NARES' EXPEDITION (1876) 143 



Kane Sea is entirely dependent on the westerly winds. 

 Both in 1875 and 1876 we met navigable water off' 

 Cape Victoria in latitude 79° 12' with only a narrow 

 pack 15 miles in breadth between it and Grinnell 

 Land, which a westerly wind of a few hours 1 duration 

 would certainly have driven to the eastward. The same 

 wind would have opened a channel along the shore, and 

 any vessel waiting her opportunity at Payer Harbour 

 could under those circumstances have passed up the 

 channel with as little difficulty as the Polaris experienced 

 in 1871. 



"The quantity of one season's ice met with in the 

 bays on the south-east coast of Grinnell Land in 1876 

 proves that on the final setting in of the frost, after we 

 passed north in 1875, the pack had been driven from 

 the shore, leaving a navigable channel along the land. 

 Nevertheless, I do not recommend future navigators who 

 wish to obtain a high northern latitude by this route 

 to wait for such a favourable occurrence. Certainly no 

 one could have made a passage through the ice in 1876 

 before the 10th September by doing so. At that date 

 the season had advanced so far that the attainment of 

 sheltered winter-quarters would have been extremely 

 problematical." 



The two ships arrived at Portsmouth Harbour on the 

 2nd November. 



This expedition, sent out regardless of expense, 

 achieved very much less than had been anticipated. The 

 chief cause of failure was the outbreak of scurvy, which 

 completely paralysed the undertaking. The real cause of 

 the outbreak was never discovered, but it was probably 

 due to the want of fresh meat. The methods adopted 

 to reach a high latitude were practically identical with 

 those of Parry used half a century before. After all 

 their experience, both Markham and Nares emphatically 



