Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Bello's Death

On July 3rd and 4th, the temperature remained at 14°C; this was the highest temperature recorded during the voyage.But by Thursday the 5th, the wind was blowing to the southeast, and with it came violent snowballs.The temperature dropped to 23° the night before.Hatteras, ignoring the displeasure of the crew, gave the order to sail. For thirteen days, that is, since Cape Dundas, the "Advance" had not made a single degree north; The Wellington Canal was consistent, and they sailed without much difficulty. It was not easy to set sail; but fore-, second-, and third-sails were spread by night, and Hatteras made bold advances among the icebergs, which the current dragged southward.The crew was so exhausted on the tortuous course that they had to handle the sails in reverse.

Wellington Strait is not very wide; it is sandwiched between the South Dion coast to the east and Cornwallis Island to the west; the island has always been considered a peninsula.Sir John Franklin circled it in 1846 via the west coast to the northern headland of the Channel. The exploration of the Wellington Strait was completed in 1851 by Captain Benny leading the whaling ships "Mrs. Franklin" and "Sophie"; one of his lieutenants, Stuart, came to Cape Beecher at 76°20′ north latitude , found a smooth sea.Clear seas, which is what Hatteras wanted. "What Stuart has discovered, I will too," he said to the doctor. "I can sail to the North Pole."

"But," replied the doctor, "are you not afraid of your crew? . . . " "My crew!" said Haderas stiffly. Then he said in a low voice: "Poor people!" he murmured, much to the doctor's surprise. This was the first time the latter had discovered such feelings in the captain's heart. "But no!" said the latter firmly, "they will come with me! They will come with me!" But even though the Forward was not afraid of colliding with ice packs, it barely made it to the north because headwinds made it often necessary to stop.It rounded Cape Spencer and Cape Innis with difficulty; on Tuesday, the 10th, it finally crossed the 75° north latitude, to the great delight of Clifton.

The Forward came to a point where Captain Haven's two American ships, the Rescue and the Forward, were in dire peril.Dr. Kane took part in the voyage; and at the end of September, 1850, surrounded by a great pack of ice, the ships were thrown with an irresistible force into the Lancaster Channel. Sandon related the dreadful disaster to James Wall, who was also present with several of the ship. "The 'Onward' and the 'Rescue'," he said to them, "were shaken, pitched, and shaken by the ice pack so badly that the men had at last no fires on board; but the temperature dropped to minus 18 degrees Fahrenheit! , the unfortunate crew was imprisoned in the ice floes, ready to lose their ship, and for three weeks they did not even take off their clothes! It was in these terrible circumstances that after a deviation of more than 400 nautical miles, they arrived at Barbados. Central Fernsea!"

One can imagine the effect these words had on the minds of the bewildered crew. In the course of the conversation Johnson was talking to the doctor about an incident which had occurred in these waters; and the doctor, as he had requested, reminded him of the exact moment when the ship had reached latitude 75° 30' north. "Right here! Right here!" Johnson yelled. "This is that miserable place!" At this point, tears welled up in the eyes of the grave bosun. "Please tell me about the death of Lieutenant Bello," the doctor said to him. "Well, Mr. Crawburn, what boldness and courage this honorable officer has!"

"Here, you say, where the disaster happened?" "Here, in this part of the coast of North Deon! Oh! It's largely God's will here. If Captain Palen had returned to the ship earlier, such a misfortune would not have happened!" "Listen, Mr. Crawburn, you'll see what life often depends on. You know Lieutenant Bello's first expedition in 1850 to find Franklin?" "Yes, Johnson, on the Prince Albert." "Well, in 1853 he came back from France and got permission to go aboard the 'Felix' and I was a sailor on that ship and the captain was Eaglefield. We went with the 'Bridal Barney' Beecher Island delivering supplies."

"We are unfortunately short of these!" "That's it, Mr. Crawburn. We arrived at Beecher Island at the beginning of August; on the 10th of the month Captain Eaglefield left the 'Felix' to join Captain Pallen, who left his ship The Northern Star was a month old. On his return, it was planned to deliver urgent Admiralty papers to Sir Edward Bilcher, who was wintering in the Wellington Strait. But Captain Pallen returned as soon as our captain had set out. to his ship. Why didn't he come back before Captain Eaglefield set off! Lieutenant Bellow, fearing that our captain's absence would be protracted, knew that the Admiralty's papers were urgent, and decided to send them himself. He sent the papers of both ships Command was given to Captain Pallen, who set out with sled and dinghy on August 12. He took Corporal Harvey from the North Star, three sailors, Madden, David, and myself. We expected Sir Edward Bilcher to be near Cape Beecher, in the northern part of the channel; we set out from this coast, and sleighed, clinging to the eastern bank. On the first day we bivouaced three nautical miles from Cape Innis. ; the next day we stopped on an ice floe about three miles from Cape Burden. On a night as bright as day, with land three miles away, Lieutenant Bello decided to camp there; Go there; a strong south-easterly wind blew him back twice; Harvey and Madden tried it, and they were more fortunate; and they prepared a rope by which they connected the shore to the sled, with which three objects but on the fourth we felt the iceberg begin to move; Mr. Bellow loudly told his companions to let down the rope, and we, including the Lieutenant, David Hooker, and myself, were dragged far from the shore place. The south-west wind blew hard at this moment, and it was snowing. But we were not in great danger, and he should have returned, for the rest of us had already returned!"

Johnson paused a moment, looking at the deadly shore, and went on: "After our companions had disappeared from view, we first decided to shelter from the wind and rain under a tent on our sleigh, but there was no; so, with our knives, we began to build a house on the ice. Bello sat with us for half an hour and talked with us about what we had I told him I was not afraid. 'God protects us,' he answered us, 'not a hair will fall from our heads.' I asked him what time it was, and he answered,' About a quarter past six.' It was a quarter past six in the morning of Thursday, August 18th. So Mr. Bello bundled up his books, and said he wanted to see how the ice drifted; he had just walked four minutes, I went looking for him, and made a circle round the ice floe in which we were hiding; but I saw him no more; On the other side of the crevasse, where the ice was all broken. I called out, but there was no answer. At this moment, a strong wind blew up. I looked around the ice floes, but I found no sign of the poor lieutenant."

"What do you think it is?" asked the doctor, who became agitated by this account. "I think, when Mr. Bellow came out of his hiding-place, the wind swept him into the crevasse, his jacket buttoned up, and he couldn't swim to the surface! Oh, Mr. Croubney, I I feel the greatest sorrow of my life! I don't want to believe it! This honest officer sacrificed his life for his loyalty to his duty! You know it is to obey the order of Captain Palen that he wants to go to land before the thaw! Honest young man Man, everyone on board like him, kind, brave! All England weeps for him, even the Eskimos, who learned of the death of the righteous lieutenant from Captain Eaglefield, who came back from Pundy Bay, cried out, as I did: Poor Bello! Poor Bello!"

"But your companions and you, Johnson," asked the doctor, moved by the touching account, "how did you get back to land?" "We, sir, were insignificant; we remained on the ice floe for another twenty-four hours, with no food and no one; With one oar down, we climbed onto an ice floe that would stand us, and we steered it like a raft. And so we were back on shore, but by ourselves, without our honorable officer!" Having said these words, the "Forward" passed the unfortunate coast, and Johnson could not see the scene of this terrible disaster.The next day, leaving Griffin Bay to starboard, two days later rounded Cape Grinnell and Helpman; The Bering Gulf at one end of the strait dropped anchor; Hatteras encountered a sea almost as unimpeded as that which Bilcher had used to winter the Pioneer and the Rescue to 77°N.This was the first time he overwintered from 1852 to 1853.For, the following year, he spent the winter from 1853 to 1854 in the Bering Bay where the "Forward" anchored at this moment.

Again, after a series of most dire perils and perils, he was obliged to leave the Rescue among the perpetual ice floes. Sandon likewise recounted the disaster to the distraught sailors.Did Hatteras know of his first officer's treachery?Can't say; in any case, he's kept silent on the subject. At the height of Bering Bay, there is a narrow passage linking Wellington Strait and Queens Strait.There, packs of ice floes were firmly huddled together.Hatteras tried in vain to find a northern sea route to Hamilton Island; the wind was against him; he had to pass between Hamilton Island and Cornwallis Island; five precious days were lost by futile efforts.The temperature began to drop, and even dropped to -4°C on July 19; it rose again the next day; but this early warning of arctic winter should prompt Hatteras not to expect too much.The wind began to turn to the west, hindering the ship's course.but.He was anxious to get to that place of unimpeded sea that Stuart had found. On the 19th, he decided to enter the channel at any cost; the wind was raging ahead of the ship, and the ship's propellers could withstand the furious rain and snow, but Hatteras had to think of his fuel first; on the other hand, the channel was too wide to Use fiber to pull the boat.Hatteras failed to take into account the exhaustion of the crew, and resorted to what whalers would have done in similar circumstances.He had the skiffs lowered in the water; and at the same time hung them from the tackle on the reverse side of the ship; and they were fastened securely from fore to aft; some oars to starboard, some to port; Everyone took turns sitting in the paddling position and rowing hard so that the boat could sail against the wind. The Forward plods along the channel; one can understand how exhausting such labor can cause; someone murmurs.Sailing in this way for four days, until June 23, arrived at Bering Island in Queens Strait. Still a headwind.The crew could take it no longer.The doctor felt that the health of the crew was not assured, and he saw in some the first signs of scurvy; he spared no effort in combating this dreadful disease, and he had plenty of lime juice and calcium tablets at his disposal . Hatteras knew very well that his crew was to be expected no more; that persuasion was of no avail; that he was determined to prevail with sternness, and that he showed no kindness at such times; Sandon was especially distrustful, even of James Wall, though the latter dared not speak up.Hatteras had on his side the Doctor, Johnson, Bell, Simpson, men who were devoted to him wholeheartedly, and he decided that among those who hesitated were Foucault, Bourdain, Officer Walson, First Mechanic Boo Renton, at certain moments, they will turn against him; as for the others, Penn, Gripper, Clifton, Warren, they openly discuss their plans for rebellion; they want to take their Companions, forcing the "Forward" back to England. Hatteras could see clearly that he couldn't let these restless and especially tired crew members continue to do their old jobs. For 24 hours, he watched Bering Island and did not move a step forward.However, the temperature has dropped, and in July at this high latitude, the effects of the coming winter can already be felt. On the 24th, the temperature dropped to -6°C.New ice floes are formed at night and are 135-180mm thick, and if snow falls on it, it quickly becomes strong enough to support the weight of a person.The surface of the sea has taken on this dirty color, indicating that ice edges are starting to form. Hatteras could not be mistaken for this disturbing omen; if the seaway was blocked, he would have to spend the winter in this place so far from the destination he was sailing, without even catching a glimpse that he was supposed to be so close.The unimpeded ocean recorded in previous reports.He resolved to go forward little by little, a few degrees to the north; and seeing that he could neither keep his exhausted crew at the oars nor sail with the constant head wind, he ordered the fires to be lit.