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The Great Frozen Sea

Chapter 7 STRUGGLES WITH THE ICE.

Word Count: 1922    |    Released on: 06/12/2017

great wate

I have

soever h

nders the

e sails, and

any ou

he channels

hor for

nd favou

her us

t wait on

ey by o

ge W

quarters by the report that the pack had drifted to the eastward, leaving a navigable channel extending to the north. The report was fallacious, but we succee

engths between the hills, some of which could be traced into the i

es in these regions! From being closely beset, a couple of hours saw us in an apparently open sea with no ice in sight, and bowling along before a fresh southerly

mainland we were not able to determine. In all probability the supposed islands are a peninsula, apparently of sandstone formation overlying trap, different to the granitic formation of the southern shore of the strait.

erably eased down;" for in that time we were again stopped by the ice, and compelled to make fast to a floe, until the pack opened sufficiently to allow us to proceed. During the run we pa

ion seemed inevitable. Yet we on board were helpless to avert the catastrophe. All that we could do was to prepare for a severe nip: unship the rudder, and lift the screw, and having taken every pr

a slight swerving of the floe relieved her from any immediate

hose sides the floe, as it came into contact with it, was seen to be literally wal

s of success. Suddenly, when our fate seemed almost decided, the berg turned slightly, splitting up the floe to which we were

her, ready to take away in case of having to abandon the ship. On going below after the ship had been secured, I fou

d a constant watch had to be kept on every movement of the pack. Frequently had the ice anchors to be tripped and the vessel moved, in order to avoid bergs or floes closing in upon and nipping us. Occasionally, when the pack opened, or appeared what we called "slack," we would

was quite unknown. From the "nest" the motions of the ice were closely scrutinized, the tides and currents were studied, and the influence of the wind on the pack ascert

n landing on account of the ice-foot adhering to the land, which resembled a perpendicular frozen wall rising to the height of about twelve feet. Indeed it was more overhanging than perpendicular, as the action of the water had considerably undermined its base and therefore rendered it almost inaccessible. By the aid of a long boat-hook staff and some rop

rrounding this prominent headland are wasted and worn by the combined effects of snow and weather, and present the same "battlemented" appearance so common to the Silurian limestone formation of the cliffs about Prince Regent Inlet and Lancaster Sound. A few fossils were collected, but, with the exception of some sprigs

far more numerous than they are at the present time. What has become of them? The solution of this important ethnological question would be of the greatest interest. Have they gradually died

The most northern point where human remains were discovered was at Cape Beechey, in 81° 54′ N. Here our naturalist found the framework of a large wooden sledge, a stone lamp, and a snow scraper made of walrus tusk. Beyond this point there was no sign of any human being having preceded us. This is the utmost northern known limit of Eskimo wandering, and here they appear to have crossed the strait, and to have made their way southward on the Greenland side. The most northern permanent human habitation in the world is now at Etah, near Port Foulke, and, under present climatic conditions, it would be impossible even for the Etah Eskimo to exist at Cape Beechey, in 81° 54′ N., whither their ancestors must have wandered in remote times. There is much yet to learn respecting these marvellous wanderings along the Arctic shores; and our e

y and Ethnology," printed for the use of the Expe

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