CHAPTER XVI 
THE GENERATION OF AVERTED INTEREST 
“ The best-laid schemes o’ mice and men 
Gang aft agley.” 
— Burns. 
I MMEDIATELY after the return of the Erebus and 
Terror it became evident that the absence of magnetic 
observations in high latitudes south of the Indian Ocean 
would detract from the value of the data brought back 
by the expedition, and the Admiralty resolved that having 
done so much they would complete the work. 
Orders were accordingly sent out in the summer of 
1844 to Admiral Percy, Commander-in-Chief at the Cape 
of Good Hope, to select and equip a vessel for the pur- 
pose. His choice fell on the Pagoda, a merchant barque 
of 360 tons, which was hired, fitted out and manned by a 
crew of thirty-five volunteers from the flagship H. M. S. 
Winchester. Most of the six officers came from the 
same ship, but the command was given to Lieutenant T. 
E. L. Moore, R.N., who had been Mate on the Terror 
during the Antarctic Expedition, and he arrived from 
England at the beginning of January, 1845. The ship 
was ready for sea and left Simon’s Bay without a day’s 
unnecessary delay on January 9th. Lieutenant (now 
Major-General) Henry Clerk, R.A., joined the expedition 
as magnetic observer. The Pagoda met the first icebergs 
on the 25th, in latitude 53 0 30' S. on her way to the as- 
signed position of Bouvet Island, the search for which 
was the first incident in the voyage. As Bouvet Island 
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