Dec. 1857. THE FIRST DEATH ON BOARD. 59 



CHAPTER V. 



Burial in the pack — Musk oxen in lat. 8o° north — Habits of the arctic 

 fox — The aurora affects the electrometer — An arctic Christmas — 

 Sufferings of Dr. Hayes' boat party — Ice acted on by wind only — 

 How the sun ought to be welcomed — Constant action of the ice — 

 Return of the seals — Revolving storm. 



qth Dec. — I have just returned on board from the perform- 

 ance of the most solemn duty a commander can be called 

 upon to fulfil. A funeral at sea is always peculiarly impres- 

 sive ; but this evening at seven o'clock, as we gathered around 

 the sad remains of poor Scott, reposing under an Union 

 Jack, and read the Burial Service by the light of lanterns, 

 the effect could not fail to awaken very serious emotions. 



The greater part of the Church Service was read on 

 board, under shelter of the housing; the body was then 

 placed upon a sledge, and drawn by the messmates of the 

 deceased to a distance from the ship, where a hole through 

 the ice had been cut : it was then " committed to the deep," 

 and the Service completed. What a scene it was ! I shall 

 never forget it. The lonely ' Fox,' almost buried in snow, 

 completely isolated from the habitable world, her colours 

 half-mast high, and bell mournfully tolling : our little proces- 

 sion slowly marching over the rough surface of the frozen 

 deep, guided by lanterns and direction-posts, amid the dreary 

 darkness of an arctic winter ; the death-like stillness around, 

 the intense cold, and the threatening aspect of a murky, 

 overcast sky ; and all this heightened by one of those strange 

 lunar phenomena which are but seldom seen even here, a 

 complete halo encircling the moon, through which passed a 



