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 
8.S.G. 2 
