[Footnote 35: See the Statutes at Large, 1776, 16 George III. chap. 6.]

That nothing might be omitted that could facilitate the success of
Captain Cook's expedition, some time before he sailed, in the beginning
of the summer of 1776, Lieutenant Pickersgill, appointed commander of
his majesty's armed brig the Lion, was ordered "to proceed to Davis's
Straits, for the protection of the British whale fishers;" and that
first object being secured, "he was then required and directed to
proceed up Baffin's Bay, and explore the coasts thereof, as far as in
his judgment the same could be done without apparent risk, taking care
to leave the above-mentioned bay so timely as to secure his return to
England in the fall of the year;" and it was farther enjoined to him,
"to make nautical remarks of every kind, and to employ Mr Lane (master
of the vessel under his command) in surveying, making charts, and taking
views of the several bays, harbours, and different parts of the coast
which he might visit, and in making such notations thereon as might be
useful to geography and navigation."[36]

[Footnote 36: From his MS. Instructions, dated May 14, 1776.]

Pickersgill, we see, was not to attempt the discovery of the passage. He
was directed to explore the coasts of Baffin's Bay, only to enable him
to bring back, the same year, some information, which might be an useful
direction toward planning an intended voyage into that bay the ensuing
summer, to try for the discovery of a passage on that side, with a view
to co-operate with Captain Cook; who, it was supposed, (from the tenor
of his instructions,) would be trying for this passage, about the same
time, from the opposite side of America.

Pickersgill, obeying his instructions, at least in this instance, did
return that year, but there were sufficient reasons for not sending him
out again, and the command of the next expedition into Baffin's Bay was
conferred on Lieutenant Young; whose instructions, having an immediate
connection with our voyage, are here inserted.

* * * * *

_Extract of Instructions to Lieutenant Young, commanding the Lion Armed
Vessel, dated 13th March, 1777_.

Resolution.} Whereas, in pursuance of the king's pleasure,
Discovery } signified to us by the Earl of Sandwich, his
majesty's sloops named in the margin have been sent out under the
command of Captain Cook, in order, during this and the ensuing year, to
attempt a discovery of a northern passage, by sea, from the Pacific to
the Atlantic ocean; and, for that purpose, to run up as high as the
latitude of 65 deg. N., where it is hoped he will be able to arrive in the
month of June next; and there, and as much further to the northward as
in his prudence he shall think proper, very carefully to search for and
explore such rivers, or inlets, as may appear to be of a considerable
extent, and pointing to Hudson's or Baffin's Bays, or the north sea;
and, upon finding any passage through, sufficient for the purposes of
navigation, to attempt such passage with one or both of the sloops; or,
if they are judged to be too large, with smaller vessels, the frames of
which have been sent out with him for that purpose: And whereas, in
pursuance of his majesty's further pleasure, signified as aforesaid, the
armed vessel under your command hath been fitted in order to proceed to
Baffin's Bay, with a view to explore the western parts thereof, and to
endeavour to find a passage on that side, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific ocean, and we have thought fit to intrust you with the conduct
of that voyage; you are therefore hereby required and directed to put to
sea in the said armed vessel, without a moment's loss of time, and make
the best of your way into Baffin's Bay, and to use your best endeavours
to explore the western shores thereof, as far as in your judgment the
same can be done, without apparent risk, and to examine such
considerable rivers or inlets as you may discover; and in case you find
any, through which there may be a probability of passing into the
Pacific ocean, you are to attempt such passage; and if you succeed in
the attempt, and shall be able to repass it again, so as to return to
England this year, you are to make the best of your way to Spithead, or
the Nore, and remain there until you receive further order; sending us
an account of your arrival and proceedings. But if you shall succeed in
the attempt, and shall find the season too far advanced for you to
return the same way, you are then to look out for the most convenient
place to winter in, and to endeavour to return by the said passage as
early in the next year as the season will admit, and then to make the
best of your way to England, as above directed.

In case, however, you should not find, or should be satisfied there is
not any probability of finding any such passage, or, finding it, you
should not be able to get through in the vessel you command, you are
then to return to England, as before-mentioned, unless you shall find
any branch of the sea leading to the westward which you shall judge
likely to afford a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific
oceans, and which you shall not be able to explore in the course of this
year, it being, in that case, left to your discretion to stay the winter
in the most commodious situation you can find, in order to pursue the
discovery next year, if you shall find it advisable so to do; and,
having discovered such passage, or not succeeded in the attempt, you are
to make the best of your way to England, as above directed.

* * * * *

It was natural to hope, that something would have been done in one or
other, or in both these voyages of the Lion, that might have opened our
views with regard to the practicability of a passage from this side of
America. But, unfortunately, the execution did not answer the
expectations conceived. Pickersgill, who had acquired professional
experience when acting under Captain Cook, justly merited the censure he
received, for improper behaviour when intrusted with command in Davis's
Strait; and the talents of Young, as it afterward appeared, were more
adapted to contribute to the glory of a victory, as commander of a line
of battle-ship, than to add to geographical discoveries, by encountering
mountains of ice, and exploring unknown coasts.[37]

[Footnote 37: In the Philosophical Transactions, vol. lxviii. p, 1057,
we have the track of Pickersgill's voyage, which, probably, may be of
use to our Greenland ships, as it contains many observations for fixing
the longitude and latitude of the coasts in Davis's Strait. But it
appears that he never entered Baffin's Bay, the highest northern
latitude to which he advanced being 68 deg. 14'. As to Young's proceedings,
having failed absolutely in making any discovery, it is of less
consequence, that no communication of his journal could be
procured.--D.]

Both Pickersgill and Young having been ordered to proceed into Baffin's
Bay; and Captain Cook being directed not to begin his search till he
should arrive in the latitude of 65 deg., it may not be improper to say
something here of the reasons which weighed with those who planned the
voyages, and framed the instructions, to carry their views so far
northward, as the proper situation, where the passage, if it existed at
all, was likely to be attempted with success. It may be asked, why was
Hudson's Bay neglected on our side of America; and why was not Captain
Cook ordered to begin his search on its opposite side, in much lower
latitudes? particularly, why not explore the strait leading into the
western sea of John de Fuca, between the latitudes of 47 deg. and 48 deg.; the
Archipelago of St Lazarus of Admiral de Fonte, between 50 deg. and 55 deg.; and
the rivers and lakes through which he found a passage north-eastward,
till he met with a ship from Boston?

As to the pretended discoveries of de Fuca, the Greek pilot, or of de
Fonte, the Spanish admiral, though they have sometimes found their way
into fictitious maps, or have been warmly contended for by the espousers
of fanciful systems, to have directed Captain Cook to spend any time in
tracing them, would have been as wise a measure as if he had been
directed to trace the situation of Lilliput or Brobdignag. The latter
are, indeed, confessedly, mere objects of imagination; and the former,
destitute of any sufficient external evidence, bear so many striking
marks of internal absurdity, as warrant our pronouncing them to be the
fabric of imposture. Captain Cook's instructions were founded on an
accurate knowledge of what had been already done, and of what still
remained to do; and this knowledge pointed out the inutility of
beginning his search for a passage till his arrival in the latitude of
65 deg.. Of this every fair and capable enquirer will be abundantly
convinced, by an attention to the following particulars:

Middleton, who commanded the expedition in 1741 and 1742, into Hudson's
Bay, had proceeded farther north than any of his predecessors in that
navigation. But though, from his former acquaintance with that bay, to
which he had frequently sailed in the service of the company, he had
entertained hopes of finding out a passage through it into the Pacific
Ocean, the observations which he was now enabled to make, induced him to
change his opinion; and, on his return to England, he made an
unfavourable report. Mr Dobbs, the patron of the enterprise, did not
acquiesce in this; and, fortified in his original idea of the
practicability of the passage, by the testimony of some of Middleton's
officers, he appealed to the public, accusing him of having
misrepresented facts, and of having, from interested motives, in concert
with the Hudson's Bay Company, decided against the practicability of the
passage, though the discoveries of his own voyage had put it within his
reach.

He had, between the latitude of 65 deg. and 66 deg., found a very considerable
inlet running westward, into which he entered with his ships; and,
"after repeated trials of the tides, and endeavours to discover the
nature and course of the opening, for three weeks successively, he found
the flood constantly to come from the eastward, and that it was a large
river he had got into," to which he gave the name of Wager River."[38]

[Footnote 38: See the Abstract of his Journal, published by Mr Dobbs.]

The accuracy, or rather the fidelity, of this report, was denied by Mr
Dobbs, who contended that this opening _is a strait, and not a
fresh-water river_; and that Middleton, if he had examined it properly,
would have found a passage through it to the western American Ocean. The
failure of this voyage, therefore, only served to furnish our zealous
advocate for the discovery, with new arguments for attempting it once
more; and he had the good fortune, after getting the reward of twenty
thousand pounds established by act of parliament, to prevail upon a
society of gentlemen and merchants to fit out the Dobbs and California;
which ships, it was hoped, would be able to find their way into the
Pacific Ocean, by the very opening which Middleton's Voyage had pointed
out, and which he was believed to have misrepresented.

This renovation of hope only produced fresh disappointment For it is
well known, that the voyage of the Dobbs and California, instead of
confuting, strongly confirmed all that Middleton had asserted. The
supposed strait was found to be nothing more than a fresh-water river,
and its utmost western navigable boundaries were now ascertained, by
accurate examination. But though Wager's Strait had thus disappointed
our hopes, as had also done Rankin's Inlet, which was now found to be a
close bay; and though other arguments, founded on the supposed course of
the tides in Hudson's Bay, appeared to be groundless, such is our
attachment to an opinion once adopted, that, even after the unsuccessful
issue of the voyage of the Dobbs and California, a passage through some
other place in that bay was, by many, considered as attainable; and,
particularly, Chesterfield's (formerly: called Bowden's) Inlet, lying
between latitude 65 deg. and 64 deg., succeeded Wager's Strait, in the sanguine
expectations of those who remained unconvinced by former
disappointments. Mr Ellis, who was on board the Dobbs, and who wrote the
history of the voyage, holds up this, as one of the places where the
passage may be sought for, upon very rational grounds, and with very
good effects.[39] He also mentions Repulse Bay, nearly in latitude 67 deg.;
but as to this he speaks less confidently; only saying, that by an
attempt there, we might probably approach nearer to the discovery.[40]
He had good reason for thus guarding his expression; for the committee,
who directed this voyage, admitting the impracticability of effecting a
passage at Repulse Bay, had refused allowing the ships to go into it,
being satisfied as to that place.[41]

[Footnote 39: Ellis's Voyage, p. 328.]

[Footnote 40: Ibid, p. 330.]

[Footnote 41: Account of the voyage, by the clerk of the California,
vol. ii. p. 273. Mr Dobbs himself says, "That he thought the passage
would be impracticable, or, at least, very difficult, in case there was
one farther north than 67 deg.."--_Account of Hudson's Bay_, p. 99.--D.]

Setting Repulse Bay, therefore, aside, within which we have no reason
for believing that any inlet exists, there did not remain any part of
Hudson's Bay to be searched, but Chesterfield's Inlet, and a small tract
of coast between the latitude 62 deg., and what is called the South Point of
Main, which had been left unexplored by the Dobbs and California.

But this last gleam of hope has now disappeared. The aversion of the
Hudson's Bay Company to contribute any thing to the discovery of a
north-west passage had been loudly reported by Mr Dobbs; and the public
seemed to believe that the charge was well founded. But still, in
justice to them, it must be allowed, that in 1720, they had sent Messrs
Knight and Barlow, in a sloop on this very discovery; but these
unfortunate people were never more heard of. Mr Scroggs, who sailed in
search of them, in 1722, only brought back proofs of their shipwreck,
but no fresh intelligence about a passage, which he was also to look
for. They also sent a sloop, and a shallop, to try for this discovery,
in 1787; but to no purpose. If obstructions were thrown in the way of
Captain Middleton, and of the commanders of the Dobbs and California,
the governor and committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, since that time,
we must acknowledge, have made amends for the narrow prejudices, of
their predecessors; and we have it in our power to appeal to facts,
which abundantly testify, that every thing has been done by them, that
could be required by the public, toward perfecting the search for a
north-west passage.

In the year 1761, Captain Christopher sailed from Fort Churchill, in the
sloop Churchill; and his voyage was not quite fruitless; for he sailed
up Chesterfield's Inlet, through which a passage had, by Mr Ellis's
account of it, been so generally expected. But when the water turned
brackish, which marked that he was not in a strait, but in a river, he
returned.

To leave no room for a variety of opinion, however, he was ordered to
repeat the voyage the ensuing summer, in the same sloop, and Mr Norton,
in a cutter, was appointed to attend him. By the favour of the governor
and committee of the company, the journals of Captain Christopher, and
of Mr Norton, and Captain Christopher's chart of the inlet, have been
readily communicated. From these authentic documents, it appears that
the search and examination of Chesterfield's Inlet was now completed. It
was found to end in a fresh-water lake, at the distance of about one
hundred and seventy miles from the sea. This lake was found also to be
about twenty-one leagues long, and from five to ten broad, and to be
completely closed up on every side, except to the west, where there was
a little rivulet; to survey the state of which, Mr Norton and the crew
of the cutter having landed, and marched up the country, saw that it
soon terminated in three falls, one above another, and not water for a
small boat over them; and ridges, mostly dry from side to side, for
five, or six miles higher.

Thus ends Chesterfield's Inlet, and all Mr Ellis's expectations of a
passage through it to the western ocean. The other parts of the coast,
from latitude 62 deg., to the South Point of Main, within which limits hopes
were also entertained of finding a passage, have, of late years, been
thoroughly explored. It is here that Pistol Bay is situated; which the
author who has writ last in this country, on the probability of a
north-west passage,[42] speaks of as the only remaining part of Hudson's
Bay where this western communication may exist. But this has been also
examined; and, on the authority of Captain Christopher, we can assure
the reader, that there is no inlet of any consequence in all that part
of the coast. Nay, he has, in an open boat, sailed round the bottom of
what is called Pistol Bay, and, in stead of a passage to a western sea,
found it does not run above three or four miles inland.

[Footnote 42: Printed for Jeffreys, in 1768. His words are, "There
remains then to be searched for the discovery of a passage, the opening
called Pistol Bay, in Hudson's Bay," p. 122--D]

Besides these voyages by sea, which satisfy us that we must not look for
a passage to the south of 67 deg. of latitude, we are indebted to the
Hudson's Bay Company for a journey by land, which has thrown much
additional light on this matter, by affording what may be called
demonstration, how much farther north, at least in some part of their
voyage, ships must hold their course, before they can pass from one side
of America to the other. The northern Indians, who come down to the
company's forts for trade, had brought to the knowledge of our people,
the existence of a river, which, from copper abounding near it, had got
the name of the Copper-mine River. We read much about this river in Mr
Dobbs's publications, and he considers the Indian accounts of it as
favourable to his system. The company being desirous of examining the
matter with precision, instructed their governor of Prince of Wales's
Fort, to send a proper person to travel by land, under the escort of
some trusty northern Indians, with orders to proceed to this famous
river, to take an accurate survey of its course, and to trace it to the
sea, into which it empties itself. Mr Hearne, a young gentleman in their
service, who, having been an officer in the navy, was well qualified to
make observations for fixing the longitude and latitude, and make
drawings of the country he should pass through, and of the river which
he was to examine, was appointed for this service.

Accordingly, he set out from Fort Prince of Wales, on Churchill River,
in latitude 58 deg. 50', on the 7th of December, 1770; and the whole of his
proceedings, from time to time, are faithfully preserved in his journal.
The publication of this is an acceptable present to the world, as it
draws a plain artless picture of the savage modes of life, the scanty
means of subsistence, and indeed of the singular wretchedness, in every
respect, of the various tribes, who, without fixed habitations, pass
their miserable lives, roving throughout the dreary deserts, and over
the frozen lakes of the immense tract of continent through which Mr
Hearne passed, and which he may be said to have added to the geography
of the globe. His general course was to the northwest. In the month of
June 1771, being then at a place called _Conge catha wha Chaga_, he had,
to use his own words, two good observations, both by meridian and double
altitudes, the mean of which determines this place to be in latitude 66 deg.
46' N., and, by account, in longitude 24 deg. 2' W. of Churchill River. On
the 13th of July (having left _Conge catha wha Chaga_ on the 3d, and
travelling still to the west of north) he reached the Copper-mine River;
and was not a little surprised to find it differ so much from the
descriptions given of it by the natives at the fort; for, instead of
being likely to be navigable for a ship, it is, at this part, scarcely
navigable for an Indian canoe; three falls being in sight, at one view,
and being choaked up with shoals and stony ridges.

Here Mr Hearne began his survey of the river. This he continued till he
arrived at its mouth, near which his northern Indians massacred
twenty-one Esquimaux, whom they surprised in their tents. We shall give
Mr Hearne's account of his arrival at the sea, in his own words: "After
the Indians had plundered the tents of the Esquimaux of all the copper,
&c. they were then again ready to assist me in making an end to the
survey; the sea then in sight from the N.W. by W. to the N.E., distant
about eight miles. It was then about five in the morning of the 17th,
when I again proceeded to survey the river to the mouth, still found, in
every respect, no ways likely, or a possibility of being made navigable,
being full of shoals and falls; and, at the entrance, the river emptying
itself over a dry flat of the shore. For the tide was then out, and
seemed, by the edges of the ice, to flow about twelve or fourteen feet,
which will only reach a little within the river's mouth. That being the
case, the water in the river had not the least brackish taste. But I am
sure of its being the sea, or some part thereof, by the quantity of
whale-bone and seal-skins the Esquimaux had at their tents; as also the
number of seals which I saw upon the ice. The sea, at the river's mouth,
was full of islands and shoals, as far as I could see, by the assistance
of a pocket-telescope; and the ice was not yet broken up, only thawed
away about three quarters of a mile from the snore, and a little way
round the islands and shoals.

"By the time I had completed this survey, it was about one in the
morning of the 18th; but in these high latitudes, and this time of the
year, the sun is always a good height above the horizon. It then came on
a thick drizzling rain, with a thick fog; and, as finding the river and
sea, in every respect, not likely to be of any utility, I did not think
it worth while to wait for fair weather, to determine the latitude
exactly by an observation. But, by the extraordinary care I took in
observing the courses and distances, walked from _Conge catha wha
Chaga_, where I had two good observations, the latitude may be depended
on, within twenty miles at farthest."

From the map which Mr Hearne constructed of the country through which he
passed, in this singular journey, it appears that the mouth of the
Copper-mine River lies in the latitude 72 deg., and above 25 deg. west longitude
from the fort, from whence he took his departure.[43]

[Footnote 43: Mr Hearne's journey, back from the Copper-mine River, to
Fort Prince of Wales, lasted till June 30, 1772. From his first setting
out till his return, he had employed near a year and seven months. The
unparalleled hardships he suffered, and the essential service he
performed, met with a suitable reward from his masters, and he was made
governor of Fort Prince of Wales, where he was taken prisoner by the
French in 1782; but soon afterwards returned to his station."--D.

This opportunity is taken to mention, that Mr Arrowsmith lays down
Copper-mine River in longitude 113 deg., and not in 120 deg., according to Mr
Hearne. In the opinion of Mr H. this river flows into an inland sea. Be
this as it may, the result of his discoveries is unfavourable to the
supposition of there being a north-west passage, Mr Hearne's journal was
not published till 1795, considerably after the date of Dr Douglas's
writing. Some alterations have consequently been made on the text and
notes of that gentleman.--E.]

The consequences resulting from this extensive discovery, are obvious.
We now see that the continent of North America stretches from Hudson's
Bay so far to the north-west, that Mr Hearne had travelled near thirteen
hundred miles before he arrived at the sea. His most western distance
from the coast of Hudson's Bay was near six hundred miles; and that his
Indian guides were well apprised of a vast tract of continent stretching
farther on in that direction, is certain from many circumstances
mentioned in his journal.