410 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY:— SUPPLEMENT. 



careful forethought, and former arctic experience, 

 could suggest to secure the health and comfort of 

 the men while employed on this hazardous and 

 most severe service. It is now certain that the 

 loDg winter was the real cause of the outbreak of 

 scurvy, and that the subsequent use of lime-juice 

 would not have averted it. The moment lime- 

 juice could be used, it was supplied to the sledge- 

 parties ; yet, in nine instances, men were at- 

 tacked with scurvy in those later parties, as well 

 as on board, who were taking daily allowances of 

 the antiscorbutic. This fact is quite conclusive 

 on that point. 



So much misrepresentation has been published 

 on this subject, that we have considered it neces- 

 sary to restate the above facts. It is a very dis- 

 graceful and discreditable thing to reflect upon, 

 that our greatest explorers and travelers, by sea 

 and land, from the time of James Bruce of Kin- 

 naird, have been attacked on their return by a 

 swarm of ignorant detractors. Certainly, none 

 have deserved such treatment less than Sir George 

 Nares, and the officers and men who had the 

 honor of serving under him ; for none ever worked 

 harder, and with more single-minded zeal, to de- 

 serve well of their country. 



Having placed his ships in admirable posi- 

 tions, Captain Nares organized his spring travel- 

 ing-parties with a view to making as thorough an 

 exploration as the means at his disposal allowed 

 in every direction. He decided upon dispatching 

 four extended parties, provisioned, including de- 

 pots, for periods of from sixty to eighty days, to 

 advance as far as possible north, south, east, and 

 west. The most hazardous attempt was to be 

 made due north over the frozen sea, under the 

 command of Captain Markham, and, as there was 

 danger that the ice near the coast might break 

 up, this party was obliged to drag boats with it. 

 Aldrich led the extending party along the coast 

 to the westward, Beaumont of the Discovery was 

 to push along the north side of Greenland to the 

 eastward, while Archer advanced southward down 

 the deep fiord, at the entrance of which the Dis- 

 covery wintered, which was then supposed to be 

 a strait. 



Before the extending parties started it was 

 necessary to open communication between the 

 two ships, and Lieutenants Egerton and Rawson, 

 with Petersen, the Danish dog-driver, were dis- 

 patched from the Alert, on the 12th of March, 

 with the temperature at —35° to —50° below 

 zero. The poor Dane was badly frost-bitten, and 

 afterward nothing could keep him warm. The 

 two officers made a hole in the snow, covering 



the opening with the tent and sledge. They then 

 deprived themselves of their own warm clothing, 

 and, at the expense of the heat from their own 

 bodies, they succeeded, after great persistence 

 and often-reiterated efforts, in restoring circula- 

 tion to Petersen. During the journey back to 

 the ship they behaved most heroically, and, 

 though frequently badly frost-bitten themselves, 

 they succeeded in keeping life in their comrade 

 until they arrived on board. They saved his life 

 at the imminent risk of their own. On March 

 20th they again started and reached the Dis- 

 covery. 



These remarkable journeys of Egerton and 

 Rawson take rank with anything of the kind that 

 has ever been done by their predecessors in arc- 

 "tic traveling, and the gallant young officers nobly 

 upheld the credit of the expedition by their con- 

 duct on this occasion. We look upon the per- 

 formance of such deeds, which will be handed 

 down to our children, as examples for their imi- 

 tation, as not the least valuable among the re- 

 sults obtained from arctic exploration. The rec- 

 ords of acts of self-denial in the face of danger 

 done by our countrymen are certainly not less 

 precious than scientific discoveries. 



But the great work, for which the autumn and 

 very early spring journeys were only preparatory, 

 was that of the extended parties which started 

 from the Alert on the 3d o'f April with the ther- 

 mometer at — 33°. In former expeditions the 

 temperature has been equally low for a week 

 or so during the April traveling, but the same 

 amount of continuous cold in April and May has 

 never before been faced. 



In all, fifty-three officers and men left the ship 

 to face the hardships of this intense cold out of 

 a complement of sixty-six. The temperature fell 

 to —45° a few days after leaving the ship, and 

 until the 28th of April it never was up as high as 

 zero. The work before the northern party, owing 

 to the necessity for taking boats, was tremendous. 

 Their only mode of advancing was by a system 

 of double banking, which, with three sledges, 

 meant one mile made good for every five miles 

 marched. Yet there was no alternative, for the 

 impossibility of depending upon depots laid out 

 on a frozen sea which might break up, and the 

 necessity for taking boats, made any reduction 

 impossible. 



The', character of the ice to be traveled over 

 was without precedent as regards the difficulties 

 it presented. For no one ever before attempted 

 to traverse the sea of ancient ice. It consisted 

 of very small and rugged floes, separated by 



