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certain disasters, a union of means still greater than any one canton can furnish, is requisite to save the population of an entire district. In such cases, the whole nation ought to unite around the altar of their native country, and of humanity. Let us not overlook, in this dispensation, in this urgent and affecting case, in which man receives assistance from his neighbour, his fel low-citizen, and his country, the plan of Providence for uniting man with man, the village with its neighbour, the valley with a whole country, and every part of the nation with the whole nation. The free man respects those sacred bonds which give unity to every nation, and assures it civilization, du ration, and happiness.

ESCHER DE LA LINTH.

Berne, August, 1818.

ACCOUNT OF THE EXPEDITION TO

THE NORTH POLE.

[THE following account of the expedition to the North Pole, to the result of which all Europe is looking with anxiety, has been drawn up from original letters from Captain Ross and Lieut. Robertson of the Isabella, and from other documents; and we consider ourselves particularly fortunate in having had it in our power to present our read ers with so full and interesting an abstract of its proceedings.]

THE ships under Captain Ross's command left Shetland on the 3d May, and, after a good passage across the Atlantic, they reached Cape Farewell on the 22d. The variation now in creased as they advanced to the west, and the thermometer stood at 421°. In latitude 58° 38', and west longitude 50° 54', the first iceberg was seen with much loose ice floating around.

On the 2d of June the main west ice appeared, in latitude 65° and longitude 56°. On the 4th they made the coast of Greenland, in latitude 65° 62'. The variation this day was as follows:

Variation. Ship's head N. to compass, 66° 22′ W. Ship's head S., 58° 23′ W. Ship's head E. S. E., 47° 23′ W. Ship's head W., 77° 34' W. On the 8th of June the Isabella was hemmed in with ice on all sides; and though a south-west gale was blowing, she was obliged to tack about where she could find room.

On the 9th of June they anchored to an iceberg, which was aground about a mile from the shore, in 38 fathoms of water, in latitude 68° 22′, and longitude 53° 42', and they now obtained an accurate measure of the variation, free from any irregularity in the action of the ship. The varia tion was found to be 67° 39′ W., and the dip 83° 7'. This iceberg was so firmly moored, that the levels of the dipping-needle were not in the slightest degree affected. In anchoring to an iceberg, the boat goes ahead with the anchors, and fixes them before the ship approaches. The ship then stands. in, and makes fast her bow to the ice. An iceberg that is aground is always preferred; and if it is so low that the bowsprit can lie over it, so much the better.

On the 16th, they touched at the Whale Islands, where there is a Danish resident, who told them that the preceding winter had been a very se

vere one.

On the 15th, the Isabella anchored to an iceberg about a mile from the north-west coast of Waygatt, or Hare Island. All the astronomical apparatus was now got ashore, a temporary observatory was erected, and the following accurate observations on the variation and dip were obtained: North lat. of observatory, 70° 26′ 13′′ West long. of ditto, 54° 51′ 49′′ Variation west, 71° 30'

Dip,

82° 48' 47"

A pendulum, which vibrated 82 se❤ conds more than twenty-four hours in the latitude of London, when the temperature was 52°, vibrated in Waygatt Island 153 seconds more than twentyfour hours, when the temperature was 43°. Waygatt, or Hare Island, is about nine miles long, and 1400 feet high. Some of the rocks are basaltic, and coal is found near the surface, in the north-east part of it. The latitude of the island is 70° 22′ 15′′ W., and its longitude 54° 51′ W., instead of 50° 15', as given in the charts.

On the 20th of June the ice opened a little to the northward, and the Isabella and the Alexander attempted to get to the coast of Greenland, by warping and towing the ships through the straits. The winds were light and variable, with frequent calms. The Isabella was first in the attempt, and was drifted about with the ice, by the tides, till the morning of Monday the

22d. The Alexander, however, was more fortunate, and succeeded in getting over to the land, and into clear water, on the evening of Sunday the 21st, when it anchored to an iceberg to wait for the Isabella.

On the 26th of June, at the distance of only twenty miles from Waygatt Island, the Isabella got into a piece of clear water that carried them to the land-ice, on the north side of Jacob's Bight, where they made the following observations. North latitude, West longitude. Variation on the ice,

71° 21

54° 17' 75° 29'

The ship was now swung, and azimuths taken on board at every five points, when the following results were obtained.

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Variation.

Ship's head, NORTH, 77° 43′ W. Ship's head, NORTH EAST, 70° 30′ W. Ship's head, EAST, 64° 56′ W. Ship's head, SOUTH EAST, 67° 7′ W. Ship's head, SOUTH, 76° 27′ W. Ship's head, SOUTH WEST, 84° 38′ W. Ship's head, wEst, 93° 33′ W. Ship's head, NORTH WEST, 90° 20′ W. Captain Ross is decidedly of opinion, though there is some difference of sentiment on the subject, that the following points are established by his observations: 1. That the deviation occasioned by the direction of the ship head, is not on the magnetic meridian, but differs in every ship. In the Isabella, it is to the east of north, and in the Alexander, and the Harmony of Hull, to the westward of north. 2. That there is a point of change in the deviation, which may easily be found by azimuth or bearings of a distant object; and that when this point of deviation is found, it may in like manner be found what proportion is to be added or subtracted from the true variation, but only by actual observation, for the deviation does not increase either in an arithmetical or logarithmic proportion. On board the Isabella, and in latitude 74°, the point of change is N. 17° E. The extreme deviation is, when the ship's head is N. 80° W. viz. 19°, which is additive to the true variation; so that with the ship's head W. and N. there is 100° of variation; or by steering W. and N. the ship actually makes a S. by E.

course. On the other hand, the variation decreases when the ship's head is to the east, but not in an equal ratio,

the extreme being 17°, making the variation 64° on that tack.

On the 27th June, when there was the appearance of an opening, the Isabella cast off from the ice, and cruised about in a narrow pool for several days.

On the 2d of July a fine fresh breeze opened a passage for the ships, and on the 3d they were in latitude 71° 30', and on the 4th in latitude 72° 30'. The following measure of the variation was then taken :

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North latitude, 72° 44'
Variation on the ice, 78° 54′ W.

On the 5th of July they were in 73° 15′ north latitude, and 57° 14′ west longitude. Some of the Esquimaux families visited both the Isabella and the Alexander. The women are dressed in the same manner as the men, only their hair is tied on the crown of their head, and they have a small sort of peak on the fore and after part of their jackets. These families reported, that the part of the sea where they were had been clear of ice the whole winter; that no whales had been seen during the season; and that, in their opinion, there would be plenty of clear water to the northward. This opinion was considered probable; for though the number of icebergs were, in the present latitude, as at Riskoll, Waygatt Island, and Black Hook, almost beyond belief, yet the field ice appeared by no means so close as to stop their progress. One of these icebergs, which was measured, was 123 feet above water, and aground in 125 fathoms, yet this was a very small one compared with some hundreds that had been seen. Whenever the depth of water is under 100 fathoms, there are found immense mountains of ice aground. In fine weather, streams of perfectly fresh water are continually flowing from them. Whenever a fog, with a north wind, touches these icebergs, it becomes ice, and adds to their bulk. The air, during these fogs, is 28°, and the water 314; but in clear weather the temperature has risen so high as 84° on an iceberg in the sun.

"From the 65th deg. to this, says Mr Robertson, the sea is literally covered with bergs, and we see no end to them: Where they are generated is yet unknown to us;

it is not in 74. or to the southward on this coast. That they are formed on the land is certain, from the many stones of great size which are seen;-some of them are

Covered with sand and dirt, others have regular strata of sand and stones running through them horizontally. They are of all forms generally they have a high cleft on one side, and shelve down to the water on the other; some exceed 200 feet perpendicular all round. Loose or stream ice consists of pieces about the size of an acre and under; about a foot above the surface, when it is blown together by strong winds, one piece is edged up on the top of another; it is then called packed ice, or a pack.Flaws are large pieces of field ice. The ice generally drifts with the wind, though a current must set southward, or how would the bergs find their way south. We have not been able to detect any current. The flood tide sets here from southward.

At

In

Waygatt we had a rise and fall of seven feet at spring tides. Where the icebergs drift into shallow water (that is to say 150 fathoms or under) they ground, and obstruct the passage of the smaller ice, and form barriers which it is difficult to pass. In 68 there is a reef, in 70 another, in 74 another, generally found full of ice by the fishers; we have found it the same. standing a few leagues from land we find 85 fathoms here, closer on 150, 90, and so on. The water runs in small streams from the bergs, so we have no difficulty in getting it. I am now more sanguine of get ting a long way north and west than I was at the first of the voyage. I am of opinion that the ice will clear away, and that very soon. The small ice has been for some time consuming fast, and will be all dissolved by the end of this month, even without wind to break it."

The following measure of the variation was taken on the 5th of July. North latitude, West longitude,

73° 20'

57° 14'

Variation on the ice, 80° 1' W. On the 7th of July, in 74°, the ships were again obstructed by the ice. The icebergs and the flaws were much heavier than they had hitherto appeared. The ship now reached the Three Islands discovered by Baffin about 200 years ago. They are situated in lat. 74° 4', and in west long. 57° 45' greatly to the west of the point formerly assigned to him. Captain Ross has found, in general, that the coast of Greenland, above the lat. of 68°, is about 100 miles farther to the west than in the Admiralty charts. The dip was here 84° 9'.

On the 9th and 10th, the ships stood to the westward, but they found the ice quite fast. Baffin was stopped by the ice in that very spot, and at the same season of the year.

On the 17th of July, the vessels took advantage of an opening in the VOL. IV.

ice, and got to the lat. of 74° 43', where they were again stopped and fast to a field in a thick fog which froze as it fell, and covered every thing with ice. The compasses were now traversing very sluggishly, owing probably to the increase of the dip.

On the 22d of July, an opening in the ice enabled the ship to reach 75° of north lat. The following measure of the variation was then taken : North Lat. 74° 55' Variation on the ice, 84° 30' West. The coast of Greenland now appeared a continued smooth ridge of snow, variegated here and there with the black peak of a lofty mountain.* Some of the large islands on the coast appear less covered with snow. The land ice extends to the distance of three or four leagues from the land, so that it is impossible to approach the coast in this latitude. Soundings were here taken in from 2 to 400 fathoms, and soft mud and small stones were obtained. No current could be observed by the lead lying at the bottom, although the ice on the surface was in motion.

lat. 75° 21', and long. 60°. 30'. The On the 25th of July they reached weather was now clearer than it had been for some time, and the variation was increasing so fast, that it became difficult to find out exactly how the ship was steering by the compass.The following measure of the variation was taken,

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On the afternoon of the 25th, the Isabella was jammed between two flaws of ice, and having seen a whale ship at a short distance, Captain Ross resolved to send home his despatches with her, lest he should not fall in with another, and lest the ice should open and separate them. Just before the despatches were sent off, the ice

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98

closed all round them. They were 3 miles from a small rocky island, in 270 fathoms mud; and the island, which was distant 5 miles from the main land, was connected with it by ice. Land was seen bearing north west by west.

Captain Ross states, that he has encountered four burrows of ice: one in lat. 68°, one in 70°, one in 72° 40', and another, which he had passed, and which he hopes to be the last, in 74° 30'. He does not venture to hazard an opinion respecting the ultimate success of the enterprise, but every thing had hitherto been favourable, and there were obvious appearances of Neither the the ice clearing away. Isabella nor the Alexander had met with any accident, and there had not been a single invalid on board of either ship. The voyage had been in every For five or six respect pleasant. weeks, the first reef was taken in only once. The water was in all weathers as smooth as a mill-pond. There was scarcely any rain. The sun sometimes shone without a cloud during the whole 24 hours, and the only changes of weather were from cloudy weather to thick fogs, and sometimes light falls of snow.

The whale vessel which brought Captain Ross's despatches, brought also several boxes, containing minerals and objects of natural history for Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. Sir Everard Home, Bart. Mr Barrow, Professor Jameson, and Dr Brewster; all of which were released at the custom-house by an order from the Lords of the Treasury. The box for Professor Jameson contains

specimens of the mineralogy of the different places on the coast of Green

We regret to learn, that the boxes landed at Leith were opened by the customhouse officers, and so roughly handled, that a very important part of one of the collec

tions was utterly ruined. We trust that in
future an order from government will pre-
vent such unnecessary and absurd interfer-

ence.

10

land at which the expedition touched,
and three bottles of water, one from a
field of ice, one of the water taken from
the surface at the temperature of 32
and the other at the depth of 80 fa-
thoms, as brought up by Sir H. Davy's
apparatus.. When this apparatus is
kept down 15 minutes at 80 fathoms,
it gives the same temperature, when
drawn up, as the self-registering ther-
mometer.

Some water, when taken up, was at 30°; and, at the same time, the self-registering thermometer, at 200 fathoms, gave 28°. The wind was south, and the ice driving to the north.

The specific gravity of the sea water, in lat. 74°, and temperature 46°, is 1.0266, and at temperature 49°, 1.0260, when taken from a depth of The temperature was 80 fathoms. 31° when it was brought up; but it could not be weighed at that temperature, as it contained much fixed air.

The box for Dr Brewster contains various specimens from different parts of the coast of Greenland, and from Waygatt Island; and likewise specimens of the strata of stones and rocks taken from the principal icebergs.

We shall now conclude this notice with a tabular view of the variation and dip of the needle at different points of the ship's course.

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Variation on the Ice. 67° 39 W

Dip of the Needle. 83° 71' 0" 82 48 47

71

26 13
2.30

51 51 49

71 30

54 17 0

75 29

72 44 0

78 54

57 45 0

84 9

84 30

74 4 0
0
74 45
75 5 0 60 22

0

87 0 84 25

From these observations it appears, that the ships were approaching rapidly to the magnetic pole. From the observations on the variation, which were previously made, we are disposed to think that there is a succession of poles, or a magnetic ridge, as it may be called, with a diffused and moveable polarity, stretching to the west of Baffin's Bay. The above observations, however, do not yet enable us either to confirm or overthrow this conjecture.

LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.

Discovery of a great Bank of Cod off the Shetland Islands. We are informed that an immense bank covered with Cod has been discovered, extending from Papa Westra, in Orkney, along the west coast of the Shetland Islands. Already the fishing has been great. Next season it is expected that this hitherto hidden treasure will afford lucrative employment to several hundred sail of fishing vessels. The fishermen

report, that from 150 to 200 sail of vessels can fish on it, and out of sight of each other. We expect, in a future Number, to communicate a full account of this important discovery.

Dr Hibbert. We understand Dr Hibbert has just returned from the Shetland Islands, after having spent five months in the active and successful investigation of their mineralogy. He has brought with him a most extensive series of the rocks and minerals of that remote region-and the descriptions he has executed are so complete and satisfactory, that we expect, ere long, from this enterprising naturalist, a complete mineralogical history map of Shetland.

Measurement of Heights by Barometer. The method of measuring heights by the Barometer is about to receive a very important improvement, by introducing into the common formula a correction for humidity. Mr Adam Anderson, Rector of the Academy of Perth, who has devoted much of his attention to this subject, and published the results of his inquiries in the Article HYGROMETRY in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia, conducted by Dr Brewster, has lately ascertained, that the density of the atmospheric vapour diminishes as we ascend, in a much faster ratio than that of air itself; and that the disproportionate effects thus produced by the elasticity of the vapour, at the upper and lower stations, cause a deviation from the law by which the density of the air, at different elevations, has hitherto been supposed to be regulated. The deviation of the density of the atmospherical strata from the condition produced by perfect elasticity, is, however, frequently counteracted by the dilatation of the whole column of air, by means of the vapour which it holds in solution; and sometimes these disturbing causes are so nicely balanced, that the density of the air, as we ascend, differs but little from what it would be, if the air were perfectly elastic. other times, the difference is considerable, and leads to very great errors, in the ordinary formula for calculating heights, by the barometer, particularly when the air is very damp. By applying to the formula two corrections, one of which is immediately

At

connected with the varying elasticity of the vapour, at the upper and lower stations; and the other with the expansion which the vapour produces upon the intermediate co lumn of air, Mr Anderson has derived a formula, the results obtained from which agree, as near as can be expected from the nature of the data, with the heights deduced from Geometrical measurement. These corrections are exceedingly intricate, both with regard to the manner of deriving and applying them; but this is perhaps inseparable from the nature of the quantities themselves.

Heights of Hills in Scotland. It is somewhat singular, that the lofty hill called Benvracky, which terminates the vale of Athole on one hand, and the Strath of Garry, with the beautiful Parks of Blair, on the other, has never been classed among the remarkable mountains of Perthshire. This is more a matter of surprise, as the view from its summit is one of the most beautiful and extensive among the Alpine scenery of Scotland, presenting at once a fine assemblage of all that is grand and interesting in a landscape. Its height has lately been determined to be 2,756 feet above the level

of the sea.

This is the result of three Barometrical calculations, and one Geometrical measurement, conducted with every attention to accuracy, in reference to a point in the parish of Moulin, near the banks of the Tummel, the height of which above the level of the sea was carefully deduced from a series of contemporaneous observations with the barometer made at the point alluded to, and the manse of Kinfauns. On account of the coincidence of result in all these cases, the height thus obtained must be extremely near the truth. Cairn-Our, the loftiest of the Ben Gloe mountains, situated about 8 miles north from Benvracky, and overlooking Glen Tilt, has been determined, by referring it to the same point, to be 3690 feet above the level of the sea.

Limit of Congelation. It appears from information which comes from Switzerland and other alpine districts, that an opinion has partly obtained, of the increase of ice generally, and the descent of the limit of congelation. From the Tyrol, it is said, that "In this country an extraordinary increase of the glaciers is remarked in several places. A mass of ice, which advanced from the Sindner valley, has increased from the 6th of May to the 30th of July, 76 fathoms. In many parts of Switzerland the same remark is made. Where, only one generation back, the most fertile alpine pastures were seen, there is now eternal ice; and the line of snow seems, in the course of time, to

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