Following in chronological order the interesting voyages of the Pandora, but of a totally different character was the remarkable land journey of over two thousand eight hundred nineteen geographical miles by Lieutenant Schwatka, U. S. A., with W. H. Gilder, in the years of 1878-1879, undertaken for the purpose of discovering the Franklin records, should they still exist on King William Land, or in the vicinity of the route taken by the survivors of the Erebus and Terror.

Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka was of Polish descent, American by birth, and had served with distinction in the Third Cavalry. His daring and courage led him to a desire for Arctic adventure, and, having secured leave of absence from the government and the support of the National Geographic Society, he left New York on the 19th of June, 1878, in the Esther, with four companions, under the following instructions:—

“Upon your arrival at Repulse Bay, you will prepare for your inland journey by building your sledges and taking such provisions as are necessary. As soon as sufficient snow is on the ground, you will start for King William Land and the Gulf of Boothia. Take daily observations, and whenever you discover any error in any of the charts, you will correct the same. Whenever you shall make any new discoveries, you will mark the same on the charts; and important discoveries I desire to be named after the Hon. Charles P. Daly and his estimable wife, Mrs. Maria Daly. Any records you may think necessary for you to leave on the trip, at such places as you think best, you will mark ‘Esther Franklin Arctic Search Party, Frederick Schwatka in command; date, longitude, and latitude; to be directed to the President of the National Geographic Society, New York, United States of America. Should you be fortunate in finding the records, remains, or relics of Sir John Franklin or his unfortunate party, as I have hopes you will, you will keep them in your or Joe’s control, and the contents thereof shall be kept secret, and no part thereof destroyed, tampered with, or lost. Should you find the remains of Sir John Franklin or any of his party, you will take the same, have them properly taken care of, and bring them with you. The carpenter of the Esther will, before you start on your sledge journey, prepare boxes necessary for the care of relics, remains, or records, should you discover the same. Whatever you may discover or obtain, you will deliver to Captain Thomas F. Barry, or whoever shall be in command of the schooner Esther or such vessel as may be despatched for you. You are now provisioned for eighteen months for twelve men. I shall next spring send more provisions to you, so that in the event of your trip being prolonged, you shall not want for any of the necessaries of life. You will be careful and economical with your provisions, and will not let anything be wasted or destroyed. Should the expedition for which it is intended prove a failure, make it a geographical success, as you will be compelled to travel over a great deal of unexplored country.”

Winter quarters were established at Camp Daly on the shore ice of Hudson Bay, and intercourse kept up among the natives of Chesterfield Inlet, for the purpose of enlisting their support on the sledge journeys planned for the spring and to secure all available information regarding Sir John Franklin or his unfortunate crew.

By the 1st of April, the sledge party started on the long march towards King William Land. Lieutenant Schwatka was accompanied by the original party of four white men and fourteen Eskimos. The sleds were drawn by forty-two dogs; the loads aggregated about five thousand pounds on the day of starting, consisting largely of walrus meat for the dogs, a liberal equipment of guns, ammunition, and articles of trade, besides the following list of provisions:—

This, it will be seen, was only about one month’s rations for seventeen people, and was, in fact, nearly exhausted by the time the party reached King William Land. Dependence was placed on the hunting and abundance of game; five hundred and twenty-two reindeer, besides musk-oxen, polar bears, and seals were secured in the course of the entire journey.

Travelling overland to the Back River, the party experienced all the fatigues incident to sledge progress, especially the Americans, who, unaccustomed to long marches, suffered greatly from blistered feet and muscular soreness. The country seemed alive with game, and on the 11th of May seven reindeer were killed and on the 13th as many as nine.

The northern shore of the Back River is bounded by high hills, almost a mountain range, and inland could be seen rocky hills piled together, barren and forbidding. About noon on the 14th, the party came upon some freshly cut blocks of snow turned up on end,—a sure sign of natives in the vicinity,—and farther on footprints in the snow as well as a cache of musk-ox meat. Following the tracks after breaking camp the next day, the party soon reached several igloos, and communication was immediately established with the inhabitants. The chief spokesman was an Okjoolik, who with his family comprised all that was left of the tribe which formerly occupied the western coast of Adelaide Peninsula and King William Land. From this interesting and important witness much information about the Franklin party was gained. When quite a little boy he had seen some white men alive, and from the description it might have been Lieutenant Back and his party. Years later, he saw a white man dead in the bunk of a big ship, which was frozen in near an island about five miles west of Grant Point on Adelaide Peninsula. He and his son had seen the tracks of white men on the mainland. The natives had boarded the ship at intervals, and, not knowing how to use the doors, had cut a hole in the side on a level with the ice and entered for the purpose of stealing wood and iron. In the following spring, the ship had filled with water and sunk. There were evidences that people had lived aboard the ship, as some cans of fresh meat mixed with tallow were found. There were knives, forks, spoons, pans, cups, and plates aboard, and afterwards a few articles were found on shore after the vessel had gone down.

Another native described seeing two boats on the Back River containing white men, and he also saw a stone monument on Montreal Island containing a pocket knife, a pair of scissors, and some fish hooks, but no papers of any description.

After an encampment of two days and a half, Lieutenant Schwatka continued his journey accompanied by some of these natives as guides.

In native encampments beyond Ogle Point and Richardson Point, an old woman was found who proved an interesting witness; she had been one of a party who had met some of the survivors of the Erebus and Terror on Washington Bay. She described seeing ten white men dragging a sledge with a boat on it. The Innuits encamped near the white men and stayed in their company about five days. The natives had killed some seals which they shared with the white men. In return, the old woman’s husband had been given a knife and other articles now lost. The white men looked very thin, and their mouths were dry and hard and black. The natives moved on, but the white men could not keep up with them, and remained behind. The following spring, the old woman had seen a tent standing on the shore at the head of Terror Bay. In it were dead bodies, and outside were others covered with sand. There was no flesh on them,—nothing but bones and clothes. About the tent were knives, forks, spoons, watches, and many books, besides clothing and other personal articles.

Lieutenant Schwatka visited the cairn erected by Captain Hall over the bones of two of Franklin’s men, near the Pfeffer River; a few relics were gathered up in the vicinity of Adelaide Peninsula, one a bunk fixture with the initials “L. F.” in brass tacks upon it.

Cape Herschel, on King William Island, was reached in June. Lieutenant Schwatka made a thorough examination of the western shore of the island as far as Cape Felix. At Cape Jane Franklin, Captain Crozier’s camp was found, where the entire company of the two abandoned ships had remained some time; strewn about were many relics of the party and the grave of Lieutenant Irving. Gilt buttons were found among the rotting cloth and mould at the bottom of the grave, and upon one of the stones at the foot of the grave was found a silver medal, two and a half inches in diameter, with a bas-relief portrait of George IV surrounded by the words—

Georgius IIII, D. G. Brittanniarum
Rex, 1820

and on the reverse a laurel wreath surrounded by

Second Mathematical Prize, Royal
Naval College

and inclosing

Awarded to John Irving,
Midsummer, 1830.

The remains of Lieutenant Irving were brought home for burial in Edinburgh.

The record deposited by M’Clintock on the 3d of June, 1859, was also found; much of it was illegible, and the cairn in which it had been deposited had been destroyed by natives.

The return from King William Land was started September 19. It will be remembered that for months the party had subsisted entirely on game found in the locality, that their original supply of provisions had lasted a little more than thirty days, and that the return was in the face of the fast approaching winter. Fortunately, reindeer were seen daily in immense herds.

“We cut quantities of reindeer tallow with our meat,” remarks Gilder, “probably about half our daily food. Breakfast is eaten raw and frozen, but we generally have a warm meal in the evening. Fuel is hard to obtain, and consists entirely of a vine-like moss called ik-shoot-ik. Reindeer tallow is also used for a light. A small flat stone serves for candle-stick, on which a lump of tallow is placed, close to a piece of fibrous moss called mun-ne, which is used for a wick. The tallow melting runs down upon the stone and is immediately absorbed by the moss. This makes a very cheerful and pleasant light, but is most exasperating to a hungry man, as it smells exactly like frying meat. Eating such quantities of tallow is a great benefit in this climate, and we can easily see the effect of it in the comfort with which we meet the cold.”

Directing his course toward the Great Fish-Back River, Lieutenant Schwatka began its ascent in November. The cold was intense, from 20° to 70° below zero.

“We found the travelling on Back’s River much more tedious than we had anticipated,” writes Gilder, “owing to the bare ice in the vicinity of the open-water rapids and the intense cold which kept the air filled with minute particles of ice from the freezing of the steam of the open water.”

On December 28, 1878, Lieutenant Schwatka decided to abandon travel on the Great Fish-Back River, owing to the scarcity of game in the vicinity. The Innuit hunters having reported the land sledging in good condition toward the southeast,—indeed, much better than upon the river,—and indications pointing to an abundance of game in that direction, the party immediately struck out for Depot Island.

The extreme cold experienced at this period of the journey was trying beyond expression, and had a serious effect upon man and beast. Even iron and wood were affected, strong oak and hickory breaking to the touch like icicles. It was a matter of great difficulty to keep the guns in working order, and the wary game would hear the sound of the crunching of the hunters’ tread on the snow at long distances.

“I have frequently heard,” remarks Gilder, “the crunching of the sled runners on the brittle snow—a ringing sound like striking bars of steel—a distance of over two miles.”

The mean temperature for December was -50.4° Fahrenheit, the lowest -69°; on January 3 the thermometer fell to the lowest point experienced by Lieutenant Schwatka’s party, and stood at -70° in the morning and -91° at five o’clock in the afternoon. The party had long been without the fatty food so essential to retain bodily warmth in these fearful temperatures, and the dogs, although fed upon frozen reindeer meat, which, however, has but little nourishment in it in that state for cold weather, began to sicken and die. The small amount of blubber now remaining only served for lighting the igloos at night, and a cooked meal could only be indulged in on days when the party remained in camp and could gather moss for fuel. To add to the general misery under which the return journey was continued, wolves were frequently met with, so ravenous and bold that they attacked the dogs for the purpose of eating the meat thrown out to them. On another occasion:—

“Toolooah was out hunting on the 23d of February,” writes Gilder, “when a pack of about twenty wolves attacked him. He jumped upon a big rock, which was soon surrounded, and there he fought the savage beasts off with the butt of his gun until he got a sure shot, when he killed one, and while the others fought over and devoured the carcass, he made the best of the opportunity to get back into camp. It was a most fortunate escape, as he fully realized.”

Two days later, the same hunter, while following a reindeer not far from camp, was surprised to meet another Innuit, whom he found to be an acquaintance; from this man he learned that Depot Island was about three days’ journey off. Returning to camp with this happy intelligence, it was decided to push on and lighten the sledges at the igloo of this native the following day, and then by forced marches reach Depot Island as soon as possible.

The prospect of finding ships in the harbour, with news from home and friends, did much to revive the hope and spirits of the jaded party, and when, as they approached their destination, friendly natives were encountered, their joy and emotion knew no bounds. But though their reception among the Innuits had been warm and hearty, their joy was tempered with disappointment to find that the only ship in the bay was at Marble Island, and that Captain Barry of the Esther had failed to deposit at Depot Island a thousand pounds of bread and other provisions belonging to Lieutenant Schwatka upon which he had depended. This failure to keep a promise resulted in the party of twenty-two hungry travellers and nineteen starving dogs being forced upon the hospitality of the natives, and in less than a week famine existed in camp, and the situation became desperate. Storms had prevented the hunting of walrus and seal, until the eighth day after their arrival. In the meantime, Lieutenant Schwatka with two companions had pushed on to Marble Island for assistance. All they had to eat was a little walrus blubber, and in a forced march of twenty-four hours they covered seventy-five miles. The desperate situation in the settlement at Depot Island is described by Gilder as follows:—

“People spoke to each other in whispers, and everything was quiet, save the never-ceasing and piteous cries of the hungry children begging for food which their parents could not give them. Most of the time I stayed in bed, trying to keep warm and to avoid exercise that would only make me all the more hungry.”

Four days later, the hunters were successful in killing a walrus, and this timely relief enabled the members of Schwatka’s party to continue their journey to Marble Island. On the first day out, they met a native with relief for the camp. On Saturday, March 21, 1880, the ship George and Mary was reached, where a warm welcome awaited them from Captain Baker. When freed from the ice in the spring, this ship carried the explorers back to civilization.

It will be remembered that, during the entire journey, the reliance for food for man and beast was solely upon the resources of the country, that the white men lived exclusively upon the same fare as the Eskimos, and that the return sledge journey was accomplished during an Arctic winter acknowledged to be of exceptional severity by the natives. To Lieutenant Schwatka’s excellent management, and thorough fitness for his position as commander, was due the success of the expedition.

“All our movements were conducted in the dull, methodical, business-like manner of an army on the march,” writes Gilder. “Every contingency was calculated upon and provided for beforehand, so that personal adventures were almost unknown or too trivial to mention.”

The results of this remarkable journey are summed up in a leading English newspaper published September 25, 1880.

“Lieutenant Schwatka has now dissolved the last doubts that could have been felt about the fate of the Franklin expedition. He has traced the one untraced ship to its grave beyond the ocean, and cleared the reputation of a harmless people from an undeserved reproach. He has given to the unburied bones of the crews probably the only safeguard against desecration by wandering wild beasts and heedless Eskimos, which that frozen land allowed. He has brought home for reverent sepulture, in a kindlier soil, the one body which bore transport. Over the rest he has set up monuments to emphasize the undying memory of their sufferings and their exploits. He has gathered tokens by which friends and relatives may identify their dead, and revisit in imagination the spots in which the ashes lie. Lastly, he has carried home with him material evidence to complete the annals of Arctic exploration.”