A Remarkable Arctic Voyage Author(s): Clements R. Markham Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 36, No. 1 (Jul., 1910), pp. 63-65 Published by: geographicalj Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1777654 Accessed: 19-06-2016 05:01 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Wiley, The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal This content downloaded from 194.47.65.106 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 05:01:10 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms A REMARKABLE ARCTIC VOYAGE. 63 Mount Robson is a degree and a half farther north than the moun- tains along the Canadian Pacific, and snow-line and timber-line are lower by about 500 feet. There is no other peak south of Alaska which presents 7500 or 8000 feet of neve and glacier, such as one finds on the north side of Mount Robson. A REMARKABLE ARCTIC VOYAGE.* By Sir CLEMENTS R. MARIHAM, K.C.B., F.R.S. AN important Arctic voyage was made in 1906, by the Canadian steam- ship Arctic (the former Gauss, built at Kiel, tonnage 650 (gross), 436 (net), H.P. 275, going 7 knots, 165 feet X 37 feet X 22 feet), under the command of Captain Bernier. It appears that the Parry Islands were ceded to the Dominion by the Imperial Government in 1880, and Captain Bernier was sent to assert Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic Regions. He made his way to Melville island and returned to Pond's bay in one season. PI'arry's first voyage is one of the most memorable on record, both for its extensive discoveries and because it was then that the great explorer organized the first modern Arctic winter. Parry was favoured with an extraordinarily open season. He crossed the entrance of Wellington channel on August 22, 1819, found a narrow lane of water between the land and the heavy ice-floes, and reached Melville island without a check on September 1. In the following year he left Melville island to return, on August 26, and passed down Lancaster sound on the 31st, ten days on the outward and five on the homeward voyage, the distance from Cape Warrender, at the entrance of Lancaster sound, to the south-east point of Melville island being 350 miles. Thirty years passed away before expeditions in search of Sir John Franklin entered the portals of Lancaster sound and attempted to follow the track of Parry. But all were stopped by an impenetrable ice-field extending from Cape Walker to Cornwallis island. It was on the edge of that ice that the present writer first made the acquaint- ance of Dr. Elisha Kent Kane: 1850 was a season which would allow neither sailing ship nor steamer to pass. But in 1852, the ice was more open. The Resolute and Intrepid left Beechey island on the 15th of August. They were detained for six days off Lowther island, but afterwards made their way to Melville island between the ice and land, always with heavy pack in the offing. * Briefly noticed in Geographical Journal, January, 1907, p. 93. For Captain Bernier's later expedition, see Geographical Journal, January, 1910, p. 81. This content downloaded from 194.47.65.106 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 05:01:10 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 64 A REMARKABLE ARCTIC VOYAGE. They reached Melville island on September 1, the same day as Parry. After the first winter they got clear on August 18, but were beset on the 22nd, and had to winter in the pack 26 miles south-west of Cape Cockburn. In 1854 the ships were abandoned, but the Resolute drifted safely out, and was met with in Davis strait, in about 67? N., on September 10, 1855. More than half a century passed away before another attempt was made to reach Melville island. In 1906, Captain Bernier, in the Arctic, faced the difficult navigation to execute the orders of the Canadian Government. After examining Eclipse sound by way of Navy Board inlet, where he obtained ninety salmon, Captain Bernier was at Port Leopold on August 23, and the next day he landed on Griffith island to take possession. Sir Tesey Hamilton and I are now the joint living fathers of Polar exploration; and this landing on Griffith island, for the first time since 1851, has a peculiar interest for us who took so many walks together up the ravines of that notable Arctic land, in the memorable winter of 1850-51. Captain Bernier steamed thence to Cape Sheringham, on Cornwallis island, and then between Somerville and Brown islands towards Cape Cockburn. Both these islands are known to me, one low, the other with lofty cliffs. Early in the April of 1851 I was sledging from one to the other, and the view from the cliffs of Brown island consisted of one sheet of ice in every direction to the horizon, looking as if it would never move. Captain Bernier, however, steamed gaily between the islands in open water, though he was beset in heavy ice the next day. The ice slackened on the 28th, so that he was able to land at Cape Cockburn and find one of McClintock's records. He reached and landed on the south-east point of Melville island on the 29th, three days before either Parry or Kellett. The return voyage was equally prosperous. Passing Lowther island, Captain Bernier landed under the lofty cliff of Cape Walker on the 30th, then crossed Barrow's strait for shelter from a gale in Resolute harbour, proceeding thence to Beechey island. At the old Franklin winter quarters he was engaged in making a cement foundation for the Franklin tablet, placed there by Sir Leopold McClintock, and setting it upright. He also raised Sir John Ross's little yacht Mary, and placed her clear of the sea. On September 4 Captain Bernier left Beechey island, and went down Admiralty inlet for 150 miles, where it ends. This is an inte- resting piece of geographical discovery. He wintered in Pond's bay. In the next season of 1907 he visited Jones sound, which he found full of one year's ice, and went down Prince Regent's inlet as far as Cape Kater. The voyage to Melville island and back in one season is undoubtedly the most remarkable Arctic voyage on record. The part of Captain Bernier's report which treats of the Baffin's bay This content downloaded from 194.47.65.106 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 05:01:10 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA. 65 whale fishery is depressing. Only one right whale was sighted from the Arctic during two seasons. In 1907, with eight steamers, the take was only three whales, yielding 97 tons of blubber and 32 cwt. of bone. One ship, the Windward, was lost and became a total wreck at the Cary islands. One is glad to hear that the good old Morning is still in being. The whalers now have to take out a licence from the Canadian Government. THE DISCOVERY OF THE NORTH COAST OF SOUTH AMERICA ACCORDING TO AN ANONYMOUS MAP IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM.' By Dr. J. DENUOE. THE cartography of South America, as of the rest of the continent, dates from the year 1500 with the map of the world by Juan de la Cosa, the pilot of Christopher Columbus. It is generally admitted that this document is based upon the explora- tions of Vicente Yanez Pinzon and of Diego de Lepe. The author, in point of fact, was well acquainted with the American coast from Cape San Roque to the mouth of the Orinoco, and there he commenced observations of his own in the course of Hojeda's expedition in 1499. Thirty years later we come across another map issued by official Spanish cosmographers; this is the map of the world of Diego Ribeiro, of the year 1529. This pilot gives information to the effect that the coast between the Rio Dulco (Orinoco) and Cape San Roque, after having been travelled along once or twice since the discovery of the New World, was not further known to Spanish navigators.t This would lead to the belief that the Seville Cartographical Service, which was specially charg3d with preparing and preserving a model chart, or " padron real," knew only of the discoveries of Pinzon and Lepe. These two captains had furnished to Andres de Morales, map-maker of Seville, information for the construction of a map which he had prepared of the region in question, and which had probably served as a model for Ribeiro. Now, the outline and nomenclature of the map of 1529 differ very markedly from those of Juan de la Cosa's map, and it is evident that Ribeiro borrowed from other sources. Be the declaration of the royal cosmographer whom we have just named what it may, and the prototypes which he may have had before him, it is clear that the Hydrographic Service at the Casa de Contratacion of Seville ignored or took no notice of some very good maps at the command of travellers, such as the portulans of Freducci, Reinel, Maggiolo, etc., which were derived in part from Spanish mcdels.