^OV. 2^ 1876] 



NATURE 



13 



npcnetrable ice on every side. No harbour being ob- 



linable, the ship was secured as far north as possible, 



iside a sheltering barrier of grounded ice, close to the 



nd, and there she passed the winter ; during her stay of 



even months no navigable channel of water permitting 



irther advance to the northward ever presented itself. 



/e believe that had an accident not happened to the 



lew of the Alert she would have endeavoured to push 



ill further north; but the current round the corner of 



le land was so great she could not make headway. It 



fortunate that the accident happened, for had 



Kone much further she would probably have got 



mmed in the frightful ice-masses that it would have 



impossible to get her out again. In lieu of finding 



, ' open Polar sea," the ice was of most unusual age 



nd thickness, resembling in a marked degree, both in 



) -arance and formation, low floating icebergs rather 



ordinary salt-water ice. It has now been termed 



"Sea of Ancient Ice" — the Palaeocrystic Sea j 



ui a stranded mass of ice broken away from an 



c tloe has been named a floe-berg. Whereas ordinary 



- usually from 2 feet to 10 feet in thickness, that in 



1 'olar Sea, in consequence of having so few outlets 



, hich to escape to the southward in any appreciable 



it'ty, gradually increases in age and thickness until it 



casures from 80 feet to 120 feet, floating with its surface 



. th.e lowest part 15 feet above the water-line. In some 



Iiccs the ice is spoken of as reaching a thickness of from 



iO to 200 feet, and the general impression among the 



licers of the expedition seems to have been that the ice 



f this " Palffocrystic Sea " is the accumulation of many 



J us, if not of centuries, that the sea is never free of it 



!il never open, and that piogress to the Pole through it 



r over it is impossible with our present resources. It is 



tcresting to note that the Aurora Borealis was not dis- 



nct in these latitudes, the latitude being supposed to be 



>T high ; this is consistent with the observations of the 



'o/aris expedition. Dr. Bessels rarely finding the colours 



riliiant enough to give a spectrum. 



When it was seen that further advance with the ships 

 as impossible, all the energies of officers and men 

 ere directed to sledge- work. Sledge -parties were 

 nt out northward, eastward, and westward, depots 

 wing been established at intervals in the two former 

 icctions last autumn ready for the parties to be sent 

 It during the spring of this year. 



Although the two ships were only seventy miles from 

 ich other, it was impossible for any communication to pass 

 tween them till last March, whtn a party from the Alert 

 icceeded in reaching the Discovery and relieving those 

 1 board the latter of any doubt as to the fate of their 

 Hows. Otving to the high latitude of both ships the 

 inter was unusually long and dark, the sun having been 

 sent 142 days, and the cold was more intense than had 

 'er been experienced by any previous expedition. All 

 le old and a few new expedients were resoited to to 

 lieve the unimaginable monotony of such a position, 

 id apparently with great success. The lowest tempera- 

 re observed was 104"^ below freezing, Fahr., at least 

 )° below the minimum observed by the Polaris expedi- 

 3n, and the mean temperature for thirteen consecutive 

 lys was 91° of frost ; the mercury was frozen forty- seven 

 lys during the winter. 



As soon as the sun appeared in the spring of this year 

 ;tive preparations were made for sledge-exploratton, and 

 f the beginning of April each ship was left with only 

 If-a-dozen officers and men whose duties kept them on 

 lard. After that date sledges were continually arriving 

 id departing, carrying forward provisions to be placed 

 depot, ready for the return of the advanced parties. 

 Capt. Stephenson, besides looking after his own divi- 

 on, visited the Alert, and also made t>vo trips across 

 all's Basin to Greenland, and Capt. Nares started off 

 se the rest, with Capt. Feilden, naturalist to the Expedi- 



tion, immediately all the provision depots were complete 

 along the line of route, and the safety of the travellers 

 insured. When at Polaris Bay Capt. Stephenson hoisted 

 the American ensign and fired a salute as a brass tablet, 

 which he and Capt. Nares had prepared in England, was 

 fixed on Hall's grave. The plate bore the following 

 inscription :— " Sacred to the memory of Captain C. F. 

 Hall, of the US. ship Polaris, who sacrificed his life in 

 the advancement of science on November 8, 1871. This 

 tablet has been erected by the British Polar Expedition 

 of 1875, who, following in his footsteps, have profited by 

 his experience." 



A party, headed by Commander Markham and Lieut. 

 Parr, made a most gallant and determined attempt to push 

 northwards by means of sledges. They were absent 72 days 

 from the ship ; and on May 12 succeeded in planting the 

 British flag in lat. 83'' 20' 26" N., within about 400 miles 

 of the Pole. From this position there was no appearanre 

 of land to the northward, but, curiously enough, the depth 

 of water was found to be only 70 fathoms. Owing to the 

 extraordinary nature of the pressed-up ice, a roadway had 

 to be formed by pickaxes for nearly half the distance 

 travelled before any advance could be safely made, even 

 with light loads ; this rendered it always necessary to 

 drag the sledge loads forward by instalments, and there- 

 fore to journey over the same road several times. The 

 advance was consequently very slow, and only averaged 

 about \\ mile daily — in fact, much the same rate attained 

 by Sir Edward Parry in his somewhat similar attempt 

 during the summer of 1827. Although the distance made 

 good was only seventy-three miles from the ship, 276 

 miles were travelled over to accomplish it. It is quite 

 impossible for any body of men ever to excel the praise- 

 worthy perseverance displayed by this gallant party in 

 their arduous struggle over the roughest and most mono- 

 tonous road imagmable. Their journey, considering the 

 ever-recurring difficulties, has eclipsed all former ones. 



The result of their severe labour is held to prove the 

 impracticability of travelling over the Polar Sea to 

 any great distance from land, and also that Baron von 

 Wrangell was perfectly correct in his expressed opinion 

 that before the North Pole can be reached it is first 

 necessary to discover a continuous coast line leading 

 towards it. 



In addition to the despatch of the northern travellers, 

 the coast line to the westward of the Alert's position was 

 traced for a distance of 220 miles by a party under the 

 command of Lieut. Aldrich ; the extreme position reached 

 was in lat. 82° 10' N., long. 86° 30' W., the coast line 

 being continuous from the Alert's winter quarters. The 

 most northern land. Cape Columbia, is in lat. 83° 7' N., 

 long. 70° 30' W. The coast of Greenland was explored 

 by travelling parties from the Discovery, under the com- 

 mand of Lieutenants Beaumont and Rawson ; they suc- 

 ceeded in reaching a position in lat. 82° 18' N., long. 

 50° 40' W., seventy miles north-east of Repulse Harbour. 

 The land extended as far as lat. 82° 54' N., long. 48° 33' W., 

 but very misty weather prevented its character being 

 determined with exactness. The coast is much cut up 

 into fjords and land was seen to the north east, pro- 

 bably reaching to 83°. Lieut. Archer, with a party 

 from the Discovery, explored Lady Franklin Sound, 

 proving that it terminates at a distance of sixty-five miles 

 from the mouth, with loity mountains and glacier-filled 

 valleys to tne westward. Lieut. Fuliordand Dr. Coppinger 

 explored Petermann Fjord, finding it blocked up with a 

 low glacier, which extends across from shore to shore. 

 With the exception ot Hayes Sound the coast line of 

 Smith Sound has now been explored from north to south. 

 President Land, marked in recent maps in about 84° N., 

 is proved to have no existence, though Lieut. Aldrich, 

 when engaged in pioneering the way for the main P'<rty, 

 which was led by Commander Markham, advanced three 

 miles beyond Sir Edward Parry's most northern position, 



