PROMOTION OF ARCTIC AND ANTARCTIC DISCOVERY. 337 



The committee in its report enumerated the scientific results of 

 Antarctic research, especially dwelling" on the necessity for an accurate 

 study of terrestrial magnetism. The experiences of early navigators 

 in approaching the pack edge are then reviewed, and it is shown that 

 Sir James Ross alone boldly entered it, with a view to passing- through 

 it, on two occasions, with success. In Jannary, 1841, he forced his way 

 through it in four days, reaching an open sea, discovering Victoria 

 Laud, and penetrating to the seventy-eighth parallel. On the second 

 occasion he entered a i)ack several hundreds of miles in width, and he 

 was forty-two days getting through, but he again succeeded. In 1843, 

 on his third attempt, it was too late in the season when he entered the 

 pack, and the young ice was forming rapidly. If it had been Decem- 

 ber instead of March he might have ett'ected more. The committee 

 then contrasts the conditions of navigation in the Arctic and Antarctic 

 regions. In the north there are lields of ice of vast extent, often fixed 

 for months in one i>lace by intricate channels. The danger of long 

 detention, arising from being beset in such ice, is not so serious in the 

 Antarctic regions. But there are other dangers which are equally for- 

 midable. In gales of wind and in fogs, and even in calms, sailing ves- 

 sels are in much danger, when involved in the pack, from the swell 

 caused by heavy gales, and when it is impossible to avoid collisions 

 with huge masses of ice. On such occasions a sailing vessel is helpless. 



But as screw steamers would, of course, be employed on any new 

 Antarctic expedition, these dangers would be very much reduced and 

 a great saving of time would be effected. Calms occur, and there are 

 often adverse winds when there is clear weather. At such times sail- 

 ing vessels would be beating up 20 miles while a steamer might make 

 100. With steam it might be possible to do in one season all that 

 which, in the cases of Wilkes and Boss, occupied three. A steamer 

 would be in little danger from bergs except in fogs, and in heavy gales 

 she could lie to in safety under their lee, instead of drifting at the 

 mercy of wind and waves. She would also be better able than a sailing- 

 vessel to double the pack. The weak point of a steamer in the pack 

 M^ould be during a gale of wind. She might avoid collision with the 

 ice better than a sailing vessel, but not altogether. But specially 

 adapted screw steamers would no doubt facilitate Antarctic naviga- 

 tion, and remove many of the dit'licnlties which had to be encountered 

 by sailing vessels. 



Having fully considered the exigencies of Antarctic navigation, the 

 committee recommend that the ex])edition should consist of two vessels 

 as well strengtheued against the ice as were the Erebus and Terror, 

 fitted with steam power, and specially protected aft. It is indispensa- 

 ble that officers and crew^s should be under naval discipline, and a full 

 commission of three years would be necessary for the performance of 

 the work. Aj^art from the valuable scientific results of an Antarctic 

 expedition, the committee dwell u^ion the excellent effect that all such 

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