Cape which now bears the name of my lamented friend Captain
Flinders, had the pleasure to find the coast trending north-north-east,
with the sea in the offing unusually clear of islands, a circumstance
which afforded matter of wonder to our Canadians who had not previously
had an uninterrupted view of the ocean.
Our course was continued along the coast until eight P.M. when a change
in the wind and a threatening thunder-squall induced us to encamp, but
the water was so shallow that we found some difficulty in approaching the
shore. Large pieces of driftwood gave us assurance that we had finally
escaped from the bays. Our tents were scarcely pitched before we were
assailed by a heavy squall and rain, which was succeeded by a violent
gale from west-north-west which thrice overset the tents during the
night. The wind blew with equal violence on the following day and the sea
rolled furiously upon the beach. The Canadians had now an opportunity of
witnessing the effect of a storm upon the sea and the sight increased
their desire of quitting it.
Our hunters were sent out and saw many deer but the flatness of the
country defeated their attempts to approach them; they brought however a
few unfledged geese. As there was no appearance of increasing our stock
of provision the allowance was limited to a handful of pemmican and a
small portion of portable soup to each man per day. The thermometer this
afternoon stood to 41 degrees. The following observations were obtained:
latitude 68 degrees 18 minutes 50 seconds North, longitude 110 degrees 5
minutes 15 seconds West, but 109 degrees 25 minutes 00 seconds West was
used in the construction of the chart as the chronometers were found, on
our return to Hood's River, to have altered their rates; variation 44
degrees 15 minutes 46 seconds East and dip of the needle 89 degrees 31
minutes 12 seconds.
On August 18th, the stormy weather and sea continuing, there was no
prospect of our being able to embark. Dr. Richardson, Mr. Back, and I
therefore set out on foot to discover whether the land within a day's
march inclined more to the east. We went from ten to twelve miles along
the coast, which continued flat, and kept the same direction as the
encampment. The most distant land we saw had the same bearing
north-north-east, and appeared like two islands which we estimated to be
six or seven miles off; the shore on their side seemingly tended more to
the east so that it is probable Point Turnagain, for so this spot was
named, forms the pitch of a low flat cape.
Augustus killed a deer in the afternoon but the men were not able to find
it. The hunters found the burrows of a number of white foxes and Hepburn
killed one of these animals, which proved excellent eating, equal to the
young geese with which it was boiled and far superior to the lean deer we
had upon the coast. Large flocks of geese passed over the tents flying to
the southward. The lowest temperature today was 38 degrees.
Though it will appear from the chart that the position of Point Turnagain
is only six degrees and a half to the east of the mouth of the
Copper-Mine River, we sailed, in tracing the deeply-indented coast, five
hundred and fifty-five geographical miles, which is little less than the
direct distance between the Copper-Mine River and Repulse Bay, supposing
the latter to be in the longitude assigned to it by Middleton.
When the many perplexing incidents which occurred during the survey of
the coast are considered in connection with the shortness of the period
during which operations of the kind can be carried on, and the distance
we had to travel before we could gain a place of shelter for the winter,
I trust it will be judged that we prosecuted the enterprise as far as was
prudent and abandoned it only under a well-founded conviction that a
farther advance would endanger the lives of the whole party and prevent
the knowledge of what had been done from reaching England. The active
assistance I received from the officers in contending with the fears of
the men demands my warmest gratitude.
OBSERVATIONS ON THE PROBABILITY OF A NORTH-WEST PASSAGE.
Our researches, as far as they have gone, favour the opinion of those who
contend for the practicability of a North-West Passage. The general line
of coast probably runs east and west, nearly in the latitude assigned to
Mackenzie's River, the Sound into which Kotzebue entered, and Repulse
Bay, and I think there is little doubt of a continued sea in or about
that line of direction. The existence of whales too on this part of the
coast, evidenced by the whalebone we found in Esquimaux Cove, may be
considered as an argument for an open sea; and a connection with Hudson's
Bay is rendered more probable from the same kind of fish abounding on the
coasts we visited, and on those to the north of Churchill River. I allude
more particularly to the Capelin or Salmo arcticus which we found in
large shoals in Bathurst's Inlet and which not only abounds, as Augustus
told us, in the bays in his country, but swarms in the Greenland firths.*
The portion of the sea over which we passed is navigable for vessels of
any size; the ice we met, particularly after quitting Detention Harbour,
would not have arrested a strong boat. The chain of islands affords
shelter from all heavy seas and there are good harbours at convenient
distances. I entertain indeed sanguine hopes that the skill and exertions
of my friend Captain Parry will soon render this question no longer
problematical.
