LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 321, 23 June 1875, Page 3

LITERATURE.

A CRUISE TO BAFFIN’S BAY,

There is no more congenial fireside read ing for a winter evening than a volume of Arctic travel. At such times we are best able to appreciate at their full value the courage, endurance, and the spirit of resolute hopefulness required by the explorer of the polar regions. Drear and desolate as those regions are, they nevertheless possess a fascination for us greater than lands to which nature has been most lavish in her gifts. No doubt the air of mystery —a mystery yet to be penetrated —which hangs over that vast northern world, has much to do with this. The same element gives its chief interest to the explorations of the river Nile, bitt there is a sense of vagueness and vastness, something of solemn awe about the former, beyond that attaching to any other field of modern exploration. Those who take any interest in the progress of Arctic discovery, and can relish, besides, a simple yet well told narrative of maritime adventure, will find much to attract them in the account which Captain Markham has recently given us of a voyage—- (“ A Cruise to Baffin’s Bay and the Gulf of Boothia,” by Captain A. H. Markham, E.N.) —made by him to Baffin’s Bay and the Gulf of Boothia, in company with Captain Adams, the dashing, warm - hearted, and jovial skipper of the Dundee steam-whaler Arctic. The volume will have additional interest for many from the fact of its author’s being, as our readers are aware, the next in command to Captain Nares of the forthcoming Arctic expedition, It]| would seem, from certain expressions in the early part of his book, that the author looked forward at the time of writing to the possibility of his some day being employed in Arctic exploration under Government auspices. And it is possible that the book under notice may have additionally recommended him to the responsible and arduous post to which he has recently been appointed. Until we receive news of the results of the present Arctic expedition, this account of a voyage to what may be regarded as the threshold of the regions which the expedition is to endeavour to penetrate, is very good preparatory reading, apart from its own intrinsic interest.

Captain Markham sailed from Dundee in the steam-whaler Arctic, a vessel of four hundred and thirty-nine tons burden, and having an engine of seventy horse-power. His object in undertaking the present voyage was to gain experience in Arctic navigation, to see for himself how steam vessels were handled among the ice, and to pick up any kind of information that might be of service, should an expedition be, at some future time, despatched from England for the exploration of the polar regions. As whale ships are not licensed to carry passengers, Captain Markham had to ship under Captain Adams, who was in command, as an officer on board the Arctic, signing articles by which he pledged to ‘ conduct himself in an orderly, faithful, honest, and sober manner,’ and ‘to be at all times diligent to the lawful commands of his said master.’ He was also to receive a fixed wage, namely,

one shilling per month, a penny on every tun of oil, and a halfpenny on each ton of whalebone brought home in the ship. These, of course, were merely formal ceremonies; and having been duly gone through, Captain Markham’s position on board the Arctic was simply that of a passenger.

The scene on board a whaler on leaving port cannot be an edifying one. Owing to the very large number of parting glasses quaffed by sailors in taking leave of their friends, a considerable time is frequently wasted in settling down to their respective duties on board. We are glad to state, however, that there are exceptions to this rule, and Captain Markham was fortunate in having shipped with a crew of whom their skipper could say that they were the best and soberest ‘crowd’ he had ever put to sea with.

The Arctic made the passage to Davis’ Strait in six days -a quick run ; and here preparations were immediately begun for capturing whales. It was not long before ‘ fish’ were sighted ; but the Arctic was not immediately successful in securing any. The sailors began to attribute their ill-luck to various causes, all of a very trifling kind, but enough to prove how superstition still lingers amongst the race. Now it was a small comb, the common property of the men, that was the cause of their bad fortune ; now a little pig that was on board ; and now the blame was laid on two of their shipmates, who, it was discovered, had, on their last voyage, been in a ship which had returned to port * clean,’ that is, without having captured a single whale. This latter idea became so fixed in the minds of the crew, that they actually went through the ceremony of burning their innocently offending comrades in effigy, as a propitiation to Dame Fortune. No doubt, their faith in the efficacy of this proceeding was strengthened when, not long after, a fine whale was harpooned and secured.

The capture of a whale is an affair of the most absorbing interest. It is exciting even in the reading, and Captain Maikham assures us that the actual scene baffles description. From the moment that the cry of a ‘ fall ’ is shouted from the * crow’s-nest ' or look-out, to the time when the huge prey is safely alongside the vessel, all is breathless suspense, and the intensest excitement. Captain Markham more than once had personal experience of the perils incident to a whaler’s life. On one occasion, the boat which he and his companions were in was fast to a whale for six hours, during which time they were dragged through the water at a terrific pace. Water had to be constantly poured on the tow-line, lest the friction of the rope should set fire to the boat, and, as it was, smoke rose in little clouds from the bows. For a few moments, the whale stopped its terrible speed to blow, and the line, which had worn a deep rut in the ‘bollard head,’ having got time to cool a little, stuck to the wood. Suddenly, the whale dived, the line would not run, and the bow of the boat was dragged violently under water, which almost overwhelmed the harpooner. But this saved the occupants of the boat, for the water moistening the rope, caused it to run freely, and the boat righted in time to escape being wholly swamped. It was a close thing, for had the tow-line refused to run, the boat must have inevitably been taken under with its crew, who would have in all likelihoods perished, for at the time they were far distant from the ship. On one occasion the boat was dragged fifteen miles by the whale, before, exhausted by its exertions, and by loss of blood, the huge monster yielded itself a helpless prey to its pursuers, and received its death stroke, amid the cheers of the wearied but elated men. When the boat’s crew reached the ship, they had been away fourteen hours, during which time no food had passed their lips. The Arctic left Dundee on the 6th of M ay, and on the 6th of June she reached Melville Bay. Melville Bay is the hete wnr of the whaler, for it is here that he has to encounter the formidable ice fioe. The first thing to be done is to try to discover a ‘ lead ’ —that is, in a narrow creek of water amid the floes, through which the vessel may pass. When a vessel is caught, or, what is termed, in whalers’ phraseology, ‘ nipped ’ by a floe, one of three things happens —either the ice, in its unswervingand merciless course, passes under the ship (in which case all is right); or over, or through it. In the last two cases, the sailors have barely time to leap out upon the ice, and escape from the sinking ship. In the days before steam-vessels were used in the Arctic whale-fishery, loss of ships in this way was a frequent occurrence, though, singularly enough, when we consider the danger to the crews that must have accompanied such casualties, they were rarely attended by loss of life. Now, happily, the sinking of a steam whaler, by being ‘nipped ’ by an ice-floe, is rare, though instances have occurred.

It is not possible, Captain Markham declares, for any one who has had no experience of them, to realise the dangers and vicissitudes of Arctic navigation, and yet our author found a great amount of interest in their experience. He found it a most attractive pastime, for instance, to stand on the forecastle of the Artie, and watch the ship fairly fighting with the ice. _ Now she charged straight at the lloe, meeting it with such a shock as to come to a sudden and dead stop. Now she struck a mass sideways, and making a cannon, glanced off another with her opposite bow, her head swerving from the recoil five or six points out of clue course. Again the ship would pass over a bit of the floe, forcing it under the water, but not thereby escaping all danger, for the masses of ice, release cl from the pressure of the vessel’s hull, spring up again with sudden violence, and in the most unexpected quarters. If they rise up under the boats that arc slung to her sides, there is danger of the latter being shattered to pieces. To prevent such casualties, men have to be stationed to keep a look-out for the reappearance of the ice above the water, and to fend it off the ship’s sides with long poles. We can well imagine that the watching of this battle between the Arctic and her stubborn foe must have been a pastime of a keenly exciting kind. After a little time, however, Captain Markham found the mere killing and capturing of whales becoming a little monotonous. One * kill ’ very closely resembled another; and when the novelty wore off, all attraction ceased for the amateur whaler, who had no pecuniary interest in the taking of the ‘fish.’ Our author’s narrative gives us a very good insight into the kind of life that is led on board the whaling fleets that yearly visit the polar regions from ovu northern ports, and is, we believe, the most exactly detailed account of the fishery, as it is now carried on, which we have yet had. The voyage which he made in the Arctic

proved an extremely lucky one for its owners, the captain, and all on board in any way concerned in the pecuniary profits of the ship. Sometimes as many as four whales were killed and secured at one time, and the ship began rapidly to fill up. When a whale has been got on board, the process of ‘ flinching ’ and ‘ making-off ’ that is, skinning, boning, and cutting up the whale —is at once begun, and all this is described at length by our author. The condition in which a ship is left after a flinching and making-off is one of simply indescribable filth, and when two or three fish have been taken, this state of things becomes chronic. In a little time Captain Markham found it a matter of almost hopeless difficulty to keep even his own person and apparel clean, so inqwegnated with grease and dirt did everything in the ship, from stem to stern, become. When it seemed impossible to him that things could become much worse in this respect, Captain Adams remarked one morning, in a reflective way: ‘ When we hae anither fish or twa, we’ll be in a fearsome mess. ’ To he cant hived.