THE ENGLISH YACHT 'FOX' 17 



early in September the vegetation had assumed the 

 rich autumn colouring. Seen from the edge of the 

 sea on an evening at the beginning of September 

 the beach of olive green and brown sand was lit up 

 with clumps of golden yellow Sea Purslane (Arenaria 

 peploides)-, the swampy ground in the middle dis- 

 tance was partially covered with the crimson foliage 

 of creeping bilberry bushes interspersed with green 

 and orange patches, and above the steep and still 

 green mossy slopes the escarpment of dark brown 

 volcanic rock was sprinkled with clinging colonies 

 of yellow vegetation. Farther in the background, 

 with dark shadows on their steep sides, were the 

 flat-topped mountains, huge truncated pyramids 

 cut out of a once continuous plateau built up of 

 successive layers of dark brown lava and redder 

 strips of volcanic ash (Fig. 6). The photographs, 

 (Figs. 6 and 7) taken after a recent fall of snow, 

 show very clearly the layers of rock above the 

 talus slopes. 



Lying on the beach of Godhavn harbour is the 

 broken and battered hull of the 'Fox,' an English 

 yacht of 177 tons which provides an interesting 

 link with the middle of last century (Fig. 8). In 

 1857, after the decision of the English Govern- 

 ment against the despatch of further expeditions 

 in search of Sir John Franklin, Lady Franklin 

 purchased the 'Fox' which had been built a year 

 previously as a private yacht: the vessel was re- 

 fitted at Aberdeen and sailed for the Arctic regions 

 under the command of Captain Leopold M'Clin- 

 tock. After wintering in the pack-ice of Melville 



