6 OFFICERS OF THE EXPEDITION. Chap. I. 



funds to the expedition. This gentleman had previously 

 commanded some of our very finest merchant ships, the 

 latest being the steam-transport 'Adelaide,' of 2500 tons : 

 he had but recently returned, in ill-health, from the Black 

 Sea, where he was most actively employed during the greater 

 part of the Crimean campaign. Nothing that I could say 

 would add to the merit of such singularly generous and 

 disinterested conduct. David Walker, M.D., volunteered for 

 the post of surgeon and naturalist; he also undertook the 

 photographic department; and just before sailing, Carl 

 Petersen, now so well known to arctic readers as the Esqui- 

 maux interpreter in the expeditions of Captain Penny and 

 Dr. Kane, came to join me from Copenhagen, although 

 landed there from Greenland only six days previously, after 

 an absence of a year from his family : we were indebted 

 to Sir Roderick Murchison and the electric telegraph for 

 securing his valuable services. 



Like the Paris omnibuses we were at length au complet, 

 and quite as anxious to make a start. 



Ample provisions for twenty-eight months were embarked, 

 including preserved vegetables, lemon-juice, and pickles, for 

 daily consumption, and preserved meats for every third day : 

 also as much of Messrs. Allsopp's stoutest ale as we could 

 find room for. The Government, although declining to 

 send out an expedition, yet now contributed liberally to our 

 supplies. All our arms, powder, shot, powder for ice-blast- 

 ing, rockets, maroons, and signal-mortar, were furnished by 

 the Board of Ordnance. The Admiralty caused 6682 lbs. 

 of pemmican to be prepared for our use. Not less than 

 85,000 lbs. of this invaluable food have been prepared since 

 1845 at the Royal Clarence Victualling Yard, Gosport, for 

 the use of the arctic Expeditions. It is composed of prime 

 beef cut into thin slices and dried over a wood fire ; then 

 pounded up and mixed with about an equal weight of melted 



