The New York Herald Newspaper, October 31, 1875, Page 5

THE PANDORA, Additional and Graphic Details of the Expedition. A Brief and Thrilling Voyage to the Arctic Seas. erent REMAINS OP THR FRANKLIN EXPEDITION, Narrow Escape from an Iceberg, Which Capsizes in the Night. ——ooos BEAUTIES OF POLAR SCENERY. A Singular Absence of Ice in Melville Bay. CURIOUS BURGLARY BY BEARS Gxmsemanie@oocenentne The Graves of Three of Franklin's Men Discovered. Lonvoy, Oct, 18, 1875. After an interesting journey of nearly four months’ duration the steamer Pandora re- turned from the Aretie regions on Saturday, when she arrived at Portsmouth. I need not tell you the history of the Pandora, nor of the mission which it was intended she should be the means of accomplishing—that has beon done already by Mr. MacGahan, your correspondent, who accompanied the vessel on her voyage. The Pandora started from Portsmouth on the 28th of June, and re- turned to the same port on the 16th of Octo- bor; her voyage, ‘therefore, oceupied just 101 days, ora little over fourteen weeks. The excitement in England produced by the Pandora's return was very great. The don journals, one and all, have lengthy re- ports of the trip, some emanating from their loca! correspondents in Portsmouth, others giving in generous mood credit to the Hxnaxp and its correspondent. The follow- ing hurried letter from Mr, MacGahan gives wlditional and graphic details of the Pan- dora’s voyage. THR ancTIC TRIP. Poursmovrn, Oct, 16, 1875, The Arctic ship Pandora, commanded by Captain Allen Young, with Lieutenant Lil- lingston, Royal Navy, as second in authority, has just arrived from her exploring voyage in the Arctic seas. She touched at Ivigtut, South Greenland, July 90, having met with ice off Cape Farewell, in a strong wind, without accident. Proceeding close t the coast views of magnificent scenery were revealed and sketched by our artist. We reached Disko August 7, and found the Alert and Discovery already gone north, while the Valorous had gone southward. We stopped here for twetve hours, and then pro- seeded up Waigat Strait to Coal Cliff’ Kud- ‘ik, where we took in forty tons of coal. Twelve hours after we experienced a dense fog to the northwest, and gale ap Waigat Strait. We moored the ship to an iceberg which capsized in the night with considerable risk to the ship. We visited the interesting settlement of Yuyarsusak, where we bought dogs and embarked a number of Esquimaux women to assist in coaling. We reached Upernavik on the 13th, but only stopped one hour, in order to send Lemers ashore to buy more dogs. Tho Governor came aboard and in- formed us that the Alert and Discovery left | there July 22. He considered the season favorable for navigation, owing to the preva- tence of northerly winds during the spring, We bore away from Upernavik under sail with a strong south wind and heavy rain thréatening a gale, and on the evening of the 46th arrived off Cape York. I make the fol- lowing extract from Captain Young's journal regarding the passage through Melville Bay :— “We continued through night under can- vass, and next morning after leaving Uper- navik could just distinguish Horse's Head through the fog, while flocks of looms con- tinually crossed us in their flight to west- ward, from which I inferred that the middie ice was not farin that direction, Passing through a long chain of icebergs, running orth and south aground, we arrived in the afternoon at the Duck Islands, On the Lith we were deserted by every living thing. It was foggy during the night, with occasional snow showers, but at nine o'clock A. M. we had A BREAK IN THE skY and a great glacier was before wa, with Capes Seddon, Lewis and Walker in sight, and here arid there a few icebergs, but not a single piece of floe ice. A boat was sent away to collect some loose pieces from a berg for fresh water, as we were quite | out of that necessary element. We had a glorious night, with a clear, brilliant sky and a temperature of thirty-five degrees, We seem rather to be in the Atlantic ona fair autumnal evening, and I could searcely believe we were in the much dreaded Mel ville Bay. It is astonishing how great is the uncertainty of navigation in the Arctic seas, It was near our present position that at this time of August, 1875, we were in the Fox so hampered by the ice that finally we drifted into the pack, and yet now we have a clear sea and are steering direct for Cape York without even having a distant view of the middle ice. We saw nothing here savo an occasional petrel—not a bird nor whale nor any other living thing—and the contrast between this iceless sea and brilliant sun and the absence of all animal life was most strik- ing. We passed through a quantity of loose, broken up ice, off Cape York, and some . enormous icebergs, but o dense fog, which had prevented our seeing any distance toward shore, made it impossible to comraunicate with the natives, as I had intended doing, Tho temperature fell to NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, OCTOBEK ¥1, 1875—QUADRUPLE SHEET. THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE. Map Showing the Track of the Pandora from Disco, Greenland, to Roquetite Islands, Together with the Explorations of Franklin and Others. Betey,. we owe % BARRO ell I ‘ {Granite NORTH Fury By B i f + PPORT BOWEN OMERSED Oreswells By C. Kaye 60 C.8a PRINCE 0 py vane c. Cut LLESMERE | Guat, LAND ~%, fe) » * }Sfaham ny 7s Talbot Ine C.Co Edon "ios, NORTH pre rivine 's Winter Quarurs 845-46 —S——= a Nees eng C clare N ork L 6 oa $ rot Sou ind K BU N s;Cheste pieta Inlet twenty-eight, the rigging was covered with frost and ice and crystals formed among the loose ive.” It had been arranged that the Pandora should touch, if possible at Carey Isles, de- posit letters for the Alert and Discovery, and bring home such letters and records as Captain Nares might have left of their progress in their adventurous and arduous voyage. Passing through streams of loose ice off Beverley Cliff and Petowak glacier, of which our artist made some fine sketches, we ar- rived at Carey Isles, Beating against a strong northerly gale, we managed to land on the northwest island of the group, fixed upon by Captain Nares to deposit despatches. Great was our disappointment when we POUND THRER CAIRNS, none of which were left by Captain Nares. After a thorough search by the crew we found he had not been here at all, Two of the cairns were built by whalers; the third by the Resolute and Assistance of 1850, Captain Young concluded that Nares was prevented landing here by ice or fog, or perhaps a gale. Having deposited two barrels of letters for ships, we re-embarked by light midnight, not without difficulty, as it was blowing a strong gale and heavy surfs were running. ‘The Pandora bore away for Lancaster Sound, running before a northerly gale. Off Cape Horsbury we killed three bears and captured one alive. We entered Lancaster Sound on the 2iet, but unexpectedly finding our prog- ress stopped by a barrier of ice off Cape Warrender, we crossed and recrossed the Sound three times without finding a lead. Finally the ice opened along the southern shore and allowed us to push through to the entrance of Admiralty Inlet, where we found more clear water, and eventually succeeded in clearing the pack, which was about fifty miles wide. We now steered for Beechy Island, and when opposite Regent Inlet were enveloped in a fog, which settled down on ws like a wet blanket, hiding the sun and the land. The compass was so NEAR THE MAGNETIC POLE that it became useless, and for two days we literally groped our way through the whole length of Barrow Strait, with an easterly gale, accompanied by snow, sleet, hail, and occasionally ice streams, Then the fog lifted in the evening, and we found ourselves at the entrance of Radstock Bay, within sight of Beechy Island, which showed some good guessing on the part of Captain Young and his navigating officer, We soon could dis- tinguish a yacht, among many things left here by Ross in 1850, drawn up on the beach, her mast still upright, together with two life- boats and “Northumberland House.” We anchored at midnight, the gale blowing northwest, causing a heavy surf. We went ashore next morning, and quite a SCENE OF DESTRUCTION and ruin greeted us. “Northumberland House” had been broken into, and, at first glance, it seemed as if nearly all the stores left here by former expeditions had been destroyed. The ground was covered with ting of meat, pemmican and vegetables, N Milla rse Pt 4g, C.Southamp ae ON \BAY 80 Longitude 75 West from 70Qreenwich Ben acing bales of clothes and rolls of blankets, bundles of flannel, heaps of clothing, hanks of yarn, hundreds of pairs of woollen socks and mittens scattered about in the wildest confusion. The marauders had entered by the south window, and to enlarge it had torn out nearly the whole side of the house, which had been built of boards. The snow had drifted in during the winter, then had partly melted in the summer, then frozen and thawed during the succeeding winters and summers, until the whole interior of the house, to 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 pemmican cans were punched in and pulled off; and all this was the work of the Polar bears, as the marks of their claws were everywhere, while a cask of rum, standing un- touched near the doorway, was good evidence that “Northumberland House” was not bro- ken into by human housebreakers. They had even gnawed into some barrels of salt beef and emptied them of their contents. It looked as if the bears had been amusing themselves by PLAYING BALL WITH EVERYTHING they could not tear to shreds. Fortunately most of the provisions and part of the cloth- ing were safely headed up in solid iron- hooped baryels. The salt meat and sugar appeared in good condition, and also nearly all the clothing put up in barrels. Captain Young made a survey, so as to report to the Admiralty. He nearly restored everything to order, and left the coals undis- turbed and the few stores, with the intention of forming a depot at Peel Strait in the event of the Pandora being abandoned. The yacht proved on examination to be in good condition and capable of going to sea with slight re- pairs. The life boats, although somewhat damaged, may easily be made seaworthy, but the little wooden boat was split and broken into fragments. The india rubber one nearly all disappeared, except the skele- ton, We visited the graveyard containing the graves of three of Franklin’s men and two of the North Star. We found the wooden headboards well preserved and upright. The artist made a number of sketches and photographs of this place. We weighed anchor the same evening, and steered for Peel Strait with a fair wind. Now came the anxious and critical period of our voyage. Former explorers had found pack ice on the south side of Barrow Strait, blocking the entrance to Peel Strait, into which the ship had never been able to pene- trate far. Would it be possible for us even to enter this strait, this throat of the northwest pas- sage or would we be obliged to turn back at its very entrancé? It soon appeared that we were to form no exception to others, for on the morning of the 27th the inevitable fog which so constantly accompanies the ice arose, and our progress was suddenly stopped by heavy packs extending across our course, xand) 9}, | Bay Salisbury ay, Charles! 70 *C.lsabella > Life Boat Denot 65 860-61 Oo rKane 1853 Birger cule | of Dr.Hayes uDHO Ney C.Melvilles , MULVILLE ete Settiement p O*Bowen C.Adair tts Inlet ow «et ay C.Howbte C.Raper > C.Kater Oe Exeter Sound G.Walsingnam Uber why Sanderson's ope HOLSTEIN [on] ~m C.Mer Cumber cr be nee "ee a oe t NY & ? a quimaux oak ' ae esolution | C.Best ‘C.Chidley We anchored to the ice until the fog lifted, when we were enabled to force our way through loose ice until night; then we came to a_ solid pack extending from Cape Rennel to the west- northwest as far as could be seen from aloft. With a bright, icy sky from the south to the northwest we were again forced to anchor to the ice, taking advantage of the opportunity to fill up with fresh water. By ten o'clock A.M. the following day we discovered o small lane of water along the southern shore, through which we forced the ship, and which apparently led toward Limestone Island. A change now occurred in the weather. This morning it was freezing hard, with atemperature of27deg, Ourrigging was completely covered with frozen spray. Now dark clouds arose in the south, the barome- ter began to fall, the wind to rise, and blasts from the southeast were continuous, We at last succeeded in forcing our way to Limestone Island, where we landed and left a record. We passed inside of Limestone toward evening and were again enveloped in a thick fog, which made navigation very perilous work. It was dark by nine o'clock and we had a high, rocky coast on our port beam, a solid pack on the starboard, a wind on shore and fog, darkness and rain torrents which prevented the coast from being seen at more than acable’s length. The stars were invisible, and, to crown all, there was no com- pass, for our compasses were utterly useless, and we had to grope along in the gloom like a blind man, steering by the wind, which might change at any moment and put uson shore. We nevertheless got through the night without accident, but it was three o'clock before we could see we were off Cape Granite and steering a fair course along the land. Early in the forenoon we passed THE FARTHEST POINT REACHED by the Fox when stopped by the pack before returning to Regent Inlet, and here there was not a particle of ice to be seen to the south in the direction we were going. We were now navigating waters where no ship had ever been able to penetrate before, unless indeed the ill-fated Erebus and the Terror may have gone down here on their last voyage. All on board were now in a fever of expectation, We were now within 250 miles of King William's Land, near where the Erebus and Terror were abandoned after two winters in the pack, and if we found no ice in Peel Sound we were sure of reaching the point and pick- ing up more relics of the lost expedition— perhaps even some of Sir John Franklin's papers, not a scrip of whiclf has ever been found. Besides, if we reached there, we felt hopeful of making the Northwest Passage, the dream of navigators for centuries. The wind now came around to the south- west, but as yet we had no sun to guide us or enable us to take angles or directions; so we followed close along the Somerset coast line. We seemed to be penetrating igto quite another climate, for we were in an iceless Resolute picked upl855 4 60 Cana SI ne ae A a SR SS a Se ere ne a nec SC ee Oe Ld GOODHAABY NYE HE RNHUTY =) Pr es Yowrenrets FR DERICKSHAAB = ce ae sean sea and the cold sting had left the air. The land was quite bare of snow, except where we got a glimpse of the highlands of the in- terior, on which might be perceived patches of snow. In the afternoon we passed a rookery of gulls, secure in their lonely isolation on the face of the rocks at a place where the vegeta- tion formed an extensive green patch down to high water mark. We keep a good lookout on the shore with a powerful astronomical telescope and cairns are constantly reported, but they prove, upon inspection, to be huge granite bowlders, with which this coast, and espe- cially the ridges, are strewn. At six in the evening we reached Ross cairn, on the coast of Somerset, left by him and McClintock in 1849, when they came around the coast from Port Leopold on foot, in search of Sir John Franklin. After divine service Captain Young landed, found the record left by Ross, took it, left a copy and another record of his own. Again, in the night we were enveloped by fog and obliged to heave to and wait until morning brought a clear atmosphere, Once more the sun came out clear and bright as we again flew down the Sound, rapidly diminishing the distance to Bellot’s Straits. It was one of the loveliest days I ever saw, and rather like what one would expect on some sunny southern sea than this grim, un- known Peel Strait. Its waters were as smooth as glass, and reflected the rays of the sun in aflash of dazzling light that blinded the eyes. The air was as soft and mild as a May morning. In the east the low shore ; on North Somerset a mass of bowlders and granite rocks, worn round and smooth, and heaped up in wild confusion; to the west the distant coast of the Prince of Wales’ land, high and mountainous, enfolded in purple mist, and silent, calm and beautiful in the golden light of an Arctic evening. We were now rapidly approaching Bellot’s Straits, and Captain Young was between coasts well known to him from having explored them on foot and laid them down on charts when out in the Fox. At length, low down on the horizon, we sighted Roquette Island, ten miles north of Bellot's Straits, and right be- fore us, surely, we think we will reach the strait poor Bellot discovered. Though we get no further, some of us calculate that we will be there by six, and animated are the discussions and excited our expectations as we gaze eagerly south. The skipper is reserved and taciturn, however, and does not hazard an opinion, for there is a whitish glare on the horizon above and beyond the Roquette Island, which to him has an omin« ous look. It is THE DREADED ICE BLINK, and as we advance it grows broader and higher, until at last white masses of ice begin to rise above the horizon, At four o'clock on the evening of the 30th of August we are at La Roquette, and at the edge of an impenetrable vack that extends 5 eee right across’ the strait from shore to shore, We climb to the foretop, then to the crosg- trees, and see before us a plain of ice extend- ing to the horizon and jammed up against the mouth of Bellot’s Straits. It is old floe ice, from five to twenty feet thick, covered with little hills and hummocks, jammed closely together and as solid as rock. Within two hours after we have been betting high on the probabilities of passing through Behring’s Straits we have suddenly come to THE END OF OUR VOYAGE. We wait patiently, er impatiently, for the change, cruising along the edge of the pack, occasionally making fast to it when stopped by the fog, which envelopes us from time to time, but no change comes, The ice never moves. Toward evening we land on the island, whose summit is about two hundred feet above the level of the sea, butwe are greeted by no signs of open water. Ice, nothing but ice, and the higher we get, the better view we obtain, the more formidable becomes the prospect. Captain Young was here close to bis former encampment when travelling in 1859, The island's coast and ice appeared fymiliar to him, and he recognized and pointed out all the points of interest engraved on his mem- ory while wading in water up to their waists on the dreadful sledge journey when they passed here, scarcely able to drag one leg after the other, worn out with the fatigue of three months’ continuous travel on the ice, and, barely reaching the Fox, they wintered in the east end of Bellot’s Strait before breaking down altogether. There was A SOLITARY ICEDERG distant about ten miles, embedded in the pack, for which it was difficult to account, as it was certainly foreign to these straits, and must have either driven down from Barrow Strait or through McClintock's Channel from the northwest. This berg is important ag bearing on the movements of the ice. For three days we kept moving, continually moving back and forth, avoiding the loose drift ice which more than once showed a disposition to jam us against the pack. On the 3d of September there came a change which was, however, anything but favorable. {Che ico, under the impression of a southerly wind, commenced moving north, and it soon began to creep on either shore as if to cut off our retreat. It now became ne- cessary to consider what we were going to do and whither we were about to winter, for if we lingered much longer it would no longer remain in our power to choose, There was still the chance that the ico might break up if we waited, and let us through, although that now seemed scareely probable; but if it did not we would be inevit- ably caught in a place where there could be no possible objection in wintering. As we wera still too far from King William’s Land to attempt reaching it this summer, and aspring or winter search could not be expected to produce any further results after the journey of McClintock and Hobson, Captain Young went ashore again on Roquette Island to have one more look at the prospect, but there wag NO MORE CHANGE FOR THE BETTER. Away to the southeast, on the shore of Somerset, we could see the huge, lowering, perpendicular cliffsof rock that form the monster gateway to Bellot’s Strait, and beyond the coast of Boothia Felix, bending away to the southwest, a high promontory just on the horizon, the southeastern ex- tremity of the Prince of Wales’ Land; all between this and Boothia, in the direction of King William's Land, an unbroken plain of rugged hummock ice. It was with sad faces we took our last look south over this ghostly plain, against whose dead, heavy, silent inertia all our high hopes, all our fiery enthusiasm, all our rose« colored expectations broke in melancholy gloom. We were only 120 miles from King William's Land. We almost imagined wa could see it, and if we could only get thera we thought we might be sure of making tha Northwest Passage. This pack is probably no more than fifty miles, and yet nearly 6,000 miles between Southampton and San Francisco. There wag only this one little obstacle—this mere cur« tain, as it were—to stop us, but it was ag effectual a barrier toa ship as fifty miles of granite. Reluctantly Captain Young decided. to turn his ship's HEAD TO THE NORTH. There could be no possible use in winter« ing here. It would be far better to return to England, and come back next year with a crew fresh and healthy to try it again, and this is what he decided to do. A CAIRN BUILT. We built a cairn on the island and left w record, and then returned to the ship. Tha ice had now already crept far up both shores, as though trying to surprise and cut us off. The berg we had observed at first, ten miles off, was slowly coming toward Roquetta Island. As the pack moved north thera was achannel in the middle of the Strait still open, and through this we hastily made our escape. Tho race through Peel Sound proved to be a close one, ice following from south and also coming down from the north, Next day we were nearly jammed between them. Just off Cape Pennell the fog lifted, and one morning we found the high rocky coast starboard of us two or three cables’ length. We had scarcely room to put ship about, but succeeded, and were driven into Peel Strait, the ice rapidly closing the out- let. Young saw the ice forming on the waves like oil, and rising and falling with- out breaking. At last we found a lead closed at the farther end by a broad neck of ice. This we charged and got through, finally making our escape through Lancaster Sound without accident. Captain Young then decided to try agaim to find traces of the English expeditions by thoroughly searching the Carey Islands, and, if finding nothing there, to go as far north ag Littleton Island. We reached North East Island, September 11, and landed within sight of a cairn island covered with snow and a furious snow storm blowing before we got away. Upon landing and examining tha cairn we found Nares’ record addressed to tha Admiralty, by which it appeared the expedi« tion were all well, having safely crossed Mele ville Bay and gone up Smith Sound, with every prospect of a favorable season—one of the most favorable perhaps ever recorded. We reached Disco September 20, left thera September 24, passed Cave Farewell Octokel