University of Virginia Library

14. CHAPTER XIV.

Captain Poke no longer deliberated about the
course we were to steer. With his pumpkin for
a chart, his instinct for an observation, and his
nose for a compass, the sturdy sealer stood boldly
to the southward; or, at least, he ran dead before a
stiff gale, which, as he more than once affirmed,
was as true a norther as if bred and born in the
Canadas.

After coursing over the billows, at a tremendous
rate, for a day and a night, the Captain appeared
on deck, with a face of unusual meaning, and a
mind loaded with its own reflections, as was
proved by his winking knowingly whenever he
delivered himself of a sentiment; a habit that he

had most probably contracted, in early youth, at
Stunin'tun, for it seemed to be quite as inveterate
as it was thorough-bred.

“We shall soon know, Sir John,” he observed,
hitching the sea-lion skin into symmetry, “whether
it is sink or swim!”

“Pray explain yourself, Mr. Poke,” cried I, in
a little alarm. “If any thing serious is to happen,
you are bound to give timely notice.”

“Death is always untimely to some crittur's, Sir
John.”

“Am I to understand, sir, that you mean to cast
away the ship?”

“Not if I can help it, Sir John; but a craft that
is foreordained to be a wrack, will be a wrack, in
spite of reefing and bracing. Look ahead, you
Dick Lion—ay, there you have it!”

There we had it, sure enough! I can only
compare the scene which now met my eyes, to a
sudden view of the range of the Oberland Alps,
when the spectator is unexpectedly placed on the
verge of the precipice of the Weissenstein. There
he would see before him a boundless barrier of
glittering ice, broken into the glorious and fantastic
forms of pinnacles, walls and valleys; while
here, we saw all that was sublime in such a view,
heightened by the fearful action of the boisterous
ocean, which beat upon the impassable boundary,
in ceaseless violence.

“Good God! Captain Poke,” I exclaimed, the
instant I caught a glimpse of the formidable danger
that menaced us, “you surely do not mean to
continue madly on, with such a warning of the
consequences in plain view?”

“What would you have, Sir John? Leaphigh
lies on the t'other side of these ice-islands?”

“But you need not run the ship against them—
why not go round them?”

“Because they go round the 'arth, in this latitude.
Now is the time to speak, Sir John. If we
are bound to Leaphigh, we have the choice of
three pretty desperate chances; to go through, to
go under, or to go over that there ice. If we are
to put back, there is not a moment to lose, for it
may be even now questioned whether the ship
would claw off, as we are, with a sending sea,
and this heavy norther.”

I believe I would, at that moment, gladly have
given up all my social stakes to be well rid of the
adventure. Still pride, that substitute for so many
virtues, the greatest and the most potent of all
hypocrites, forbade my betraying the desire to
retreat. I deliberated, while the ship flew; and
when, at length, I turned to the captain to suggest
a doubt that might, at an earlier notice, possibly
have changed the whole aspect of affairs, he bluntly
told me it was too late. It was safer to proceed
than to return, if, indeed, return were possible, in
the present state of the winds and waves. Making
a merit of necessity, I braced my nerves to meet
the crisis, and remained a submissive, and, apparently,
a calm spectator, of that which followed.

The Walrus, (such was the name of our good
ship,) by this time, was under easy canvas, and
yet, urged by the gale, she rolled down, with
alarming velocity, towards the boundary of foam,
where the congealed and the still liquid element
held their strife. The summits of the frozen crags
waved in their glittering glory, in a way just to
show that they were afloat; and I remembered
to have heard that, at times, as their bases melted,
entire mountains had been known to roll over,
engulphing all that lay beneath. To me it seemed
but a moment, before the ship was fairly over-shadowed
by these shining cliffs, which gently
undulating, waved their frozen summits nearly a

thousand feet in air. I looked at Noah, in alarm,
for it appeared to me, that he intentionally precipitated
us to destruction. But, just as I was about
to remonstrate, he made a sign with his hand, and
the vessel was brought to the wind. Still retreat
was impossible; for the heave of the sea was too
powerful, and the wind too heavy, to leave us any
hope of long keeping the Walrus from drifting
down upon the ragged peaks that bristled in icy
glory to leeward. Nor did Captain Poke, himself,
seem to entertain any such design; for, instead
of hugging the gale, in order to haul off from the
danger, he had caused the yards to be laid perfectly
square, and we were now running, at a great rate,
in a line nearly parallel with the frozen coast,
though gradually setting upon it.

“Keep full! Let her go through water, you Jim
Tiger,” said the old sealer, whose professional ardor
was fairly aroused. “Now, Sir John, unluckily, we
are on the wrong side of these ice-mountains, for
the plain reason, that Leaphigh lies to the south'ard
of them. We must be stirring, therefore, for no
craft that was ever launched could keep off these
crags, with such a gale driving home upon them,
for more than an hour or two. Our great concern,
at present, is to look out for a hole to run into.”

“Why have you come so close to the danger,
with your knowledge of the consequences?”

“To own the truth, Sir John, natur' is natur',
and I'm getting to be a little near-sighted as I grow
old; besides, I'm not so sartain that danger is the
more dangerous, for taking a good steady look
plump in its face.”

Noah raised his hand, as much as to say he
wished no answer, and both of us were immediately
occupied in gazing anxiously to leeward. The
ship was just opening a small cove in the ice, which

might have been a cable's length in depth and a
quarter of a mile across its outer, or the widest,
part. Its form was regular, being that of a semicircle;
but, at its bottom, the ice, instead of forming
a continued barrier, like all the rest we had
yet passed, was separated by a narrow opening,
that was bounded on each side by a frowning precipice.
The two bergs were evidently drawing
nearer to each other, but there was still a strait,
or a watery gorge between them, of some two
hundred feet in width. As the ship plunged onward,
the pass was opened, and we caught a
glimpse of the distant view to leeward. It was
merely a glimpse—the impatient Walrus allowing
us but a moment for examination,—but it appeared
sufficient for the purposes of the old sealer. We
were already across the mouth of the cove, and
within a cable's length of the ice again; for as we
drew near what may be called the little cape, we
found ourselves once more in closer proximity to
the menacing mountain. It was a moment when
all depended on decision; and, fortunately, our
sealer, who was so wary and procrastinating in a
bargain, never had occasion to make two drafts
on his thoughts, in situations of emergency. As
the ship cleared the promontory on the eastern
side of the cove, we again opened a curvature of
the ice, which gave a little more water to leeward.
Tacking was impossible, and the helm was put
hard-a-weather. The bow of the Walrus fell off,
and as she rose on the next wave, I thought its
send would carry us helplessly down upon the
berg. But the good craft, obedient to her rudder,
whirled round, as if sensible herself of the danger,
and, in less time than I had ever before known
her to ware, we felt the wind on the other quarter.
Our cats and dogs bestirred themselves, for there
was no one there, Captain Noah Poke excepted,
whose heart did not beat quick and hard. In much
less time than usual, the yards were braced up on
the other tack, and the ship was ploughing heavily
against the sea, with her head to the westward.
It is impossible to give one who has never been in
such a situation, a just idea of the feverish impatience,
the sinking and mounting of hope, as we
watch the crab-like movement of a vessel, that is
clawing off a lee shore, in a gale. In the present
case, it being well known that the sea was fathomless,
we had run so near the danger that not even
the smallest of its horrors was veiled from sight.

While the ship labored along, I saw the clouds
fast shutting in to windward, by the interposition
of the promontory of ice,—the certain sign that
our drift was rapid,—and, as we drew nearer to
the point, breathing became labored and even
audible. Here Noah took a chew of tobacco, I
presume on the principle of enjoying a last quid,
should the elements prove fatal; and then he went
to the wheel in person.

“Let her go through the water,” he said, easing
the helm a little—“let her jog ahead, or we shall
lose command of her in this devil's-pot!”

The vessel felt the slight change, and drew
faster through the foaming brine, bringing us, with
increasing velocity, nearer to the dreaded point.
As we came up to the promontory, the water fell
back in spray on the decks, and there was an instant
when it appeared as if the wind was about
to desert us. Happily the ship had drawn so far
ahead, as to feel the good effects of a slight
change of current that was caused by the air
rushing obliquely into the cove; and, as Noah, by
easing the helm still more, had anticipated this
alteration, which had been felt adversely but a

moment before, while struggling to the eastward
of the promontory, we drew swiftly past the icy
cape, opening the cove handsomely, with the ship's
head falling off fast towards the gorge.

There was but a minute, or two, for squaring
the yards and obtaining the proper position to
windward of the narrow strait. Instead of running
down in a direct line for the latter, Captain
Poke kept the ship on such a course as to lay it
well open, before her head was pointed toward
the passage. By this time, the two bergs had
drawn so near each other as actually to form an
arch across its mouth; and this too, at a part so
low as to render it questionable whether there
was sufficient elevation to permit the Walrus to
pass beneath. But retreat was impossible, the
gale urging the ship furiously onward. The width
of the passage was now but little more than a
hundred feet, and it actually required the nicest
steerage to keep our yard-arms clear of the opposite
precipices, as the vessel dashed, with foaming
bows, into the gorge. The wind drew through
the opening with tremendous violence, fairly howling,
as if in delight at discovering a passage by
which it might continue its furious career. We
may have been aided by the sucking of the wind
and the waves, both of which were irresistibly
drawn towards the pass, or it is quite probable
that the skill of Captain Poke did us good service,
on this awful occasion; but, owing to the one
or the other, or to the two causes united, the
Walrus shot into the gorge so accurately, as to
avoid touching either of the lateral margins of the
ice. We were not so fortunate, however, with
the loftier spars; for, scarcely was the vessel beneath
the arch, when she lifted on a swell, and
her main-top-gallant-mast snapped off in the cap.

The ice groaned and cracked over our heads;
and large fragments fell both ahead and astern of
us, several of them even tumbling upon our decks.
One large piece came down within an inch of the
extremity of Dr. Reasono's tail, just escaping the
dire calamity of knocking out the brains of that
profound and philo-monikin philosopher. In another
instant, the ship was through the pass, which completely
closed, with the crash of an earthquake, as
soon as possible afterwards.

Still driven by the gale, we ran rapidly towards
the south, along a channel less than a quarter of a
mile in width, the bergs evidently closing on each
side of us, and the ship, as if conscious of her jeopardy,
doing her utmost, with Captain Poke still at
the wheel. In little more than an hour, the worst
was over; the Walrus issuing into an open basin
of several leagues in extent, which was, however,
completely encircled by the frozen mountains.
Here Noah took a look at the pumpkin, after which
he made no ceremony in plumply telling Dr. Reasono
that he had been greatly mistaken in laying
down the position of Captivity Island, as he himself
had named the spot where the amiable strangers
had fallen into human hands. The philosopher
was a little tenacious of his opinion; but what is
argument in the face of facts? Here was the pumpkin,
and there were the blue waters! The Captain
now quite frankly declared that he had great doubts
whether there was any such place as Leaphigh at
all; and as the ship had a capital position for such
an object, he bluntly, though privately, proposed to
me, that we should throw all the monikins over-board,
project the entire polar basin on his chart,
as being entirely free from islands, and then go a
sealing. I rejected the propositions, firstly, as premature;
secondly, as inhuman; thirdly, as inhospitable;

fourthly, as inconvenient; and lastly, as
impracticable.

There might have arisen a disagreeable controversy
between us, on this point; for Mr. Poke had
begun to warm, and to swear that one good seal,
of the true quality of fur, was worth a hundred
monkeys; when most happily the panther at the
mast-head cried out that two of the largest of the
mountains, to the southward of us, were separating,
and that he could discern a passage into
another basin. Hereupon Captain Poke concentrated
his oaths, which he caused to explode like
a bomb, and instantly made sail, again, in the
proper direction. By three o'clock, P. M., we had
run the gauntlet of the bergs, a second time, and
were at least a degree nearer the pole, in the basin
just alluded to.

The mountains had now entirely disappeared
in the southern board; but the sea was covered,
far as the eye could reach, with field-ice. Noah
stood on, without apprehension; for the water had
been smooth ever since we entered the first opening,
the wind not having rake enough to knock up
a swell. When about a mile from the margin of
the frozen and seemingly interminable plain, the
ship was brought to the wind, and hove-to.

Ever since the vessel left the docks, there had
been six sets of spars of a form so singular, lying
among the booms, that they had often been the
subject of conversation between the mates and
myself, neither of the former being able to tell
their uses. These sticks were of no great length,
some fifteen feet at the most, of sound English
oak. Two or three pairs were alike, for they
were in pairs, each pair having one of the sides
of a shape resembling different parts of the ship's
bottom, with the exception that they were chiefly

concave, while the bottom of a vessel is mainly
convex. At one extremity each pair was firmly
connected by a short, massive, iron link, of about
two feet in length; and, at its opposite end, a
large eye-bolt was driven into each stick, where
it was securely forelocked. When the Walrus was
stationary, we learned, for the first time, the uses
of these unusual preparations. A pair of the timbers,
which were of great solidity and strength,
were dropped over the stern, and, sinking beneath
the keel, their upper extremities were separated,
by means of lanyards turned into the eye-bolts.
The lanyards were then brought forward to the
bilge of the vessel, where, by the help of tackles,
the timbers were rowsed up in such a manner,
that the link came close to the false-keel, and the
timbers themselves were laid snug against each
side of the ship. As great care had been taken, by
means of marks on the vessel, as well as in forming
the skids themselves, the fit was perfect. No less
than five pairs were secured in and near the bilge,
and as many more were distributed forward and
aft, according to the shape of the bottom. Fore-and-aft
pieces, that reached from one skid to the
other, were then placed between those about the
bilge of the ship, each of them having a certain
number of short ribs, extending upwards and
downwards. These fore-and-aft pieces were laid
along the water-line, their ends entering the skids
by means of mortices and tenons, where they were
snugly bolted. The result of the entire arrangement
was to give the vessel an exterior protection
against the field-ice, by means of a sort of network
of timber, the whole of which had been so
accurately fitted in the dock, as to bear equally
on her frame. These preparations were not fairly
completed before ten o'clock on the following
morning, when Noah stood directly for an opening
in the ice before us, which, just about that time
began to be apparent.

“We sha'n't go so fast for our armour,” observed
the cautious old sealer; “but what we
want in heels, we'll make up in bottom.”

For the whole of that day, we worked our devious
course, by great labor, and at uncertain
intervals, to the southward; and at night, we fastened
the Walrus to a floe, in waiting for the
return of light. Just as the day dawned, however,
I heard a tremendous grating sound against the
side of the vessel; and, rushing on deck, I found
that we were completely caught between two
immense fields, which seemed to be attracted
towards each other for no other apparent purpose
than to crush us. Here it was that the expedient
of Captain Poke made manifest its merits. Protected
by the massive timbers, and false ribs, the
bilge of the ship resisted the pressure; and as,
under such circumstances, something must yield,
luckily nothing but the attraction of gravitation
was overcome. The skids, through their inclination,
acted as wedges, the links pressing against
the keel; and, in the course of an hour, the Walrus
was gradually lifted out of the water, maintaining
her upright position, in consequence of the
powerful nip of the floes. No sooner was this
experiment handsomely effected, than Mr. Poke
jumped upon the ice, and commenced an examination
of the ship's bottom.

“Here's a dry dock for you, Sir John!” exclaimed
the old sealer, chuckling. “I'll have a
patent for this, the moment I put foot ag'in in
Stunin'tun.”

A feeling of security, to which I had been a
stranger ever since we entered the ice, was created

by the composure of Noah, and by his self-congratulation
at what he called his project to get a
look at the Walrus's bottom. Notwithstanding all
the fine declarations of exultation and success,
however, that he flourished among us who were
not mariners, I was much disposed to think that,
like other men of extraordinary genius, he had
blundered on the grand result of his “ice-screws,”
and that it was not foreseen and calculated. Let
this be as it may, however, all hands were soon
on the floe, with brooms, scrapers, hammers, and
nails, and the opportunity of repairing and cleaning
was thoroughly improved.

For four-and-twenty hours the ship remained
in the same attitude, stiff as a church, and some
of us began to entertain apprehensions, that she
might be kept on her frozen blocks for ever. The
accident had happened, according to the statements
of Captain Poke, in lat. 78° 13′ 26″—although I
never knew in what manner he ascertained the
important particular of our precise situation. Thinking
it might be well to get some more accurate
ideas on this subject, after so long and ticklish a
run, I procured the quadrant from Bob Ape, and
brought it down upon the ice, where I made it a
point, as an especial favor, the weather being
favorable and the proper hour near, that our commander
would correct his instinct by a solar observation.
Noah protested that your old seaman,
especially if a sealer and a Stunin'tunner, had no
occasion for such geometry-operations, as he
termed them; that it might be well enough, perhaps
necessary, for your counting-house, silk-gloved
captains, who run between New-York and
Liverpool, to be rubbing up their glasses and
polishing their sextants, for they hardly ever knew
where they were, except at such times; but as for

himself, he had little need of turning star-gazer at
his time of life, and that, as he had already told
me, he was getting to be near-sighted, and had
some doubts whether he could discern an object
like the sun, that was known to be so many thousands
of millions of miles from the earth. These
scruples, however, were overcome by my cleaning
the glasses, preparing a barrel for him to stand
on, that he might be at the customary elevation
above his horizon, and putting the instrument into
his hands, the mates standing near, ready to make
the calculations, when he gave the sun's declination.

“We are drifting south'ard, I know,” said Mr.
Poke, before he commenced his sight—“I feel it
in my bones. We are, at this moment, in 79° 36′
14″—having made a southerly drift of more than
eighty miles, since yesterday noon. Now, mind
my words, and see what the sun will say about it.”

When the calculations were made, our latitude
was found to be 79° 35′ 47″. Noah was somewhat
puzzled by the difference, for which he could in
no plausible way account, as the observation had
been unusually good and certain. But an opinionated
and an ingenious man is seldom at a loss to
find a sufficient reason to establish his own correctness,
or to prove the mistakes of others.

“Ay, I see how it is,” he said, after a little
cogitation; “the sun must be wrong—it should be
no wonder if the sun did get a little out of his track,
in these high, cold latitudes. Yes, yes: the sun
must be wrong.”

I was too much delighted at being certain we
were going on our course to dispute the point,
and the great luminary was abandoned to the
imputation of sometimes being in error. Dr.
Reasono took occasion to say, in my private ear,
that there was a sect of philosophers in Leaphigh,

who had long distrusted the accuracy of the planetary
system, and who had even thrown out hints
that the earth, in its annual revolution, moved in
a direction absolutely contrary to that which Nature
had contemplated when she gave the original
polar impulse; but that, as regarded himself, he
thought very little of these opinions, as he had frequent
occasion to observe that there was a large
class of monikins whose ideas always went up hill.

For two more days and as many nights, we
continued to drift with the floes to the southward,
or as near as might be, towards the haven of our
wishes. On the fourth morning, there was a suitable
change in the weather; both thermometer
and barometer rose; the air became more bland,
and most of our cats and dogs, notwithstanding
we were still surrounded by the ice, began to cast
their skins. Dr. Reasono noted these signs, and
stepping on the floe he brought back with him a
considerable fragment of the frozen element.—
This was carried to the camboose, where it was
subjected to the action of fire, which, within a
given number of minutes, pretty much as a matter
of course, as I thought, caused it to melt. The whole
process was watched with an anxiety the most intense,
by the whole of the monikins, however; and
when the result was announced, the amiable and
lovely Chatterissa clapped her pretty little pattes
with joy, and gave all the other natural indications
of delight, which characterize the emotions
of that gentle sex of which she was so bright an
ornament. Dr. Reasono was not backward in explaining
the cause of so much unusual exhilaration,
for hitherto her manner had been characterized
by the well-bred and sophisticated restraint which
marks high training. The experiment had shown,
by the infallible and scientific tests of monikin

chemistry, that we were now within the influence
of a steam-climate, and there could no longer be
any rational doubt of our eventual arrival in the
polar basin.

The result proved that the philosopher was right.
About noon the floes, which all that day had begun
to assume what is termed a `sloppy character,'
suddenly gave way, and the Walrus settled down
into her proper element, with great equanimity and
propriety. Captain Poke lost no time in unshipping
the skids; and, a smacking breeze, that was
well saturated with steam, springing up from the
westward, we made sail. Our course was due
south, without regard to the ice, which yielded before
our bows like so much thick water, and, just
as the sun set, we entered the open sea, rioting in
the luxuriance of its genial climate, in triumph.

Sail was carried on the ship all that night; and
just as the day dawned, we made the first mile-stone,
a proof, not to be mistaken, that we were
now actually in the monikin region. Dr. Reasono
had the goodness to explain to us the history of
these aquatic phenomena. It would seem that
when the earth exploded, its entire crust, throughout
the whole of this part of the world, was started
upward in such a way as to give a very uniform
depth to the sea, which in no place exceeds
four fathoms. It follows, as a consequence, that
no prevalence of northerly winds can force the
icebergs beyond 78° of south latitude, as they invariably
ground on reaching the outer edge of
the polar bank. The floes, being thin, are melted
of course; and thus, by this beneficent prevention,
the monikin world is kept entirely free from
the very danger to which a vulgar mind would be
the most apt to believe it is the most exposed.

A congress of nations had been held, about five

centuries since, which was called the Holy-philo-marine-safety-and-find-the-way
Alliance. At this
Congress the high contracting parties agreed
to name a commission to make provision, generally,
for the secure navigation of the seas. One
of the expedients of this commission, which, by
the way, is said to have been composed of very
illustrious monikins, was to cause massive blocks
of stone to be laid down, at measured distances,
throughout the whole of the basin, and in which
other stone uprights were secured. The necessary
inscriptions were graved on proper tablets, and
as we approached the one already named, I observed
that it had the image of a monikin, carved
also in stone, with his tail extended in a right line,
pointing, as Mr. Poke assured me, S. and by W.
half W. I had made sufficient progress in the
monikin language, to read, as we glided past this
water-mark—“To Leaphigh, 15 miles.” One
monikin mile, however, we were next told, was
equal to nine English statute miles; and, consequently,
we were not quite so near our port as
was at first supposed. I expressed great satisfaction
at finding ourselves so fairly on the road, however,
and paid Dr. Reasono some well-merited
compliments on the high state of civilization to
which his species had evidently arrived. The day
was not distant, I added, when, it was reasonable
to suppose, our own seas would have floating restaurants
and cafés, with suitable pot-houses for the
mariners; though I did not well see how we were
to provide a substitute for their own excellent organization
of mile-stones. The Doctor received
my compliments with a proper modesty, saying
that he had no doubt mankind would do all that
lay in their power to have good eating and drinking-houses,
wherever they could be established;
but, as to the marine mile-stones, he agreed with
me, that there was little hope of their being planted,
until the crust of the earth should be driven
upward, so as to rise within four fathoms of the
surface of the water. On the other hand, Captain
Poke held this latter improvement very cheap. He
affirmed it was no sign of civilization at all, for, as a
man became civilized, he had less need of primers
and finger-boards; and, as for Leaphigh, any tolerable
navigator might see it bore S. by W. half W.
allowing for variation, distant 135 English miles.
To these objections I was silent, for I had had frequent
occasions to observe that men very often
underrate any advantage of which they have
come into the enjoyment by a providential interposition.

Just as the sun was in the meridian, the cry of
`land ahead' was heard from aloft. The monikins
were all smiles and gratitude; the crew was excited
by admiration and wonder; and, as for myself,
I was literally ready to jump out of my skin,
not only with delight, but, in some measure also,
from the exceeding warmth of the atmosphere. Our
cats and dogs began to uncase; Bob was obliged
to unmask his most exposed frontier, by removing
the union-jack; and Noah himself fairly appeared
on deck in his shirt and night-cap. The amiable
strangers were too much occupied to be particular,
and I slipped into my state-room to change my
toilet to a dress of thin silk, that was painted to
resemle the skin of a polar bear,—a contradiction
between appearances and the substance of things,
that is much too common in our species ever to be
deemed out of fashion.

We neared the land with great rapidity, impelled
by a steam-breeze, and just as the sun sunk
in the horizon our anchor was let go, in the outer
harbor of the city of Aggregation.