40 



NATURE 



[Nov. 9, i87< 



Commander Markham's assistance ; and with the help of 

 the officers, who at once all volunteered to drag the 

 sledges, I was able by midnight to proceed with two 

 strong parties, Messrs. Egerton. Conybeare, Wootton, and 

 White, the officers who could be best spared from the 

 ship, taking tbeir places at the drag ropes, Lieut. W. H. 

 May and Dr. E. Moss pushing on ahead with the dog- 

 sledge laden with appropriate medical stores. 



By making a forced march the two latter, with James 

 Self, A. B., reached Commander Markham's camp within 

 fifty hours of the departure of Lieut. Pcirr, although 

 they were, I deeply regret to sta^e, unfortunately too late 

 to save the life of George Porter, Gunner R.M.A., who 

 only a few hours previously had expired and been buried 

 in the floe. Their arrival had a most exhilarating effect 

 on the stricken party, who were gallantly continuing their 

 journey as best they could. Early on the following day 

 the relief party joined them, when the hope and trust 

 which had never deserted these determined men was 

 quickened to the utmost, even the invalids losing the 

 depression of spirits always induced by the insidious 

 disease that had attacked them, and which in their case 

 was much intensified by the recent loss of their comrade. 

 Early on the morning of the 14th, owing to the skill and 

 incessant attention of Dr. E. Moss and the assistance 

 of the dog sledge conducted by Lieut. May and James 

 Self, A.B., who, with a most praiseworthy disregard of 

 their own rest, were constantly on the move. Commander 

 Markham and I had the satisfaction of reaching the ship 

 without further loss of life ; and after a general expres- 

 sion of thanksgivmg to God for his watchful care over 

 the lives of the survivors, of placing them under the 

 skilful charge of Dr. T. Colan, Fleet- Surgeon. 



Of the original seventeen members composing the 

 party, only five— the two officers and three of the men, 

 John Radmore, chief carpenter's mate, Thomas Joliffe, 

 first-class petty officer, and William Maskell, A.B. — were 

 able to drag the sledges alongside. Three others, Edward 

 Laurence, captain forecastle, George Winston, A.B., 

 and Daniel Harley, captain foretop, manfully kept on 

 their feet to the last, submitting to extreme pain and 

 fatigue rather than, by riding on the sledge, increase the 

 weight their enfeebled companions had to drag, and 

 were just able to walk on board the ship without assist- 

 ance. The remaining eight, after a long struggle, had 

 been forced to succumb to the disease, and were carried 

 on the sledges. Out of the whole number, the two officers 

 alone escaped the attack of scurvy. Atter a few days' 

 rest and attention, John Radmore, chief carpenter's mate, 

 returned to his duty, and three of the others were able to 

 attend on their sick comrades : but Thomas JoUffe, who 

 had most manfully resisted the disease while actively 

 employed, when his legs became cramped from resting on 

 his return on board, was one of the most lingering cases. 

 These men gradually recovered, and were all out of the 

 sick list before the ship was free of the ice during the 

 passage home. 



In journeying to the northward, the route, after leaving 

 the coast, seldom lay over smooth ice ; the somewhat 

 level floes or fields, although standmg at a mean height of 

 6 feet above the neighbouring ice, were small, usually less 

 than a mile across. Their surfaces were thickly studded 

 over with rounded blue-topped ice humps, of a mean 

 height above the general level of from 10 to 20 feet, lying 

 sometimes in ranges, but more frequently separated at a 

 distance of from 100 to 200 yards apart, the depressions 

 between being filled with snow deeply scored into ridges 

 by the wind, the whole composition being well comparable 

 to a suddenly frozen oceanic sea. Separating these floes, 

 as it were, by a broadened-out hedge, lay a vast collection 

 of debris of the previous summers, broken up pack-ice, 

 which had been re-frozen during the winter into one 

 chaotic rugged mass of angular blocks of various heights 

 up to 40 and 50 feet, and every possible shape, leaving 



little, if any, choice of a road over, through, or roun 

 about them. Among these was a continuous series ( 

 steep- sided snow drifts sloping down from the highe 

 altitude of the pressed-up ice vmtil lost in the general lev( 

 at a distance of about 100 yards. The prevailing win 

 during the previous winter having been from the wes 

 ward, and the sledges' course Ijeing due north, the; 

 " sastrugi," instead of rendering the road smoother, e 

 they frequently do in travelling along a coast line, whe 

 advantage can be taken of their long smooth tops, had 1 

 be encountered nearly at right angles. The whole forme 

 the roughest line of way imaginable, without the slighte 

 prospect of ever improving. The journey was consi 

 quently an incessant battle to overcome ever recurriii 

 obstacles, each hard-won success stimulating them for tl 

 next struggle. A passage had always to be cut throug 

 the squeezed-up ice with pickaxes, an extra one beir 

 carried for the purpose, and an incline picked out of tl 

 perpendicular side of the high floes or roadway built u 

 before ttie sledges, generally one at a time, could I 

 brought on. Instead of advancing with a steady wal 

 the usual means of progression, more than half of eac 

 day, was expended by the whole party facing the sled^ 

 and puUing it forward a few feet at a time. Under the: 

 circumstances, the distance attained, short as it may I 

 considered by some, was truly marvellous. 



The excellent conduct of the crews and the spirit di 

 played by them, combined with the work performe( 

 indicated in a striking manner the sense of confidence i 

 the leaders which they enjoyed, and points unmistakab 

 to the watchful care taken of themselves and to tl 

 general good guidance of the party. 



No two officers could have conducted this arduoi 

 journey with greater ability or courage than Command( 

 Albert H. Markham and his very able second in cor 

 mand, Lieut. A. C. Chase Parr, and I trust that the 

 Lordships will notice their services by some mark > 

 approval. The services of Thomas Rawlings and Edwai 

 Laurence, ist class petty' officers, filling the highly ir 

 portant positions of captains of the sledges, was beyor 

 all praise. In addition to their general cheerfulness ai 

 good humour, to their care and skill must be attribute 

 the safe return of the sledges, on- which the lives of tl 

 party depended, uninjured, and in as serviceable a sta 

 as when they left the ship, notwithstanding the hea> 

 nature of the road, which on all former occasions not on 

 repulsed the travellers altogether, but drove them ba( 

 with broken-up equipment. To such men as these, ai 

 the sledge crews generally, it is difficult to find any rewai 

 which can in the least compensate them for the mann 

 in which they have manfully met the extreme privatioi 

 and continuous labour necessarily undergone, Durir 

 this memorable journey to penetrate towards the nori 

 over the heavy Polar oceanic ice, without the assistant 

 of continuous land along which to travel, in which h; 

 been displayed in its highest state the pluck and courageoi 

 determination of the British seaman to steadily persever 

 day after day, against apparently insurmountable dif 

 culties, their spirits rising as the oppositions increase 

 Commander Markham and Lieut. Parr and their bra' 

 associates succeeded in advancing the National Flag 

 lat. 83° 20' 26" N., leaving a distance of 400 miles still 

 be travelled over before the North Pole is reached. 



In order to attain this position, although a direct di 

 tancef of only seventy-three miles from the ship w; 

 accomplished, the total distance travelled was 276 mil 

 on the outward, and 245 miles on the homeward journe 

 Their severe labour and exertions which certainly a 

 never be surpassed, coupled with the experience gaine 

 by Sir Edward Parry in the summer of 1827, proves th 

 a lengthened journey over the Polar pack ice with a sled| 

 party provided with a navigable boat is, in consequenc 

 of the rough nature of the road over which the party h; 

 to travel, impracticable at any season of the year ; ar 



