34 



NATURE 



[Nov. 9, 



I may here add that on examining the coast-hne after- 

 wards, both during the autumn and the following spring, 

 I am firmly persuaded that our forced detention during 

 the late gale was most providential. There was no bay 

 on the coast open enough to receive the ship, and the ice 

 at the entrance of each was far too thick for us to cut 

 or force our way through before the main pack had 

 closed in. 



Off the open coast where we were forced to pass our 

 winter, the heavy nature of the ice constituted our safety ; 

 grounding in twelve fathoms, it was impossible that it 

 could hurt the ship. At first I was rather anxious lest 

 any lighter ice might be forced in, and that then the ship 

 might be driven by it on shore, but as time advanced 

 and nothing but ice of the same thick character made its 

 appearance, I became more reconciled to our position. 

 It ultimately proved to be the best sheltered position on 

 the coast from which a ready means of retreat was likely 

 to be offered. In all other parts, the beach, either by 

 being too steep, allowed the heavy ice to force its way 

 close up on to the shore, or where shallower, left a suf- 

 ficiently large space of water in which smaller and more 

 dangerous ice-blocks were able to drift about before they 

 grounded in about the same depth of water as that in 

 which the ship floated. 



During the following week preparations were made for 

 the autumn sledging, each man being fully employed fitting 

 his travelling clothing and preparing the equipment of 

 the sledges. As soon as the shore ice was sufficiently 

 strong, Commander A. H. Markham, with Lieutenants A. 

 A. C. Parr and W. H. May under his orders, started on 

 September 25 with three sledges to establish a depot of 

 provisions as far in advance to the north-westward as 

 possible. Lieut. P. Aldrich left four days previously with 

 two lightly-equipped dog sledges to pioneer the road 

 round Cape Joseph Henry for the larger party. He re- 

 turned on board on October 5, after an absence of thir- 

 teen days, having been accompanied by Adam Ayles, 

 A.B. On September 27, from the summit of a mountain 

 2,000 feet high, situated in lat. 82° 48' N., somewhat 

 further north than the most northern latitude attained by 

 our gallant predecessor. Sir Edward Parry, in his cele- 

 brated boat jcurncy towards the North Pole, he discovered 

 land extending to the north-westward for a distance of 

 sixty miles to lat. 83° 7', with lofty mountains in the inte- 

 rior to the southward. No land was sighted to the 

 northward. 



On October 14, two days after the sun had left us for 

 its long winter's absence. Commander Markham's party 

 returned after a journey of nineteen days, having, with 

 very severe labour, succeeded in placing a depot of pro- 

 visions in lat. 82° 44' N., and ^n tracing the coast-line 

 nearly two wWts further north, thus reaching the exact 

 latitude attained by Sir Edward Parry. Being anxious 

 to inform Capt. Stephenson of our position, and the good 

 prospects before his travelling parties in the following 

 spring in exploring the north-west coast of Greenland, I 

 despatched Lieut. Rawson again to attempt to open com- 

 munication between the two vessels, although I had 

 grave doubts of his succeeding. He was absent from 

 October 2 to October 12, returning unsuccessful on the 

 latter day, having found his road again stopped by unsafe 

 ice within a distance of nine miles of the ship. The 

 broken masses of pressed-up ice resting against the cliffs, 

 in many places more than 30 feet high, and the accumu- 

 lated deep snow-drifts in the valleys caused very laborious 

 and slow travelling. 



During these autumn sledging journeys, with the tem- 

 perature ranging between 15° above and 22° below zero, 

 the heavy labour, hardships, and discomforts inseparable 

 from Arctic travelling, caused by the wet soft snow, weak 

 ice, and water spaces, which obliged the sledges to be 

 dragged over the hills, combined with constant strong 

 winds and misty weather, were, if anything, much greater 



than those usually experienced. Out of the nortl 

 party of twenty-one men and three officers, no less t 

 seven men and one officer returned to the ship b: 

 frostbitten, three of these so severely as to render an 

 tation necessary, the patients being confined to their 1 

 for the greater part of the winter. 



The sledges with their cargoes on four occasions b: 



through the ice, and individual men frequently ; 



these, becoming wet through, were made to change t 



clothing, and so escaped any bad consequences. 



frost-bites are to be attributed entirely to the wet sli 



state of some of the ice that had to be crossed. I 



happened that heavy snow fell on twelve conseci 



days, forming a layer of lightly compressed snow at ' 



2 feet thick, which in the snow-drifts collected into ri( 



more than double that depth. The thin ice, not b 



sufficiently strong to support this additional we 



became borne down and allowed the water to 



through. This being protected from the cold tempen 



of the air by its blanket-like covering, remained unfn 



although the temperature was upwards of 40° below 



freezing-point ; consequently whenever the traveller: 



experienced as they were at the time, were forced to 



their sledges over a road of this nature, their feet be( 



wet and afterwards frost-bitten a considerable time b 



they discovered it (when the tent was pitched ir 



evening), by which time the mischief had attained 



an advanced stage as to defy all restoration of the c 



lation. The tent equipment became so saturated 



frozen moisture that on arrival on board it weighed 



than double .what it did when dry before starting ; 



so anxious were all to escape another sleepless nig 



the stiffly frozen blanket bags, that on the last el 



forced march was made by the northern party thi 



the heavy snow to the ship, in which the powers of ei 



ance of all engaged were tried to the utmost. A] 



travellers returned in wonderful spirits and full of j 



Nothing could exceed the determined perseverance 



which each obstacle to the advance of the party 



overcome, or the cheerfulness with which each made 



of the numerous unavoidable hardships they had u 



gone The sledges proved to be too rigid ; the upi 



breaking necessitated frequent stoppages for repairs 



by taking out the metal pins connecting them to the \ 



bearer?, and depending upon the hide lashings, they 



wards stood the unusually heavy Avork admirably. 



On no one day while the northern party were trav 

 this season could they have obtained snow of suft 

 consistency to enable them to build snow house 

 shelter by night. Lieut. Rawson, finding harder sn 

 the southern ravines, was able to construct a snow '. 

 on one occasion. The advantageous results of the av 

 travelling, in addition to the advance of provisioi 

 future use, were; first, a considerable gain in expei 

 in Arctic sledging, and secondly, by our greater 

 fortune in finding continuous land over or near 

 to travel, we succeeded in wresting from Sir E( 

 Parry and his companions their gallantly-achievec 

 tinction of having advanced the British flag to the h 

 northern latitude. I have grouped the names of h 

 and his followers together on the chart in the latiti 

 which they attained in 1827. On the return of th 

 veiling parties, the sun having bidden us farewell, ] 

 rations were made for the winter ; the ship was h 

 over, all the provisions and stores which could witl 

 the weather, and for which room could not be found 

 hatches, were deposited on shore, and the habitabh 

 cleared as much as possible. By carefully coverir; 

 the engine-room hatches with a thick layer of sno 

 cold, throughout the winter, was kept from penet 

 downwards into the lower part of the ship. The t 

 rature of the holds and engine-room, without the 

 fires, always remaining above -\- 28*5, the temperal 

 the surrounding water, and the fire-pumps whic 



