392 VOYAGE TO THE POLAR SEA. June 



accoutred as possible. We all wished him God-speed, 

 and will be anxious to hear of his safe arrival. All 

 hands appear very stiff and in pain. Porter is very 

 low, and is undoubtedly in a very precarious state. 



1 8th. — Poor Porter is no more ! He expired at 

 ten minutes past noon. He was sensible to within a 

 few minutes of his death, and his end was calm and 

 quiet. This is a sad calamity, although we were not 

 totally unprepared for it, and I fear the depressing- 

 moral effect that this lamentable event will have on 

 those who are very sick' and who consider themselves 

 to be in nearly as precarious a condition. 



' With the ensign half-mast, and the Union Jack as 

 a pall, the funeral procession, attended by all but the 

 four very bad cases, started at nine ; and the burial 

 service being read, the remains were consigned to 

 their last icy resting-place in this world. Improvising 

 a rude cross, formed with a boat's oar and a spare 

 sledge-batten, it was placed at the head of the grave, 

 with the following inscription : — 



BENEATH THIS CROSS LIE BURIED THE REMAINS 



OF 



GEO. PORTER, R.M.A., 



" Thy will be done." 



' Of all the melancholy and mournful duties I have 

 ever been called upon to perform, this has been the 

 saddest. A death in a small party like ours, and 

 under the present circumstances, is a most distressing 



