CHAPTER XII. PETERMANN'S REVISED PLAN OBSERVATIONS THEREON BEH MR. AUGUSTUS PETERMANN, whose plan of search we have already given (see p. 240), now addressed another communication to the Admiralty, November 29th, 1852,* the results, he says, of more recent and extended researches, and accumulated knowledge. This paper was read before the Royal Geographical Society, November 8th, Sir R. I. Murchison, President. It is entitled, "Sir John Franklin, the Navigableness of the Spitzbergen Sea, and the Whale Fisheries in the Arctic Regions." It will be seen from the title, that this paper, besides the plan of search, embraces other subjects, not within the range of our inquiry. Indeed, the author's object is to show "the advantages which would be likely to accrue in commercial and geographical regards, should an Expedition on his plan be decided on." Mr. Petermann, alluding to his former plan, says, “it was based on the supposition that Franklin had passed up Wellington Channel; and as this supposition has been strongly confirmed by the intelligence recently brought home by Mr. Kennedy, my plan has become of a more direct bearing on the subject." He then takes "a general glance of the subject of the missing Expedition, as it stands at present; and says, "Sir Edward Belcher has been so fortunate as to find an unusually open season, which has allowed him to The search on the track of the missing vessels may be considered to have now actually commenced. The fact that no news has reached us from the Investigator, Capt. M'Clure, for the last two years, seems to suggest that that navigator has not been successful in the region between Behring's Strait and Banks' Land, and my opinion that Sir John Franklin would be found on the Asiatic side of the Polar Regions, seems to become more and more probable. I take it, then, for granted, that Sir John Franklin has been arrested somewhere opposite the Siberian coast, most probably on the land, which, there is reason to think, stretches . sail up Wellington Channel. See Parliamentary Paper, No. 82, "Arctic Expeditions," pp. 78-85. See also "Royal Geographical Society's Journal," vol. xxiii., p. 129. T from the Islands discovered by Capt. Kellett towards the new Siberian Islands. If this be the case, the story of the iceberg off Newfoundland, and the two vessels said to be Franklin's, would seem to find an explanation. We know that the Greenland seas-namely, that part of the Polar Ocean lying between Greenland and Spitzbergenforms the outlet for that mighty current which comes from the Siberian Sea; it effectually clears the Asiatic shore every spring of its ice, which it carries away to the south, into the Atlantic Ocean. A current of such magnitude and force would easily drift away two vessels on the breaking up of their 'ice cradle.' How sudden this might be," Mr. Petermann cites the case of the four Russian sailors, who were left behind at Spitzbergen, by their vessel drifting away in the night; and adds, "In a similar manner Sir John Franklin may have lost his vessels, and have been helplessly . looking forward to relief from directions hitherto entirely neglected. . On the other hand," the author observes, "it is almost impossible that the two vessels . . could have come from the head of Baffin's Bay without being perceived by the whalers, &c., or that the crews would not have made their way to some spot where we should have heard of them." He continues, "Belcher's, M'Clure's, and Inglefield's Expeditions only encompass one-third of the circumference of that portion of the Polar Regions where Sir John Franklin must have been arrested, and the remainder of the region is at present altogether unprovided for. As this is just the region where I, with many others, consider it as most probable that Franklin has been arrested, and also where my proposed route of search is directed to, I am desirous of again drawing attention to my plan. . . The Spitzbergen Sea is by far the widest indeed, the only oceanic opening towards the North Pole, and to the chief Polar Regions. .. Nevertheless, Arctic writers and geographers generally have assumed an impenetrable ice barrier to stretch across that sea, and have pronounced it to be altogether impracticable for navigation. This assumption I consider to be groundless, and as resting upon prejudice and imagination." Mr. Petermann then proceeds to quote the late Rev. Dr. Scoresby, and Admiral Beechey, &c., to prove this sea is navigable. He says, "Spitzbergen reaches beyond lat. 80°, and forms the highest country in latitude yet reached in either hemisphere," and asks, “Where is there another group of islands which could be circumnavigated in a like manner? Compare it to the Parry Group, though in lat. 75°, and the difference will be obvious. In short, the assumed difficulties in the Spitzbergen Sea are groundless, and rest upon a prejudice dating . back to the voyage of Capt. John Wood in 1676." Various authorities are then quoted to prove that Wood was not a trustworthy man; he then proceeds to show the practicability of his plan, which, irrespective of Franklin's Expedition, is of the highest geographical interest, and may lead "to results of great importance to the whale. fishery:" and in concluding observes, " Bearing the preceding points in mind, and assuming that Sir John Franklin has gone up Wellington Channel, and there found a sea of considerable extent, and navigable, like that to the north of Baffin's Bay, the question arises, How is it that nearly seven years have passed without" his "having been able to pass out of that sea into the sea situated to the north of Behring's Straits, in the direction of either the American or the Siberian shores? The most feasible solution of this question that suggests itself to me is, that a tract of land may have hitherto prevented his progress in that region. There are reasons for conjecturing that such a tract of land may extend from the land seen by Capt. Kellett, to the north of Behring's Strait, as far as the eastern coast of Greenland without a single opening. At all events, it admits of scarcely any doubt, that the sea to the north of Baffin's Bay can have no connection with the Polar basin, nor even with the sea beyond Wellington Channel, but that it forms the true head of Baffin's Bay. . . As to the direction to be pursued from the starting-point, namely, midway in the Spitzbergen Sea (about lat. 76° N., and long. 40° E.), probably one direct towards Behring's Strait, IF PRACTICABLE, would be the best, would be in the direction where Sir John Franklin has most probably been arrested. Another route, if more practicable, would be to the New Siberian Islands." as it We have quoted from Mr. Petermann's paper rather at length, because it is in itself highly interesting; but it should be remembered the whole plan is founded on hypothesis. That talented gentleman has, by a skilful arrangement of the few facts we have, raised a goodly structure, but the basis is "rotten at the core," because "based on the supposition that Franklin had passed up Wellington Channel." We have already striven to show that he never attempted the north by that channel; there is not a tittle of proof that he did; on the contrary, all we know argues strongly, that he did not. We cannot see in Mr. Kennedy's 'voyage aught to confirm, or reject, any opinion regarding Franklin's movements in or about the Wellington Channel. In our opinion, if the whole of the support Mr. Petermann derives from the Wellington Channel were washed away, the fair edifice he has raised would still stand, but not as a plan of search for the Franklin Expedition; for in that sense we consider the title a misnomer, and we can only look upon its adoption as a vehicle or means for introducing the question of a Polar Sea, and the practicability of navigating it. As regards the search, so far from thinking that Sir Edward Belcher, by his "fortunate" (?) passage up the Wellington Channel, has now actually commenced the search, we look upon any and every search by that channel as staying the commencement of the search by diverting it from the true direction. We do not comprehend how the absence of news from Capt. M'Clure can in any way render Mr. Petermann's opinion more and more probable" that "Franklin will be found on the Asiatic side." Nor can we permit it to be taken "for granted," from the arguments adduced, "that he is arrested somewhere opposite the Siberian coast." We have no evidence in proof. As to the two vessels seen on an iceberg, as it is very doubtful whether Franklin ever attempted the northern route at all, so much greater are the doubts, then, that those ships drifted down between Greenland and Spitzbergen; we think it more than probable that they came down Baffin's Bay. Whether they were Franklin's ships is purely conjectural, but an excellent paper by Mr. A. G. Findlay, "On the Probable Course of Sir John Franklin's Expedition," goes strongly to prove they were. We think it not unlikely, as our belief has ever been (and the results of Austin's western parties more confirmed that belief), that Franklin's ships were ice-locked on the western side of Melville Sound, that he there was forced to abandon them, that the ice subsequently broke up, and drifted, with them imbedded in it, to the eastward, down Barrow's Strait, Lancaster Sound, and Baffin's Bay; and that, ultimately, they made their appearance off Newfoundland. The drift of Sir James Ross's and Lieut. de Haven's vessels, then known, are analogous cases. The facts adduced by the author, and his remarks, irrespective of the search for Franklin, on the practicability of ascending to the north, between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, and crossing the Polar Basin to the Arctic lands of Asia or America, are, we consider, clever, and mark him as an industrious inquirer; but after all, this paper cannot be estimated other than as a proposition for the solution of a most interesting geographical problem. The conclusions founded on the assumption that Franklin went up Wellington Channel are altogether imaginary, and we must reject them; but assuming that he did, and "there found a sea of considerable extent, and navigable, like that to the north of Baffin's Bay," Mr. Petermann asks, "How * See "Royal Geographical Society's Journal," vol. xxvi., p. 26. * may is it possible that nearly seven years have passed without Sir John Franklin having been able to pass out of that sea into the sea situated to the north of Behring's Strait, in the direction of either the American or Siberian shores?" In attempting to solve this question, he says, "There are reasons for conjecturing that a tract of land extend from the land seen by Captain Kellett, to the north of Behring's Strait, as far as the eastern coasts of Greenland, without a single opening." If such tract really exists, Mr. Petermann has given a reply to the latter part of his question. Its presence would bar all advance to Franklin in the direction of the Siberian shores. Why, then, expect to find the missing Expedition there? Thus much for the conjectured northern limit of this unknown land. The southern had also been indicated at this time; it was supposed that Kellett's Land was continuous to Wollaston Land, thereby shutting Franklin out from the south, and consequently from the coasts of America and the sea to the north of Behring's Strait: thus is a reply given to the question in both directions. True, all this was merely imaginary, but it will be observed that these supposed northern and southern lands form a cul de sac, or gulf, or Mediterranean Sea, of Penny's Sea, the entrances to which are the Wellington Channel and the channels between the Parry Islands: now the velocity and direction of the currents and drift wood out of Penny's Sea go to disprove any such idea. Again, what becomes of the supposed communication between the open water to the north of the Parry Islands and the Polynia of Wrangell, so much calculated upon? He thinks there are two Polar Seas, the Asiatic and the American.† The author concludes the sea discovered by Inglefield to be a mere cul de sac. We have made these remarks to show the spirit of the age. Involving a question of the highest geographical interest, this plan has great merit; but as a plan for the recovery of our lost countrymen, it is altogether in a wrong direction.‡ December, 1852.-Letters were received at the Admiralty from the searching squadron in Behring's Strait,§ from Capt. C. Frederick, * See the Chart in Lieut. W. H. Hooper's "Ten Months among the Tents of the Tuski." ↑ See the Polar Chart in Dr. Sutherland's "Journal of Penny's Voyage," vol. i. See "The Search for Franklin," by Augustus Petermann, F.R.G.S., &c.; also, "Notes on the Distribution of Animals available as Food in the Arctic Regions," by the same author; also, "Royal Geographical Society's Journal, 1852,” vol. xxii., pp. 118 et seq. § See Parliamentary Papers, No. 82, "Arctic Expeditions, 1852," pp. 45-60. |