The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 5, 1860.

as they set at rest the long disputed questions of the
existence of animal life at great depths in the ocean.
Several starfish were brought up from the depth of
1,260 fathoms, which had become entangled with the
lower portions of the line, which had lain upon the
bottom. At Reikjavik information was obtained
respecting the Fox, that she had left that port for
Greenland at the end of August. The Bulldog left
Reikjavik on the 28th of October, experiencing on
her homeward voyage a constant succession of foul
wind, with frequent very heavy gales, which retarded
and in some instances completely prevented her
sounding operations. Sir Leopold M'Clintock
carried his line of soundings into the Rockall-bank,
and on the Bth of November obtained bottom in
1,310 fathoms, about mid-channel between it and
the Vidal-bank. The wind still continuing adverse,
and the coal being nearly exhausted, Sir F. L.
M'Clintock was obliged to put into the port of
Killybegs, county of Donegal. The instruments
supplied by the Admiralty for the purpose of
obtaining specimens of the bottom, according to all
accounts, did not answer the expectations formed
of their efficacy ; the valves would not always
close, and the quantity brought stp was
so very limited as to be almost valueless. Several
contrivances were, however, devised during the
cruise, some of which, by means of double scoops,
were capable of bringing up a considerable quantity
of the bottom, and even stones one inch in diameter.
By these contrivances not only were the soundings
rendered more certain, but very often the under-
stratum of the bottom was found to be composed of
entirely different material from that which lay upon
the surface, and which is usually brought up by the
rod or lead in ordinary deep sea soundings. Indeed,
it is not too much to say that until the present
soundings were token by Sir F. L. M'Clintock the
true nature of the bottom of the sea at considerable
depths was hardly understood. It is really a matter
of considerable astonishment to those conversant
with nautical matters that in a succession of such
violent gales, and a season of cold and ice so entirely
exceptional, Sir F. L. M'Clintock and his enter-
prising officers should have prosecuted their arduous
duties with such complete success. The expedition
of the Fox was, as will no doubt be remembered,
fitted out at the expense of the promoters of the
undertaking, and was intended not alone to co-
operate with the Bulldog in the sounding and gene-
ral survey of the seas which intersect the various
stations on the route, but also to fix upon and examine
the precise localities for the landing of the cables,
as well as to explore and fix upon the overland
route through Iceland and Greenland. The expedi-
tion was commanded by Captain Allen Young,
who accompanied M'Clintock in the celebrated
voyage of the Fox in search of the Franklin expedi-
tion. Her cruise, like that of the Bulldog, was in
its main results entirely successful, though her
operations were retarded, and in some measure pre-
vented, by the almost unparalleled succession of
gales which prevailed with but little intermis-
sion from the time of her departure till her return
to England. The Fox sailed from Cowes Roads ou
the 20th of July last, and, after calling in the
Downs, on the following day proceeded through the
North Sea with a fair wind and calm weather. On
the morning of the 24th, when off Whitby, the
moderate breeze changed to a hard gale from the
north—of course, dead ahead—and for the two suc-
ceeding days the Fox could do little but hold
her own against the wind and sea, which ran very
high the whole time. Gales cannot always blow—at
least, so it was thought at that time—so towards
the evening of the 26th the breeze gradually
slackened off and fell a dead calm, which allowed
the little engine again to hasten the Fox towards
her destination. During the 27th the sea was calm,
and the winds, though light, were fair, so that by
the morning of the 28th Aberdeen was reached.
Having remained the whole day off the town,
the Fox finally took her departure in the evening
for the Faroe Isles. On the 29th and 30th the
wind continued still to blow stilly ahead, which
so far retarded the progress of the ship that it was
mid-day on the 31st before the wild and rocky
islands of the Shetland group were passed. For
the two succeeding days the weather was squally,
but the wind was generally sufficiently favourable
to allow the ship to lay her course, " close hauled"
to the wind, so that about twilight (1.0 p.m.) on the
2d of August the lofty precipitous cliffs of the
Faroes were sighted, distant 45 miles. From day-
light on the morning of the 3d a line of soundings
was carried from a distance of 20 or 30 miles out
into Thorshavn, Stromoe Island, the capital of the
Faroe group. The depths were found to vary from
800 to 30 fathoms, with a generally shelly or muddy
bottom, and in every respect most favourable for
the reception of a telegraph cable. On the after-
noon of the following day the Fox again got under
way, steaming through Hestoe Fiord, a wild and
romantic channel, enclosed between the high moun •
tains of Stromoe Island and the lofty basaltic cliffs
of the islands of Nailso, Hestoe, and Coultra, for
Heldervig, on the north side of Stromoe. The wind
increasing to a gale during the afternoon, she again
anchored for the night in the small harbour of West-
manshaven, near the end of the fiord. The weather
continued stormy and wet during that night and
next day, so that it was late in the afternoon of the
sth of August before the Fox could again get under
way. After getting clear of the land, and outside
the fiord, a severe gale of wind again sprung up,
with a heavy sea, both setting the ship dead towards
the stupendous basaltic cliffs, some of which rose
perpendicularly from the sea to a height of 2,000
feet. While beating the ship out of this unpleasant
position, an accident occurred which might have
caused the loss of several of the crew. While the
men were reefing, the foretopsail yard snapped in
the middle, leaving the men clinging to the pieces,
which dashed violently against the mast with
every roll of the ship, threatening momentarily to
fling them off into the sea, from which it would
have been impossible to rescue them. They were
all, however, eventually rescued from their perilous
position ; but five of them were more or less in•
jured. The wind shortly afterwards again fell
light ; but the sea continued to drift the ship into
unpleasant proximity to the cliffs, and it was not
without some difficulty that she succeeded iR round-
ing the north point of Stromoe, and reaching Hel•
nervig Fiord. On the evening of the 6th, the
party under Dr. Rae, who had left the ship at
Thorshavn for the purpose of examining the island
of Stromoe, arrived, and on the afternoon of the
7th, the damages having been repaired, the Fox
started for Iceland, taking a line of soundings from
the mouth of the fiord to about 20 miles out to sea,
the depth varying from about 30 to about 200
fathoms, with a bottom generally of a nature
favourable to submarine lines. On the morning of
the Bth it again blew a strong gale of wind from
the north-east, with a heavy sea, which obliged the
ship to lay until the following morning when the
wind again fell light, but, the swell being heavy,
little distance could be made by aid of the steam.
In the afternoon a sounding was obtained, some-
what to the southward of the proposed line of cable,
in 624 fathoms. The 10th was another day of light
variable winds, during which but little progress
could be made. At midnight, though some consi-
derable distance from land, soundings were ob-
tained in 60 fathoms water. At daylight on the
morning of the 11th, the high and beautiful moun-
tains cf the east coast of Iceland were plainly
visible above the clear horizon, but they were soon
obscured by one of those dense fogs which so fre-
quently prevail in the North Atlantic during the
summer. The ship was consequently obliged to
come to an anchor for the day, under the lofty
headland of Oster Horn. At daylight on the
morning of the 12th of August, the fog having '
again lifted, the Fox got under way '
for Beru Fiord, standing northward along the coast,
which here rises in one beautiful chain of lofty and
rugged volcanic mountains, the dark and barren
sides of which are occasionally relieved by snow-
covered peaks and streams of glacier ice. At noon
the anchor was dropped on the wild, mountainous
inlet of Beru Fiord, close to the factory station of
Beru Fiord. The day was beautifully fine and clear
—a most unusual circumstance on that coast. The
five following days were occupied in sounding and
surveying th fiord and the various inlets and bays,
many of which were found to be most favourable
for the reception of a cable. On the afternoon of the
15th Dr. Rae's party left for the purpose of explor-
ing and laying down the route for the land line across
the island, intending to join the ship again at
Reikjavik. On the evening of the 17th, the sound-
ings and survey being complete, the Fox left Beru
Fiord with a fair wind, and on the morning of the
19th reached the Westmanna Islands, off the south
coast of Iceland, which arc alike of world-wide
celebrity for the rocky nature of their shores and
the millions of sea-birds of all descriptions which
swarm them and the sea around. Having commu-
nicated with the shore, the Fox stood on her way
to Reiljavik, those on board just catching a glimpse
of Hecla, which was partially covered with clouds,
in the distance. Passing the rugged lava streams
of Cape Reikeanesse during the afternoon, the Fox
arrived in Rcikjavik on the Evening of the 20th.
During the succeeding 10 days that the Fox
remained off the " capital" of Iceland, every part of
the neighbouring coast which seemed to afford a
favourable landing-place for a cable was examined
and thoroughly sounded, and several places in every
respect eligible for the reception of the cable were
discovered. On the 29th Dr. Rae and his party
returned,Evehrythiangving successfully accomplished the dif-
ficult journey across the island, a distance of nearly
450 miles, in 14 days.
being now ready for sea, and the delay

having far exceeded what was anticipated, it was
intended to start for Greenland at once, but a very
severe gale from the north east sprang up, and blew
with such violence for two days that the ship had to
be kept steaming at her anchors, and it was not with-
out great exertions that some of the ships in har-
bour were kept from driving on shore. The weather
having moderated, on the afternoon of the 31st the
Fox left Reikjavik for Greenland. On the Ist of
September, being fairly in Faxe Bay, the wind came
dead ahead, and commenced to blow hard, with a
thick fog, so that she could do little else than cruise
backwards from Snafells Nefs to the opposite side
of the bay, scarcely making a mile towards her des-
tination. This unfavourable weather continued till
the night of the 4th, when the wind increased to a
violent gale from the south-west, with a dangerous
breaking sea, which obliged the ship to be hove to,
awaiting finer weather. Throughout the night the
little ship rode it out well, but at 7 next morning a
heavy sea broke upon her, carrying away the for-
ward bulwarks and stanchions on the starboard side
and the bulwarks from the port bow, washing away
the forecastle hatches, casks, barrels, and a variety
of loose gear which happened to be in the way, be-
sides severely injuring the boatswain and one man.
Being deprived of the protection of the bulwarks,
the seas now came on board so frequently that the
forecastle and fore hatches had to be battened down
and the crew sent aft into the cabin. The gale con-
tinued to blow with almost unabated violence till the
evening of the 6th, when, it moderating, the ship
was again enabled to resume her course. During the
7th and Bth the wind continued light and baffling, so
that little progress was made to the east coast. On
the 9th the wind came fair, but blew so strong with
a heavy sea running that the decks were almost
constantly covered with water all day. On the 10th
and 11th, the weather haling moderated, the pro-
gress made towards the Greenland coast was consi-

derable, and yet no ice, nor indeed any indications
of its presence, though, according to the chart of
Manby, the whole sea over which the Fox had been
sailing for the previous three days was laid down as
perpetually covered with an impassable barrier of it.
At 6 p.m. on the 11th, when distant 130 miles
from Cape Bille, East Greenland, a sounding was
obtained in 1,135 fathoms. At daylight on the
morning of the 12th the first ice and the sup-
posed inaccessible east coast of Greenland were
sighted. The ice lay in loose streams in various
directions, but principally close to the land it ap-
peared to have been much weather-worn, assuming
all those beautiful fantastic forms into which the
combined action of the sea and the wind in time
moulds the massive blocks of Polar ice. The land,
which then, probably, for the first time, was seen
from a ship, was of a high, mountainous, and gene-
i rally precipitous character. Being short of water,
Capt. Young made the ship fast to a large floe piece
of ice, from portions of which the tanks were soon
replenished. Having obtained soundings, bearings,
and angles, the ship coasted southwards along the
land, the ice lying closely packed along the coast,
and the ship in the afternoon, being closely sur-
rounded with floe pieces, was kept away to the
margin of the ice. At daylight on the following
morning, the 13th Sept., the weather being fine
and clear, the Fox again stood through the ice
towards the land to within three miles off the high
mountainous island called by the natives Omenarsuk.
Some closely packed heavy ice lay along the coast,
and, there being no opening for the ship to get in,
and no prospect of an off-shore wind to disperse it,
the vessel WPS kept along the tend of the land
southward, looking out for a harbour. Views of the
land angles and bearings for fixing positions were
obtained. There being the appearance of open
water in some of the fiords led to the hope that the
ship might reach the coast, but during the afternoon
the wind freshened from the S.S.W. As the
weather was threatening, Capt. Young was com-
pelled to stand off the land to the south-eastward
for the night. Om the 14tti the Fox was about 60
miles east of Prince Christian Sound, having been
led off the land with the ice, which appeared to have
accumulated in most unusual quantity round Cape
Farewell. Soundings were obtained in 1,120 fathoms
gravel and sand, and again on the following day, 75
miles north-west of Cape Farewell, in 1,230 fathoms.
On the following day a violent gale sprung up from
the north and north-west, which blew almost with-
out intermission, to the 20th, during which on seve-
ral occasions, Capt. Young had penetrated into the
ice in order to ascertain if the coast was suffi-
ciently clear to admit of surveying operations in the
southern fiords being carried on. On the 20th the
high land about Cape Farewell was made at day-
light, about 40 miles distant, the late gales having
blown the ice into a compact park filling up the
intervening space. ♦s the sun rose the tops of the
lofty mountains could be plainly discerned to be
surrounded by a dense vapour, which looked like
the smoke of a volcano, but which subsequently
proved to be the .ffoot of a violent hurricane
whirling the snowdrift from the lofty summits of
the mountains. The wind at the time was blowing
stiffly from the northward, so, after in vain pndea-
vouring to find an opening, the Fox was hove to
under storm-staysail till the afternoon, under the
lee of the ice. On the morning of the 21st the ice
was found to be considerably loosened by the gale,
leaving open lanes of water between streams of ice.
Through one of these openings the Fox beat against
a strong northerly wind till the afternoon, when,
the weather moderating and the main body of the
ice being sufficiently open to sail through, the Fox's
course was shaped direct for the Torsukalak Chan-
nel, leading between the islands to Julianshaab.
Night, however, coming on, Captain Young made
the ship fast to an iceberg. The night was beauti-
fully calm, and the sea as smooth as glass ; there
was no moon, but the few black clouds which occa-
sionally flitted across the sky served, by contrast,
to render the light of the aurora doubly brilliant.
For the first portion of the night the ship lay as
quiet as if io a dock—a most inexpressible relief
to those on board, who for the previous three weeks
had been buffetted about amid an almost continu-
ous succession of gales. A sounding was taken,
and, though not more than 36 miles from land, a
depth of 1,550 fathoms was found. As the night
wore on the quiet which all enjoyed was disturbed
by a slight swell, which caused the floe pieces to
grind together with an ominous noise. After mid-
night the sky became overcast, the ship was un-
easy, and the watch was almost constantly em-
ployed in reselling the ice anchors. The barometer,
which had stood very high, began to fall rapidly ;
at 3 o'clock a.m. a rudden gust of wind tore away
all the ice anchors, while some of the hands were
employed in resetting them, and the ship rapidly
drove away from the berg and them. The steam
was immediately got up, and by its aid, and
that of the fore and aft sails, the men were got from
the berg ; but by the time this was accomplished
the fall force of a south-east hurricane had burst
upon the ship. The sky was covered with a uni-
form dark mass of scud, from which the rain drove
in torrents, freezing as it fell upon the rigging and
upon the deck until everything was crusted with
ice. The staysail was set, but immediately blown
away, the storm staysail and trysail were bent, but
the wind had increased to such violence that no can-
vass could withstand its force. The position of the
Fox was at this time most perilous. Hove to under
bare poles, the force of the wind was yet so great
that she drifted with fearful rapidity, surrounded
in all directions by loose pieces of ice. The spray
was torn from the top of the waves, filling the lower
stratum of air with eddying clods like snowdrift,
which drove with blinding violence into the faces
and eyes of those on deck. The ship was in an
almost helpless condition ; the clouds of spray hid
the pieces of ice from view until the ship was upon
them, while the intense roar of the wind drowned
every other sound, the ship driving helplessly before
the wind, avoiding many pieces of ice, but striking
others with a force which would have immediately
proved destructive to any other ship less strongly
constructed. At 12 noon the ship ran stem on to
a piece of ice with such force that even the power
of the wind was insufficient to disengage her; other
pieces of ice were driving astern, and for a few
minutes the lives of all on board did not seem worth
10 minutes' purchase, the fore trysail was loosed
and immediately split, but the impetus given was
sufficient to clear her, and she glided from between
the pieces as they closed. Throughout the remain-
der of the day the wind continued to blow with
increased violence and the barometer to fall, and
the bulwark stanchions on the starboard side were
carried away by the sea and ice. The water in
the engine-room increased so fast that from 12
o'clock both the engineer and the two firemen
were standing above their knees in hot water,
throwing the coals upon the furnaces with their
hands, the engine during the whole afternoon
working completely under water. At 6 p.m. the
water extinguished the fires in the engine-room, and
the engines stopped, thus removing the last chance
of steering the ship clear of the floe pieces and bergs
as they appeared. Night was also coming on, so
that the preservation of the ship and those on board
seemed little less than miraculous, as human exer-
tions could do no more. At half-past 7 p.m. the
barometer, which had fallen an inch and a-half,
showed a decided tendency upwards, and in half an
hour the violence of the squalls was perceptibly
less; from this time till 11.30 p.m. the wind con-
tinued to fall off until it so far abated that the ship
could he hove to with the staysail set. Shortly
afterwards the wind changed to the northward,
blowing a moderate breeze. At daylight on the
23d sail was made, and the ship stood to the north-
east with a fair wind. But so totally had the ship
been driven out of her reckoning by the preceding
storm that she was found at noon to be nearly a de-
gree to the northwardef ber supposed position, and
according to the charts and chronometers absolutely
sailing upon the land ; the former were, however,

1 found ultimately to be incorrect. Very little ice was
1 to be seen, the storm having, as is usually the case,
effectually scattered and destroyed it. On the after-
noon of the 23d it again threatened, and in the
evening again blew with such violence that the
ship was hove-to under storm staysail. During the
succeeding eight days the Fox encountered nothing
but a succession of foul winds and such heavy gales
that it was impossible to reach Fredrickshaab for
the purpose of refilling and obtaining water. After
great difficulty, on th& 2d of October, the above
named harbour was reached. Soon after her arrival
the ice from the southward again made its appear-
ance, and as the reports concerning its extent were
contradictory, a boat expedition was organised to
examine it, and, if necessary, to proceed to Julian-
chope, about which district the principal examina-
tion would be necessary. After proceeding south-
ward one day's journey, the ice was seen close in
shore, but the sea far out, apparently free. On the
12th October the boats returned to the ships, and
next day the vessel proceeded, with a strong
northerly gale, through the Torsukalak Channel
to Julianshaab, where she arrived on the 22d Octo-
ber. Having completed a survey of the port and
the adjacent fiord, the Fox proceeded to the exami-
nation of a deep and romantic fiord called Tgalika
Fiord, into which large icebergs never enter, and
in the channel of which sufficient water was found
effectually to prevent the grounding of the largest
ever seen. Captain Young, after returning to
Julianshaab, sounded the estuary of the fiord out to
sea, and found that a uniform channel, 160 fathoms
deep, could be depended on—a depth, it is needless
to mention, considerably greater than that of any
iceberg ever seen upon the coast. The winter had
now fairly set in, and for weeks past quantities of
ice had formed upon the surface of the bays and
fiords, continually breaking up before it attained
any considerable thickness, so Captain Young deter-
mined to return to England at the earliest oppor-
tunity, the season being over for proceeding with
the examination of either the Greenland coast or
that of Labrador. But at the beginning of No-
vember, the fiord through which Dr. Rae's party
would have to pass on their return to the ship from
their inland examination, was found to be frozen
16 miles from the head, and that it was not without
considerable difficulty that a sledge party reached
them on the 6th of November, and informed them
that a boat awaited their arrival at the open water.
On the Bth of November the Fox sailed from
Julianshaab; the ice, as is usual after northerly
winds, had dispersed from that part of the
coast, laying out of the way of navigation a consi-
derable distance off .the shore, more to the south.
Being far to the north, the north-easterly winds,
which so long delayed the ship from the west, was
taken advantage of in standing to the south, so that
after a rapid run of 15 days she entered Portland
Roads. The results of the cruise are universally,
considered by those who accompanied the expedi-
tion to be most satisfactory. Colonel Shaffner's
statements as to the existence of long deep fiords, ix
which the water was co deep as to preclude the
remotest possibility of a cable being injured by ice
or icebergs, is fully confirmed. The existence of
drift ice along the south coast is in reality no diffi-
culty ; it only prevails at the commencement of the
season except in an exceptional year, such
as that recently experienced. Even when thickest
its movements with various winds are so perfectly
understood that, under the command of experienced
captains, many frail ships, totally unadapted for
ice navigation, visit and return from all parts of
the coast annually in safety. Wiih regard to tie
American terminus of the line, now that the Green-
land difficulty has been removed, when once the
line has been carried there in the 50th par. of wes-
tern longitude, the landing on the opposite shore
can be selected on any point within some hundreds
of miles without materially increasing the length
of the circuit. —7intes.