Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849 by William O. S. Gilly

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'At night, just as the people were going to rest, the ice began to
move to the southward, and soon after came in towards the shore, again
endangering the Fury's rudder, and pressing her over on her side to so
alarming a degree, as to warn us that it would not be safe to lighten
her much more in her present insecure situation.

'One of our bergs also shifted its position by this pressure, so as to
weaken our confidence in the pier heads of our intended basin; and a
long 'tongue' of one of them, forcing itself under the Hecla's
fore-foot, while the drift-ice was also pressing her forcibly from
astern, she once more sewed three or four feet forward at low water,
and continued to do so, notwithstanding repeated endeavours to haul
her off, for four successive tides, the ice remaining so close, and so
much doubled under the ship, as to render it impossible to move her a
single inch.

'Notwithstanding the state of the ice, however, we did not remain idle
on the 8th, all hands being employed in unrigging the Fury, and
landing all her spars, sails, booms, boats, and other top weight.

'The ice still continuing very close on the 9th, all hands were
employed in attempting, by saws and axes, to clear the Hecla, which
still grounded on the tongue of ice every tide. After four hours'
labour, they succeeded in making four or five feet of room astern,
when the ship suddenly slided down off the tongue with considerable
force, and became once more afloat. We then got on shore the Hecla's
cables and hawsers for the accommodation of the Fury's men in our
tiers during the heaving down; struck our topmasts, which would be
required as shores and outriggers; and, in short, continued to occupy
every individual in some preparation or other.

'These being entirely completed at an early hour in the afternoon, we
ventured to go on with the landing of the coals and provisions from
the Fury, preferring to run the risk which would thus be incurred, to
the loss of even a few hours in the accomplishment of our present
object. As it very opportunely happened, however, the external ice
slackened to the distance of about a hundred yards outside of us, on
the morning of the 10th, enabling us by a most tedious and laborious
operation, to clear the ice out of our basin piece by piece. The
difficulty of this apparently simple process consisted in the heavy
pressure having repeatedly doubled one mass under another, a position
in which it requires great power to move them, and also by the corners
locking in with the sides of the bergs.

'Our next business was to tighten the cables sufficiently by means of
purchases, and to finish the floating of them in the manner and for
the purpose before described. After this had been completed, the ships
had only a few feet in length, and nothing in breadth to spare, but we
had now great hopes of going on with our work with increased
confidence and security. The Fury, which was placed inside, had
something less than eighteen feet at low water; the Hecla lay in four
fathoms, the bottom being strewed with large and small fragments of
limestone.

'While thus employed in securing the ships, the smoothness of the
water enabled us to see, in some degree, the nature of the Fury's
damage; and it may be conceived how much pain it occasioned us,
plainly to discover that both the stern-post and fore-foot were broken
and turned up on one side with the pressure. We could also perceive,
as far as we were able to see along the main-keel, that it was much
torn, and we had therefore reason to conclude that the damage would
altogether prove very serious. We also discovered that several feet of
the Hecla's false keel were torn away abreast of the fore chains, in
consequence of her grounding forward so frequently.

'The ships being now as well secured as our means permitted from the
immediate danger of ice, the clearing of the Fury went on with
increased confidence, though greater alacrity was impossible, for
nothing could exceed the spirit and zealous activity of every
individual, and as things had turned out, the ice had not obliged us
to wait a moment except at the actual times of its pressure. Being
favoured with fine weather, we continued our work very quickly, so
that on the 12th every cask was landed, and also the powder; and the
spare sails and clothing put on board the Hecla.

'On the 13th, we found that a mass of heavy ice which had been aground
with the Fury, had now floated alongside of her at high water, still
further contracting her already narrow basin, and leaving the ship no
room for turning round. At the next high water, therefore, we got a
purchase on it, and hove it out of the way, so that at night it
drifted off altogether.

'The coals and preserved meats were the principal things now remaining
on board the Fury, and these we continued landing by every method we
could devise as the most expeditious. The tide rose so considerably at
night, new moon occurring within an hour of high water, that we were
much afraid of our bergs floating; they remained firm, however, even
though the ice came in with so much force as to break one of our
hand-masts, a fir spar of twelve inches in diameter. As the high
tides, and the lightening of the Fury, now gave us sufficient depth
of water for unshipping the rudders, we did so, and laid them upon the
small berg astern of us, for fear of their being damaged by any
pressure of the ice.

'Early on the morning of the 14th, the ice slackening a little in our
neighbourhood, we took advantage of it, though the people were much
fagged, to tighten the cables, which had stretched and yielded
considerably by the late pressure. It was well that we did so, for in
the course of this day we were several times interrupted in our work
by the ice coming with a tremendous strain on the north cables, the
wind blowing strong from the N.N.W., and the whole 'pack' outside of
us setting rapidly to the southward. Indeed, notwithstanding the
recent tightening and re-adjustment of the cables, the bight was
pressed in so much, as to force the Fury against the berg astern of
her, twice in the course of the day. Mr. Waller, who was in the hold
the second time that this occurred, reported that the coals about the
keelson were moved by it, imparting the sensation of part of the
ship's bottom falling down; and one of the men at work there was so
strongly impressed with that belief, that he thought it high time to
make a spring for the hatchway. From this circumstance, it seemed more
probable that the main keel had received some serious damage near the
middle of the ship.

'From this trial of the efficacy of our means of security, it was
plain that the Fury could not possibly be hove down under
circumstances of such frequent and imminent risk. I therefore directed
a fourth anchor, with two additional cables, to be disposed, with the
hope of breaking some of the force of the ice, by its offering a more
oblique resistance than the other, and thus by degrees turning the
direction of the pressure from the ships. We had scarcely completed
this new defence, when the largest floe we had seen since leaving
Port Bowen came sweeping along the shore, having a motion to the
southward of not less than a mile and a half an hour, threatened to
overturn it, and would certainly have dislodged it from its situation
but from the cable recently attached to it.

'A second similar occurrence took place with a smaller mass of ice
about midnight, and near the top of an unusually high spring tide,
which seemed ready to float away every security from us. For three
hours about the time of this high water, our situation was a most
critical one, for had the bergs, or, indeed, any one of them, been
carried away or broken, both ships must inevitably have been driven on
shore by the very next mass of ice that should come in. Happily,
however, they did not suffer any further material disturbance, and the
main body keeping at a short distance from the land until the tide had
fallen, the bergs seemed to be once more firmly resting on the ground.
The only mischief, therefore, occasioned by this disturbance was the
slackening of our cables by the alteration in the position of the
several grounded masses, and the consequent necessity of employing
more time, which nothing but absolute necessity could induce us to
bestow, in adjusting and tightening the whole of them afresh.

'The wind veering to the W.N.W. on the morning of the 15th, and still
continuing to blow strong, the ice was forced three or four miles off
the land in the course of a few hours, leaving us a quiet day for
continuing our work, but exciting no very pleasant sensations, when we
considered what progress we might have been making had we been at
liberty to pursue our object.

'The land was indeed so clear of ice to the southward, that Dr. Neill,
who walked a considerable distance in that direction, could see
nothing but an open channel in shore to the utmost extent of his view.
We took advantage of this open water to send the launch for the
Fury's ironwork, left at the former station; for though the few men
thus employed could very ill be spared, we were obliged to arrange
everything with reference to the ultimate saving of time; and it would
have occupied both ships' companies more than a whole day to carry the
things round by land.

'The Fury being completely cleared at an early hour on the 16th, we
were all busily employed in 'winding' the ship, and in preparing the
outriggers, shores, purchases, and additional rigging. Though we
purposely selected the time of high water for turning the ship round,
we had scarcely a foot of space for doing it, and indeed, as it was,
her fore-foot touched the ground; and loosened the broken part of the
wood so much as to enable us to pull it up with ropes, when we found
the fragments to consist of the whole of the gripe, and most of the
'cutwater.' The strong breeze continuing, and the sea rising as the
open water increased in extent, our bergs were sadly washed and
wasted; every hour producing a sensible and serious diminution in
their bulk. As, however, the main body of ice still kept off, we were
in hopes, now that our preparations were so near completed, we should
have been enabled in a few hours to see the extent of the damage, and
repair it sufficiently to allow us to proceed.

'In the evening we received the Fury's crew on board the Hecla, every
arrangement and regulation having been previously made for their
personal comfort, and for the preservation of cleanliness,
ventilation, and dry warmth throughout the ship. The officers of the
Fury, by their own choice, pitched a tent on shore for messing and
sleeping in, as our accommodation for two sets of officers was
necessarily confined. On the 17th, when every preparation was
completed, the cables were found again so slack, by the wasting of
the bergs, in consequence of the continued sea, and possibly also in
part by the masses being moved somewhat in shore, that we were obliged
to occupy several hours in putting them to rights, as we should soon
require all our strength at the purchases. One berg also had, at the
last low water, fallen over on its side, in consequence of its
substance being undermined by the sea, and the cable surrounding it
was thus forced so low under water as no longer to afford protection
from the ice should it again come in. In tightening the cables, we
found it to have the effect of bringing the bergs in towards the
shore, still further contracting our narrow basin; but anything was
better than suffering them to go adrift.

'This work being finished at ten P.M., the people were allowed three
hours' rest only, it being necessary to heave the ship down at, or
near, high water, as there was not sufficient depth to allow her to
take her distance at any other time of tide. Every preparation being
made, at three A.M., on the 18th, we began to heave her down on the
larboard side; but when the purchases were nearly a-block, we found
that the strops under the Hecla's bottom, as well as some of the
Fury's shore-fasts, had stretched or yielded so much, that they could
bring the keel out of water within three or four feet. We immediately
eased her up again, and re-adjusted everything as requisite, hauling
her further in shore than before by keeping a considerable keel upon
her, so as to make less depth of water necessary; and we were then in
the act of once more heaving her down, when a snow storm came on, and
blew with such violence off the land, as to raise a considerable sea.
The ships had now so much motion as to strain the gear very much, and
even to make the lower mast of the Fury bend in spite of the shores.
We were, therefore, most unwillingly compelled to desist until the
sea should go down, keeping everything ready to recommence the instant
we could possibly do so with safety. The officers and men were now
literally so harassed and fatigued as to be scarcely capable of
further exertion without some rest; and on this and one or two other
occasions, I noticed more than a single instance of stupor amounting
to a certain degree of failure in intellect, rendering the individual
so affected quite unable at first to comprehend the meaning of an
order, though still as willing as ever to obey it. It was, therefore,
perhaps, a fortunate necessity which produced the intermission of
labour which the strength of every individual seemed to require.

'The gale rather increasing than otherwise, during the whole day and
night of the 18th, had, on the following morning, when the wind and
sea still continued unabated, so destroyed the bergs on which our sole
dependence was placed, that they no longer remained aground at low
water; the cables had again become slack about them, and the basin we
had taken so much pains in forming had now lost all its defences, at
least during a portion of every tide. It will be plain, too, if I have
succeeded in giving a distinct description of our situation, that
independently of the security of the ships, there was now nothing left
to seaward by which the Hecla could be held out in that direction
while heaving the Fury down, so that our preparations in this way were
no longer available.

'After a night of most anxious consideration and consultation with
Captain Hoppner, who was now my mess-mate in the Hecla, it appeared
but too plain that, should the ice again come in, neither ship could
any longer be secured from driving on shore. It was therefore
determined instantly to prepare the Hecla for sea, making her
thoroughly effective in every respect; so that we might at least push
her out into comparative safety among the ice, when it closed again,
taking every person on board her; securing the Fury in the best manner
we could, and returning to her the instant we were able to do so, to
endeavour to get her out, and to carry her to some place of security
for heaving down. If, after the Hecla was ready, time should still be
allowed us, it was proposed immediately to put into the Fury all that
was requisite, or at least as much as she could safely carry, and
towing her out into the ice, to try the effect of 'foldering' the
leaks, by sails under those parts of her keel which we knew to be
damaged, until some more effectual means could be resorted to.

'Having communicated to the assembled officers and ships' companies my
views and intentions, and moreover given them to understand that I
hoped to see the Hecla's top-gallant yards across before we slept, we
commenced our work, and such was the hearty good-will and
indefatigable energy with which it was carried on, that by midnight
the whole was accomplished, and a bower-anchor and cable carried out
in the offing, for the double purpose of hauling out the Hecla when
requisite, and as some security to the Fury if we were obliged to
leave her. The people were once more quite exhausted by these
exertions, especially those belonging to the Fury, who had never
thoroughly recovered their first fatigues. The ice being barely in
sight, we were enabled to enjoy seven hours of undisturbed rest; but
the wind becoming light, and afterwards shifting to the N.N.E., we had
reason to expect the ice would soon close the shore, and were,
therefore, most anxious to continue our work.

'On the 20th, therefore, the re-loading of the Fury commenced with
recruited strength and spirits, such articles being in the first place
selected for putting on board as were essentially requisite for her
re-equipment; for it was my full determination, could we succeed in
completing this, not to wait even for rigging a topmast, or getting a
lower yard up, in the event of the ice coming in, but to tow her out
among the ice, and there put everything sufficiently to rights for
carrying her to someplace of security. At the same time, the end of
the sea-cable was taken on board the Fury, by way of offering some
resistance to the ice, which was now more plainly seen, though still
about five miles distant. A few hands were also spared, consisting
chiefly of two or three convalescents and some of the officers, to
thrum a sail for putting under the Fury's keel; for we were very
anxious to relieve the men at the pumps, which constantly required the
labour of eight to twelve hands to keep her free. In the course of the
day several heavy masses of ice came drifting by with a breeze from
the north-east, which is here about two points upon the land, and made
a considerable swell. One mass came in contact with our bergs, which,
though only held by the cables, brought it up in time to prevent
mischief. By a long and hard day's labour, the people not going to
rest till two o'clock on the morning of the 21st, we got about fifty
tons weight of coals and provisions on board the Fury, which, in case
of necessity, we considered sufficient to give her stability.

'While we were thus employed, the ice, though evidently inclined to
come in, did not approach us much; and it may be conceived with what
anxiety we longed to be allowed one more day's labour, on which the
ultimate saving of the ship might almost be considered as depending.
Having hauled the ships out a little from the shore, and prepared the
Hecla for casting by a spring at a moment's notice, all the people
except those at the pumps were sent to rest, which, however, they had
not enjoyed for two hours, when, at four A.M. on the 21st, another
heavy mass coming violently in contact with the bergs and cables,
threatened to sweep away every remaining security. Our situation, with
this additional strain,--the mass which had disturbed us fixing itself
upon the weather-cable, and an increasing wind and swell setting
considerably on the shore,--became more and more precarious; and
indeed, under circumstances as critical as can well be imagined,
nothing but the urgency and importance of the object we had in
view--that of saving the Fury, if she was to be saved--could have
prevented my making sail, and keeping the Hecla under way till matters
mended. More hawsers were run out, however, and enabled us still to
hold out: and after six hours of disturbed rest, all hands were again
set to work to get the Fury's anchors, cables, rudder, and spars on
board, these things being absolutely necessary for her equipment,
should we be able to get her out. At two P.M. the crews were called on
board to dinner, which they had not finished, when several not very
large masses of ice drove along the shore near us at a quick rate, and
two or three successively coming in violent contact either with the
Hecla or the bergs to which she was attached, convinced me that very
little additional pressure would tear everything away, and drive both
ships on shore. I saw that the moment had arrived when the Hecla could
no longer be kept in her present situation with the smallest chance of
safety, and therefore immediately got under sail, despatching Captain
Hoppner, with every individual, except a few for working the ship, to
continue getting the things on board the Fury, while the Hecla stood
off and on. It was a quarter-past three P.M. when we cast off, the
wind then blowing fresh from the north-east, or about two points on
the land, which caused some surf on the beach. Captain Hoppner had
scarcely been an hour on board the Fury, and was busily engaged in
getting the anchors and cables on board, when we observed some large
pieces of not very heavy ice closing in with the land near her; and at
twenty minutes after the Hecla had cast off, I was informed, by
signal, that the Fury was on shore. Making a tack in shore, but not
being able, even under a press of canvass, to get very near her, owing
to a strong southerly current which prevailed within a mile or two of
the land, I perceived that she had been apparently driven up the beach
by two or three of the grounded masses forcing her onwards before
them, and these, as well as the ship, seemed now so firmly aground,
as entirely to block her in on the seaward side. We also observed that
the bergs outside of her had been torn away, and set adrift by the
ice. As the navigating of the Hecla with only ten men on board
required constant attention and care, I could not at this time with
propriety leave the ship to go on board the Fury. This, however, I the
less regretted, as Captain Hoppner was thoroughly acquainted with all
my views and intentions, and I felt confident that, under his
direction, nothing would be left undone to endeavour to save the ship.
I, therefore, directed him by telegraph, 'if he thought nothing could
be done at present, to return on board with all hands until the wind
changed;' for this alone, as far as I could see the state of the Fury,
seemed to offer the smallest chance of clearing the shore, so as to
enable us to proceed with our work, or to attempt hauling the ship off
the ground.

'About seven P.M., Captain Hoppner returned to the Hecla, accompanied
by all hands, except an officer with a party at the pumps, reporting
to me that the Fury had been forced aground by the ice pressing on the
masses lying near her, and bringing home, if not breaking, the seaward
anchor, so that the ship was soon found to have swerved from two to
three feet fore and aft. The several masses of ice had, moreover, so
disposed themselves, as almost to surround her on every side where
there was sufficient depth of water for hauling her off. With the ship
thus situated, and masses of heavy ice constantly coming in, it was
Captain Hoppner's decided opinion, as well as that of Lieutenants
Austin and Ross, that to have laid out another anchor to seaward would
have only been to expose it to the same danger as there was reason to
suppose had been incurred with the other, without the most distant
hope of doing any service, especially as the ship had been driven on
shore by a most unfortunate coincidence, just as the tide was
beginning to fall. Indeed, in the present state of the Fury, nothing
short of chopping and sawing up a part of the ice under her stern
could by any possibility have effected her release, even if she had
been already afloat. Under such circumstances, hopeless as, for the
time, every seaman will allow them to have been, Captain Hoppner
judiciously determined to return for the present, as directed by my
telegraphic communication; but being anxious to keep the ship free
from water as long as possible, he left an officer and a small party
of men to continue working at the pumps, so long as a communication
could be kept up between the Hecla and the shore. Every moment,
however, decreased the practicability of doing this; and finding, soon
after Captain Hoppner's return, that the current swept the Hecla a
long way to the southward while hoisting up the boats, and that more
ice was drifting in towards the shore, I was under the painful
necessity of recalling the party at the pumps, rather than incur the
risk, now an inevitable one, of parting company with them altogether.
Accordingly Mr. Bird, with the last of the people, came on board at
eight o'clock in the evening, having left eighteen inches water in
the well, and four pumps being requisite to keep her free. In three
hours after Mr. Bird's return, more than half a mile of closely packed
ice intervened between the Fury and the open water in which we were
beating, and before the morning this barrier had increased to four or
five miles in breadth.

'We carried a press of canvas all night, with a fresh breeze from the
north, to enable us to keep abreast of the Fury, which, on account of
the strong southerly current, we could only do by beating at some
distance from the land. The breadth of the ice inshore continued
increasing during the day, but we could see no end to the water in
which we were beating, either to the southward or eastward. Advantage
was taken of the little leisure now allowed us to let the people mend
and wash their clothes, which they had scarcely had a moment to do for
the last three weeks. We also completed the thrumming of a second sail
for putting under the Fury's keel, whenever we should be enabled to
haul her off the shore. It fell quite calm in the evening, when the
breadth of the ice inshore had increased to six or seven miles. We did
not, during the day, perceive any current setting to the southward,
but in the course of the night we were drifted four or five leagues to
the south-westward, in which situation we had a distinct view of a
large extent of land, which had before been seen for the first time by
some of our gentlemen, who walked from where the Fury lay. This land
trends very much to the westward, a little beyond the Fury Point, the
name by which I have distinguished that headland, near which we had
attempted to heave the Fury down, and which is very near the southern
part of the coast seen in the year 1819. It then sweeps round into a
large bay, formed by a long, low beach, several miles in extent,
afterwards joining higher land, and running in a south-easterly
direction to a point which terminated our view of it in that quarter,
and which bore from us S. 58 deg. W., distant six or seven leagues. This
headland I named Cape Garry, after my worthy friend, Nicholas Garry,
Esq., one of the most active members of the Hudson's Bay Company, and
a gentleman most warmly interested in everything connected with
northern discovery. The whole of the bays which I named after my much
esteemed friend, Francis Cresswell, Esq., as well as the land to the
southward, was free from ice for several miles; and to the southward
and eastward scarcely any was to be seen, while a dark water-sky
indicated a perfectly navigable sea in that direction; but between us
and the Fury there was a compact body of ice eight or nine miles in
breadth. Had we now been at liberty to take advantage of the
favourable prospect before us, I have little doubt we could, without
much difficulty, have made considerable progress.

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