12 READY TO SAIL. 



the materials for a coat and protection against the 

 Arctic winds. A good stock of rifles and guns, and a 

 plentiful supply of ammunition, finished our guar- 

 antees against want. We had forty tons of coal and 

 wood in the hold, and a quantity of pine boards, in- 

 tended for housing over the upper deck when in win- 

 ter quarters. 



Our sledges were constructed after a pattern fur- 

 nished by myself, and the tents, cooking-lamps, and 

 other camp fixtures, were manufactured under my 

 personal supervision. From numerous friends, whose 

 names I cannot here mention without violating the 

 obliorations of confidence, we received books and a 

 great quantity of " small stores " which were after- 

 ward greatly appreciated during our winter imprison- 

 ment in the ice. 



We had expected to sail on the 4th of July, and 

 the friends of the Expedition were invited by the 

 Boston Committee, through its secretary, Mr. 0. W. 

 Peabody, to see us off! Although the day was dark 

 and drizzly many hundreds of persons were present. 

 Through some unavoidable accident we did not get 

 away. The guests, however, made us the recipients 

 of their best wishes, and when the members of my 

 little command (assembled together on that day for 

 the first time) found themselves addressed in turn by 

 the Governor of the State, the Mayor of the City, 

 and the President of Harvard, and by renowned 

 statesmen, orators, divines and merchants of Boston, 

 and by savans of Cambridge, the measure of their 

 happiness was full. Inspired by the interest thus so 

 conspicuously manifested in their fortunes, they felt 

 ready for any emergency. 



