Expedition of the Alert to 



above the freezing point inside the houses, two buckets full of water 

 are always to be kept ready for instant use. 



<f (b.) As the successful carrying out of the observations will, in a 

 great measure, depend on the health of the pari v. the need of exer- 

 cise is strongly insisted on during the winter months, and also that 

 eaeli member of the party shall partake freely of the lime juice sup- 



" (c.) Each party is supplied with a boat, but unless some emergency 

 required it, it must be a rule that neither afloat nor ashore must any 

 of the party leave the station for a greater distance than they can be 

 sure of being able to return the same day. 



"(d.) As soon as possible after t he houses are completed and the 

 stores all in place, the party will set to work collecting sods, grass or 

 any other non-conducting material, and before the winter sets in the 

 whole house is to be covered with this, boards overlaid and snow packed 

 over all; the assistance of the Eskimos should, if possible, be ob- 

 tained, and the whole house arched over with snow. 



" ANDREW R. GORDON, 

 " Lieutenant E. N., Commanding Expedition.'' 



" Ottawa, 5th July, 1884." 



After leaving Halifax harbor, we stood out to the south-eastward and 

 then altered course to east by north, thence we passed between Cape 

 Breton Island and Newfoundland into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 Our first stopping place was Blanc Sablon, in Labrador, where we laid 

 in an additional supply of coal. From Blanc Sablon, we passed up 

 through the Strait of Belle Isle into the waters of the broad Atlantic. 



Almost immediately after passing Belle Isle, we met the ice pack 

 which was coming down the coast. The entire Labrador coast from 

 that point to Hudson's Strait, and away north, was lined with' a pack 

 varying in width from thirty-five to one hundred miles. "\Ye were 

 obliged to shape our course to the eastward and then to skirt along 

 the edge of the ice pack. 



In the early morning of June 13, we spoke the whaling-barque, 

 " Maude of Dundee/' Scotland, Captain Watson in command. He 

 came on board the "Alert," and stated that he had arrived abreast of 

 the entrance of Hudson's Strait about April 1. At that date there 

 were over one hundred and twenty miles of ice between him and the 

 shore. From that date, until the day of our meeting, the " Maude " 

 had been cruising off the edge of the pack between Lady Franklin 

 Island and latitude fifty-nine degrees north. Captain Watson was 

 unable at any time to get nearer than thirty-five miles to Resolution 

 Island — at the entrance to Hudson's Strait. 



This would indicate that the stream of Davis' Strait ice had been 

 flowing, without interruption, through the months of April, May and 



