Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1851-01-25
ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

ARCTIC EXPEDITION.
| Some Of the details of the daily duties and
arduous labors Of vessels penetrating into the
high northern latitudes in search of the long
lost Sir John Franklin, are graphically des-
cribed in a private letter, communicated to
the New York Tribune They are refresh
ing, in this tropical climate:
LANCASTER SOUND, between Cape
Crawford and York, August 2l.
The "North STAR dear -, is reported
safe at Leopold Harbor, the last years win
tering asylum of Sir James Ross. We are
now making all sail to meet her, and it may
be to obtain a homeward conveyance for a
hurried outline Ofnews Gather around you
our little home circle, none of them will COM
plain of my addressing to you what is meant
for ALL
On the 9th of July while tanning along be-
tween the Great Pack and the shore ice Of
Uppernavik, we met couple of Esquimaux
Kaiacks. By them | sent my last home dis
patches.
On the day after this we saw ahead of us
the three islands of Baffin, and ran on with
fine fresh breeze intending to pursue the
coastward route successful with other navi-
gators. Unfortunately, however, the Great
Pack perhaps better known to you as the
Middle Ice, presented great indenture to
the westward which invited US to enter. We
did so but the result proved unwiseIy.
BAFFIN's BAY-The worst feature-in fact
the chief drawback Of Baffin's Bay naviga-
IL ktNT l.
When winter, which here exceeds in iEten-
sity any cold within your conception, fully
sets in, all the great bay with its sounds, in
lets and entering bays becomes one solid
mass of ice. Except the ridge hammocks or
the entrapped bergs, there is no diversity of
surface; Greenland and America are ce-
mented together. Nor does it stop here;
extending down along the western coast it
chokes up the great bay Of Hudson, travels
down Labrador, enters the straits of Belle
Isle, and but for the gulf stream would belt
in Newfoundland. Summer, brief, ardent
season of constant life, aided by natures To-
cal compensating influences, makes rapid in
roads upon this icy sea, and at period va
rying with the openness of the season, leaves
the sole monument of all this huge central
tongue of ice, known technically to voyagers
as the Middle Pack.
| The MIDDLE Ice. The position ofthe ice,
| its character, its connection with the head
lands Of the coast its drift, its period Of lib
Grafton, &C. SC. form a body Of practical
questions, to be determined only by close
observation of winds, season, and the host of
little indications which experience, by sort
of tact, points out to men who make it the
business Of their lives Such men are the
whaIers who, since Sir John Ross's first voy
age, more than thirty years ago, have made
these seas their peculiar fishing ground
And the British Expeditions are therefore ac-
companied by a set of men known as &c Ice
Masters" and "Greenland Pilots, who are
looked upon as indispensable to a Polar
cruise. We have none The notes Of the
Whaling routes furnished by the Royal In
an impossibility in the latitude Of % and
thereabouts. Save Parry once, no one has
successfully achieved it, and even he. upon
second attempt, was beset and failed. The
whaling routes were by Melville Bay, past
Cape York, to the Northern Edge of the
Pack, along the vacant space between IS >
So and n . known by them as the North
Water. Scorsby's list Of successful passa-
ges confirms the necessity of following the
open shore line, and the general tenor of
printed authorities points to the same con-
clusion. You must not think, therefore, that
we have suffered any particular i'll luck. On
the contrary we partly anticipated our expe-
rience. t..,g.s
For a time it was favorable. We made
forty miles westward in nearly open water;
| but soon streams Of loose ice-tongues from
the main barrier thrust themselves before US;
plunged deeper and deeper into its marginal
| ice. Il closed as we advanced, and the early
morning Of the 9Th found US stuck fast as a
fly upon a newly vanished table,
NEAR DEvIL's ToNGUE.-Herc. then, be-
hold US with horizon of ice-covered snow!
The Devils Tongue, a striking landmark off
Bafin Islands, rising up before US, monu-
ment of our forlornness! .,..,.-
Now came into play the ice-chain and saw.
the ak and the windlass, the tow-rope and
/ the warping hawser. Endless were the trick
inps of the capstan pawls and the spiicings
| of the main brace. Leads (open lanes OF
waterlseemed to open constantly. Heading
still west, every day found US deeper in thrall.
and when we were disposed to congratulate
ourselves most on our progress, we turned
round to see the Devils Tongue still forking
itself at US over the white plain. 1t might
have borne for an inscription in lapidary