518 The Arctic Expedition. (October, 
would be taken on board. Then, if the season were favour- 
able, the ships should enter up Smith’s Sound, and should 
winter if practicable in Lady Franklin Strait. The Dis- 
covery is not to go higher than the 82 parallel, and is to act 
as a relief ship to secure retreat in case of need; when the 
Alert has gone as far North as possible the journey to the 
pole is to be attempted by means of boats and sledges. It 
is probable that the two ships will not winter at a distance 
of more than 200 miles apart. The sledge operations—a 
main feature of the expedition—will commence in the spring 
of 1876, and if necessary a relief ship will be despatched in 
the summer of 1877 to the entrance of Smith’s Sound. 
When in 82° N. lat. the ship will be within 500 miles of the 
Pole; then, if the iceis good, sledging will be comparatively 
easy. A portion of the ship’s company will be broken up into 
parties of eight or ten men with an officer, and they will 
start in sledges provisioned for six weeks, and will probably 
make about twelve miles a day. 
The Alert is a vessel of 1045 tons and 381 H.P., and 
the Discovery of 856 tons. The crew of each ship consists 
of about 60 officers and men, and they are provisioned for 
three years. The Alert carries 5 tons of spirits of wine, Io tons 
of bread, 85 tons of beef, pork, bacon, coffee, sugar, flour, 
and preserved meats; while the Dzscovery carries 44 tons of 
spirits of wine, g tons of bread, 78 tons of beef, bacon, and 
preserved meats. The greatest draught of either vessel will 
not exceed seventeen feet. The principal article of food is 
pemmican, which is more useful in the Arctic regions than 
the strongest spirits. It is prepared by drying lean beef, 
and then pounding it to powder, to which salt and sugar are 
added, and finally it is mixed with its own weight of melted 
suet and allowed to solidify in tins, each of which contains 
56 lbs. Seventy pounds of this food will support a boat’s or 
sledge’s crew of eight men for a week. A quantity of unusu- 
ally strong rum forms part of the stores. There is an im- 
proved cooking apparatus, and a large quantity of fuel in the 
form of coal, stearine, and spirits of wine has been provided. 
Every possible precaution has been taken to strengthen the 
vessels against the severe nips which they are likely to re- 
ceive from icebergs; the screws can be raised before collision 
with the ice, and anchors of great power are provided. A 
number of ice saws are shipped on board (the largest nearly 
15 feet long), and an experienced ice-master will superintend 
their use. There are no less than eighteen boats, some of 
which are 25 feet long; they are constructed of mahogany 
covered with marine glue and canvas, with an outside 
