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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



But after entering Smith Sound a far different 

 and far more formidable navigation commenced. 

 The navigation of the channels leading north 

 from Smith Sound is the most difficult of any 

 that has been experienced in the arctic coast 

 waters. 



During the whole of August, 1875, the Alert 

 and Discovery were engaged in one long, inces- 

 sant struggle with the ice. Every opening was 

 taken advantage of, and, thanks to combined 

 judgment, skillful seamanship, prudence, and dar- 

 ing, they slowly but surely made progress north- 

 ward. 



The ice in Robeson Channel and the polar sea 

 beyond is entirely different from any ice that has 

 ever been seen before, except along the west 

 shores of Banks and Prince Patrick Islands. 

 Scoresby and other arctic voyagers have men- 

 tioned having encountered ice of great thickness, 

 but it has been formed by one floe sliding under- 

 neath another ; and lines of ice-hummocks have 

 also been met with of great height, formed by 

 broken pieces piled one upon another. There is 

 nothing of* this kind in the sea of ancient ice. 

 The floes, from eighty to one hundred feet thick, 

 are formed by the accumulated frosts of ages, and 

 are solid masses. They are, in fact, floating gla- 

 ciers rather, than ice-floes ; and the pieces broken 

 off from them and forced on the shore were very 

 appropriately named "floe-bergs." Some of these 

 huge masses were sixty feet above the water, yet 

 they were aground in ten or twelve fathoms. 



On September 1, 1875, a southwest gale blew 

 with such fury that the pack was driven off the 

 land, leaving a narrow channel of water, of which 

 advantage was instantly taken. This was a red- 

 letter day in the annals of naval enterprise. On 

 it a British man-of-war reached a higher north- 

 ern latitude than had ever been attained by any 

 ship of any nation ; and the colors were hoisted 

 at noon to celebrate the event. But one short 

 hour after the British ensign had fluttered gayly 

 before the breeze, the ship was again stopped by 

 a barrier of great thickness, through which it 

 was impossible to penetrate. The coast was 

 without any bay or harbor, and the Alert was 

 secured inside a fringe of grounded floe-bergs 

 which lined the coast, and afforded protection 

 from the pressure of the outside pack. 



Success was thus made certain. The thresh- 

 old of the unknown region was crossed. To 

 have brought a ship through all these dangers, 

 and to have found winter-quarters on the open 

 and exposed coast of the polar sea, protected 

 only by grounded floe-bergs, which might at any 



time be driven higher up or swept away, was in 

 itself a great success. No other arctic navigator 

 ever forced his ships through such obstacles, and 

 brought them safely back again. This establish- 

 ment of a base of operations within the unknown 

 region called forth all the highest qualities of a 

 commander — incessant watchfulness, great pres- 

 ence of mind, rapid yet cautious decision, and 

 consummate seamanship. 



The next service to be performed was the lay- 

 ing out of depots of provisions by autumn sledg- 

 ing-parties. Autumn traveling, in the arctic re- 

 gions, is most severe and miserable work, entail- 

 ing the greatest amount of hardship and danger. 

 It was first attempted in the expedition in which 

 we had the honor to serve in 1850, and it was 

 further developed in 1852 at Melville Island, 

 when McClintock and others were away for 

 twenty-two days in October, with the temperature 

 generally above zero. The parties from the 

 Alert were away during September and October 

 in blinding snow-storms, on treacherously thin 

 ice, exposed to sudden changes of temperature, 

 with increasing darkness. But they pressed on- 

 ward, and established a depot fifty miles from the 

 ship, for use during the spring. The tempera- 

 ture fell far below zero, and the sun had entirely 

 disappeared four days before they returned to 

 the ship. In comparing the autumn traveling of 

 the Alert with that of former expeditions, the 

 difference of latitude must be taken into consid- 

 eration. The sun did not leave the points where 

 most former expeditions have wintered until the 

 3d of November; while it was last seen from the 

 Alert on the 11th of October. This makes a 

 vast difference. The cold and darkness expe- 

 rienced by the Alert's parties in October are 

 equivalent to what a party from any former ex- 

 pedition would have had in November, and no 

 party ever traveled in that month. Hence the 

 autumn traveling of the Alert has eclipsed all 

 that had ever been done previously, whether we 

 consider the work accomplished, the hardships 

 endured, or the cold and misery experienced. 

 Unfortunately, this brilliant piece of work had 

 to be heavily paid for. Half the men returned 

 badly frost-bitten, and three suffered amputation, 

 including one of the most valuable officers in the 

 ship. 



An arctic winter is a period of preparation 

 for spring traveling. The great point is to pre- 

 serve the health of the men under the most dis- 

 advantageous circumstances. The precedents of 

 former expeditions were carefully followed. The 

 officers were fully employed with scientific work, 



