302 Arguments for 



was only 1*7 per cent., and states that the risk from climate 

 and disease in a voyage to the Arctic seas " is not greater 

 than that which a ship like the 'Challenger' will incur in her 

 voyage of discovery." These fourteen searching expeditions 

 were equipped simply for the purpose of rescuing Franklin, 

 and in no wise professed to be of an exploratory or scientific 

 character ; and it was only incidentally, and as a pure matter 

 of individual zeal, that any one turned his attention to 

 scientific observation, although, as a matter of fact, the various 

 observations made by officers during their explorations con- 

 tributed considerably not only to geographical, but to other 

 branches of natural knowledge. 



The general result pointed to the two following con- 

 clusions : that with the introduction of steani-power in Arctic 

 ships, and the remarkable improvements in victualling them, 

 navigation in the polar seas had been rendered comparatively 

 safe, and those maladies warded off from which seamen had 

 suffered in ancient times. Further, that with proper organi- 

 zation and good discipline, double the work could be accom- 

 plished ; whilst the men employed sought Arctic service as 

 the most popular employment in the navy. The circumstance 

 that for some years past the ordinary sailing whaler to Baffin's 

 Bay has been entirely superseded by the fortified steam-ship, 

 and that since this transition no fatal accident has occurred, 

 but that these vessels annually reach a high northern latitude 

 in pursuit of their calling and return with ease and safety, is 

 one the significance of which cannot be over-stated. 



On the solution of the fate of Franklin's expedition in 1861, 

 Great Britain again withdrew from the field of Arctic re- 

 search ; but it was not so with other European nations. They, 

 fired by the accounts of these different Arctic explorers, and 

 of the honours reaped by British seamen and travellers, sought 

 immediately to enter a field which had so redounded to our 

 national honour ; and Sweden, Germany, Austria, Russia, and 

 notably America, year after year, made efforts to extend the 



