Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1875-12-01
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during the winter, then had partly
melted in the summer, and frozen
and thawed during the succeeding
winters fni summers, until the
whole interior Of the house, 10 the
depth of four feet, was one solid
mass of ice. The beautiful blue
cloth so fine and soft, and the
white soft flannel blankets and
clothing were all torn to shreds
and ribbons the meat and peni-
can cans were punched in and pull
ed off !; and all this was the work
of polar bears, as the marks of
their claws were everywhere, while
a cask of rum, standing untouched
near the doorway, was good evil
dence that the Northumberland
House" was not broken into by
human housebreakers. They had
even gnawed into some barrels Of
salt beef and emptied them of their
contents. 1t looked as if the bears
had been amusing themselves by
playing ball with everything they
could not tear to shreds. Fortu-
nately most of the provisions and
part of the clothing were safely
headed up in solid iron-hooped
barrels. The salt meat and sugar
appeared in good condition, and
also nearly all the clothing put up
in barrels.
A spell of very fine weather af-
forded delusive hopes of good for
tune as the Pandora approached
Bellot's Straits, but pack of ice
} fifty miles in extent blocked furth-
er progress and it was thought best
to return to England instead OF
wintering in the North. The ice
is thus described:
At 4 o'clock on the evening OF
the Both of August we were al
Loquette and at the edge of an
impenetrable pack that extends
right across the strait, from shore
to shore. We climb to the fore
top, then to the cross-trees and see
before us plain of ice extending
to the horizon and jammed up
against Beloit's Straits. 1t is old
ice, from five to twenty feet thick,
covered with little hills and hum
mocks, jammed closely together
and as solid as rock. Within two
hours after we had been betting
high on the probabilities of passing
through Behring's Straits, we have
suddenly come to the end of our
voyage.
| Away to the southeast, on the
the shore of Somerset, we could
see the huge, lowering, perpendicu-
lar cliffs of rock that form the mon
ster gateway to Bello's Straits, and
beyond the coast of Boothia Felix,
bending away to the southwest, q
high promontory just on the hori-
zon, the southeastern extremity of
} the Prince of Wales Land, all be-
tween this and Boothia, in the di-
rection OF King Williams Land, an
unbroken plain of rugged hum
mock ice.
1t was with sad faces we took
our last look south over this gloomy
, plain, against whose dead, heavy
silent insertia all our high hopes,
all our fiery enthusiasm, all ourrose-
colored expectations broke in mel
ancholy gloom. We were only 100
miles from King Williams Land.
We almost imagined we could see
it, and if we could only get there
we thought we might be sure o
making the Northwest Passage.
This pack is probably more thar
fifty miles, and yet nearly 6,00t
miles between Southampton and
San Francisco. There was only
: this one little obstacle-this mere
a current as it were-to stop Us, but
s it was as effectual barrier to a ship
{ as fifty miles of granite.
A Presbyterian minister while