The English at the North Pole Page 5

  CHAPTER V

  OUT AT SEA

  The wind was favourable, though it blew in April gales. The _Forward_cut through the waves, and towards three o'clock crossed the mailsteamer between Liverpool and the Isle of Man. The captain hailedfrom his deck the last adieu that the _Forward_ was destined to hear.

  At five o'clock the pilot left the command in the hands of RichardShandon, the commander of the brig, and regained his cutter, which,turning round, soon disappeared on the south-west. Towards eveningthe brig doubled the Calf of Man at the southern extremity of theisland. During the night the sea was very rough, but the _Forward_behaved well, left the point of Ayr to the north-west, and directedits course for the Northern Channel. Johnson was right; once out atsea the maritime instinct of the sailors gained the upper hand. Lifeon board went on with regularity.

  The doctor breathed in the sea air with delight; he walked aboutvigorously in the squalls, and for a _savant_ he was not a bad sailor.

  "The sea is splendid," said he to Johnson, coming up on deck afterbreakfast. "I have made its acquaintance rather late, but I shallmake up for lost time."

  "You are right, Mr. Clawbonny. I would give all the continents ofthe world for a corner of the ocean. They pretend that sailors soonget tired of their profession, but I've been forty years on the seaand I love it as much as the first day."

  "It is a great pleasure to feel a good ship under one's feet, andif I'm not a bad judge the _Forward_ behaves herself well."

  "You judge rightly, doctor," answered Shandon, who had joined thetalkers; "she is a good ship, and I acknowledge that a vessel destinedfor navigation amongst ice has never been better equipped. Thatreminds me that thirty years ago Captain James Ross, sailing for theNorth-West passage----"

  "In the _Victory_," added the doctor quickly, "a brig about the sametonnage as ours, with a steam-engine too."

  "What! you know about that?"

  "Judge if I do," answered the doctor. "Machines were then in theirinfancy, and the _Victory's_ kept her back; the captain, James Ross,after having vainly repaired it bit by bit, finished by taking itdown, and abandoned it at his first winter quarters."

  "The devil!" said Shandon. "You know all about it, I see."

  "Yes. I've read the works of Parry, Ross, and Franklin, and the reportsof McClure, Kennedy, Kane, and McClintock, and I remember somethingof what I've read. I can tell you, too, that this same McClintock,on board the _Fox_, a screw brig in the style of ours, went easierto his destination than any of the men who preceded him."

  "That's perfectly true," answered Shandon; "he was a bold sailor wasMcClintock; I saw him at work. You may add that, like him, we shallfind ourselves in Davis's Straits in April, and if we succeed inpassing the ice our voyage will be considerably advanced."

  "Unless," added the doctor, "it happens to us like it did to the _Fox_in 1857, to be caught the very first year by the ice in Baffin's Sea,and have to winter in the midst of the icebergs."

  "We must hope for better luck," answered Johnson. "If a ship likethe _Forward_ can't take us where we want to go, we must renounceall hope for ever."

  "Besides," said the doctor, "if the captain is on board he will knowbetter than we do what must be done. We know nothing as yet; his lettersays nothing about what our voyage is for."

  "It is a good deal to know which way to go," answered Shandon quickly."We can do without the captain and his instructions for another monthat least. Besides, you know what I think about it."

  "A short time ago," said the doctor, "I thought like you that thecaptain would never appear, and that you would remain commander ofthe ship; but now----"

  "Now what?" replied Shandon in an impatient tone.

  "Since the arrival of the second letter I have modified that opinion."

  "Why, doctor?"

  "Because the letter tells you the route to follow, but leaves youignorant of the _Forward's_ destination; and we must know where weare going to. How the deuce are you to get a letter now we are outat sea? On the coast of Greenland the service of the post must leavemuch to wish for. I believe that our gentleman is waiting for us insome Danish settlement--at Holsteinborg or Uppernawik; he hasevidently gone there to complete his cargo of sealskins, buy hissledges and dog, and, in short, get together all the tackle wantedfor a voyage in the Arctic Seas. I shouldn't be at all surprised tosee him come out of his cabin one of these fine mornings and begincommanding the ship in anything but a supernatural way."

  "It's possible," answered Shandon drily; "but in the meantime thewind is getting up, and I can't risk my gallant sails in such weather."

  Shandon left the doctor and gave the order to reef the topsails.

  "He takes it to heart," said the doctor to the boatswain.

  "Yes," answered the latter, "and it's a great pity, for you may beright, Mr. Clawbonny."

  In the evening of Saturday the _Forward_ doubled the Mull of Galloway,whose lighthouse shone to the north-east; during the night they leftthe Mull of Cantyre to the north, and Cape Fair, on the coast of Ireland,to the east. Towards three o'clock in the morning, the brig, leavingRathlin Island on her starboard side, disembogued by the NorthernChannel into the ocean. It was Sunday, the 8th of April, and the doctorread some chapters of the Bible to the assembled seamen. The windthen became a perfect hurricane, and tended to throw the brig on tothe Irish coast; she pitched, and rolled, and tossed, and if the doctorwas not seasick it was because he would not be, for nothing was easier.At noon Cape Malinhead disappeared towards the south; it was the lastEuropean ground that these bold sailors were to perceive, and morethan one watched it out of sight, destined never to see it again.They were then in 55 degrees 57 minutes latitude and 7 degrees 40minutes longitude by the Greenwich meridian.

  The storm spent itself out about nine o'clock in the evening; the_Forward_, like a good sailor, maintained her route north-west. Sheshowed by her behaviour during the day what her sailing capacitieswere, and as the Liverpool connoisseurs had remarked, she was aboveall, a sailing vessel. During the following days the _Forward_ gainedthe north-west with rapidity; the wind veered round south, and thesea had a tremendous swell on; the brig was then going along underfull sail. Some petrels and puffins came sailing over the poop; thedoctor skilfully shot one of the latter, and it fell, fortunately,on the deck. The harpooner, Simpson, picked it up and brought it toits owner.

  "Nasty game that, Mr. Clawbonny," he said.

  "It will make an excellent meal, on the contrary," said the doctor.

  "You don't mean to say you are going to eat that thing?"

  "And so are you, old fellow," said the doctor, laughing.

  "Poh!" replied Simpson, "but it's oily and rancid, like all othersea birds."

  "Never mind!" answered the doctor, "I have a peculiar way of cookingthat game, and if you recognise it for a sea bird I'll consent neverto kill another in my life."

  "Do you know how to cook, then?"

  "A _savant_ ought to know how to do a little of everything."

  "You'd better take care, Simpson," said the boatswain; "the doctor'sa clever man, and he'll make you take this puffin for a grouse."

  The fact is that the doctor was quite right about his fowl; he tookoff all the fat, which all lies under the skin, principally on thethighs, and with it disappeared the rancidity and taste of fish whichis so disagreeable in a sea bird. Thus prepared the puffin was declaredexcellent, and Simpson acknowledged it the first.

  During the late storm Richard Shandon had been able to judge of thequalities of his crew; he had watched each man narrowly, and knewhow much each was to be depended upon.

  James Wall was devoted to Richard, understood quickly and executedwell, but he might fail in initiative; he placed him in the thirdrank. Johnson was used to struggle with the sea; he was an old stagerin the Arctic Ocean, and had nothing to learn either in audacity or_sang-froid_. The harpooner, Simpson, and the carpenter, Bell, weresure men, faithful to duty and discipline. The ice-master, Foker,was an experienced sailor, and, li
ke Johnson, was capable of renderingimportant service. Of the other sailors Garry and Bolton seemed tobe the best; Bolton was a gay and talkative fellow; Garry wasthirty-five, with an energetic face, but rather pale and sad-looking.The three sailors, Clifton, Gripper, and Pen, seemed less ardent andresolute; they easily grumbled. Gripper wanted to break hisengagement even before the departure of the _Forward_; a sort of shamekept him on board. If things went on all right, if there were nottoo many risks to run, no dangers to encounter, these three men mightbe depended upon; but they must be well fed, for it might be saidthat they were led by their stomachs. Although warned beforehand,they grumbled at having to be teetotallers; at their meals theyregretted the brandy and gin; it did not, however, make them sparethe tea and coffee, which was prodigally given out on board. As tothe two engineers, Brunton and Plover, and the stoker, Warren, therehad been nothing for them to do as yet, and Shandon could not tellanything about their capabilities.

  On the 14th of April the _Forward_ got into the grand current of theGulf Stream, which, after ascending the eastern coast of America toNewfoundland, inclines to the north-east along the coast of Norway.They were then in 57 degrees 37 minutes latitude by 22 degrees 58minutes longitude, at two hundred miles from the point of Greenland.The weather grew colder, and the thermometer descended to thirty-twodegrees, that is to say to freezing point.

  The doctor had not yet begun to wear the garments he destined forthe Arctic Seas, but he had donned a sailor's dress like the rest;he was a queer sight with his top-boots, in which his legs disappeared,his vast oilcloth hat, his jacket and trousers of the same; whendrenched with heavy rains or enormous waves the doctor looked likea sort of sea-animal, and was proud of the comparison.

  During two days the sea was extremely rough; the wind veered roundto the north-west, and delayed the progress of the _Forward_. Fromthe 14th to the 16th of April the swell was great, but on the Mondaythere came such a torrent of rain that the sea became calm immediately.Shandon spoke to the doctor about this phenomenon.

  "It confirms the curious observations of the whaler Scoresby, wholaid it before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of which I have thehonour to be an honorary member. You see that when it rains the wavesare not very high, even under the influence of a violent wind, andwhen the weather is dry the sea is more agitated, even when thereis less wind."

  "But how is this phenomenon accounted for?"

  "Very simply; it is not accounted for at all."

  Just then the ice-master, who was keeping watch on the crossbars ofthe topsails, signalled a floating mass on the starboard, at aboutfifteen miles distance before the wind.

  "An iceberg here!" cried the doctor.

  Shandon pointed his telescope in the direction indicated, andconfirmed the pilot's announcement.

  "That is curious!" said the doctor.

  "What! you are astonished at last!" said the commander, laughing.

  "I am surprised, but not astonished," answered the doctor, laughing;"for the brig _Ann_, of Poole, from Greenspond, was caught in 1813in perfect ice-fields, in the forty-fourth degree of north latitude,and her captain, Dayernent, counted them by hundreds!"

  "I see you can teach us something, even upon that subject."

  "Very little," answered Clawbonny modestly; "it is only that ice hasbeen met with in even lower latitudes."

  "I knew that already, doctor, for when I was cabinboy on board thewar-sloop _Fly_----"

  "In 1818," continued the doctor, "at the end of March, almost in April,you passed between two large islands of floating ice under theforty-second degree of latitude."

  "Well, I declare you astonish me!" cried Shandon.

  "But the iceberg doesn't astonish me, as we are two degrees furthernorth."

  "You are a well, doctor," answered the commander, "and all we haveto do is to be water-buckets."

  "You will draw me dry sooner than you think for; and now, Shandon,if we could get a nearer look at this phenomenon, I should be thehappiest of doctors."

  "Just so, Johnson," said Shandon, calling his boatswain. "It seemsto me that the breeze is getting up."

  "Yes, commander," answered Johnson; "we are making very little way,and the currents of Davis's Straits will soon be against us."

  "You are right, Johnson, and if we wish to be in sight of Cape Farewellon the 20th of April we must put the steam on, or we shall be thrownon the coasts of Labrador. Mr. Wall, will you give orders to lightthe fires?"

  The commander's orders were executed, an hour afterwards the steamwas up, the sails were furled, and the screw cutting the waves sentthe _Forward_ against the north-west wind.