The Trinity journal., 1856-12-06
A Brush with Death.

III. habes Arctlc Explorations .
We crossed Murchison Channel on the
23d, and we encamped for the night on the
and-hoe at the base of Cape Perry a hard
days travel partly by tracking over ice,
partly through tortuous and zigzag leads. -
The next day brought us to the neighbor-
hood of Flz Clarance Rock, one of the most
interesting monuments that rear themselves
along this dreary coast in region more
familiar to men, it would be landmark to
the navigator. 1t rises from field of ice
like an Egyptian pyramid surmounted by an
obeliSk.
had been anxious to communicate with
the Esquimaux Of Netelik, in the hope of
gaining some farther intelligence of Hans.
Our friends Of Etah had given me, in their
own style, complete itinery Of this region,
and we had no difficulty in instructng God
frey how to trace his way across the neck of
land which stood between us and the settle
ment. lie made the attempt but fonnd the
snow-drifts impossible and Petersen, whom
] sent on the same errand to Tessiusak, re-
turned equally unsuccessful
The next day gave us admirable progress
The ice opened in the leads before US, some
what torturous, but, on the whole, fayoring,
and for sixteen hours ! never left the helm
We were all Of us exhausted when the days
work came to close. Our allowance had
been small from the first but the delays
we seemed fated TO encounter made me re-
duce them to what ] then thought the mini
mum quantity--siX ounces OF bread dust and
lump of talow the size Of a walnut
paste or broth made Of these before setting
ont in the morning, and distributed OCCASION
ally through the day in Scanty rations was
our only fare We were all of us glad when,
running the boats under the Ice of berg,
we were able to fill our kettles with snow
and boil up for our great restorative tea
! may remark that under the circumstances
/ OF most privation, / found no comforter so
welcome to the party as this. We drank
immoderateiy Of it, and always with adyan-
tage.
While the men slept after their weary
labor, McG0ry and myself climbed the berg
for view ahead. twas a saddenng one.
We had lost sight of Cary Island but
shoreward, up Wostcnhcm Channel, the ice
seemed as if it had not yet begun to yield
to the influences Of summer Everything
showed how intense the last winter bad been.
We were close upon the lst Of July, and
had right to look for the North Water
Of the Whalers where We now had solid ice
or close pack, both of them almost equally
unfavorable to our progress Far off i'll the
distance-how far / could not measure
rose the DaIrymple rock, projecting from the
lofty prccipice Of the Island ahead bnt be-
tween us and it the land Of ice spread itself
from the base Of Saunders Island unbroken
to the far south
The next days progress was of course,
slow and wearsome. pushing through alter
nate ice and water for the land-belt We
fastened at last to the great foe near the
shore, making our harbor in crack which
opened with the changes OF tide.
The imperfect diet of the party was show
ing itself more in the decline OF their mus
cular power, They seemed scarcely aware
of it themselves, and referred the difficulty
they found in dragging and pushing to some
/ thing uncommon about the ice or sledge
rather than TO their own weakness. But,
as we cndcavored to renew urlabOrS through
! the morning fog bolted in on all sides by
| ice-icl'lS 50 distorted and rugged as to defy
our efforts to cross them, the truth seemed
to burst upon every one. We had lost the
feeling Of hunger, and were almost satisfied
with our pnstry broth and the large draughts
of tea which accompanied it. | was anX-
0uS to send our small boat, the Erie across
to the lumme hill, Appah, where ] knew
from the ESquimaux we should find plenty
Of birds but the strength Of the party was
insufficient to drag her
We were sorcIy disappointed, and could
only wait for the fog to rise, in the hope of
some smoother platform than that which was
about us, or some lead that might save us
| the painful labor Of tracking. had climbed
| the iceberg, and there was nothing in view
except Dallymple Rock, with its red brasSy
! face towering in the unknown distance
But ! hardly got back to my boat before a
gale struck us from the northeast, and doe,
I taking upon tongue of ice about a mile to
/ the north of us began to swing upon it like
a pivot, and close slowly in upon our narrow
resting place
At first our own foe was driven before
the wind but in little while it encounter
ed the stationary ice at the foot of the very
rock itself, On the instant the widest i'm
/ agnable ruin rose around us The men
sprang mechanically, each one to his station
4 bearing back the boats and stores but |
gave up for the moment all hope of our es-
cape. 1t was not nip, such as is familiar
to Arctic nayigatorS, but the whole platform
where we stood, and for hundreds of yards
on every side Of us crumbled and crushed
aud piled and tossed itself madly under the
pressure ] do not believe that our little
body of men, all Of them disciplined in trials,
able to measure danger while contrasting it
i do not believe there is one who this day
can explain how or why-hardly when, in
tact-we found ourselves alloat. We only
know that in the midst of a clamor utterly
mdescrbable, through which the braying of
"A thousand tiunpelS could no more have
been heard than the voice of a man, we were
shaken, and raised, and whrled, and let