66 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
the ice ; ramming and blasting were resorted to ; and only by 
audacity, guided by discretion, was it possible slowly to advance. 
The floes at first were only four feet in thickness, but beyond 
Cape Frazer old hummocky pieces, twenty feet and more in 
thickness, had to be encountered. At length, after twenty-five 
days of this ice navigation, a well-sheltered harbour at the 
entrance of Lady Franklin Sound was reached, and at once 
fixed upon as the winter-quarters of the Discovei'y. This was 
on August 25. Two days afterwards the vessels parted company, 
and Captain Hares, carefully availing himself of every opportunity 
that offered, worked his way through the pack. By noon on 
September 1, he reached 82° 24' H., the highest latitude ever 
attained in a vessel, and finally found himself closed in for the 
winter, on an open coast, in lat. 82° 27', protected to the sea- 
ward by a powerful barrier of gigantic floe-bergs, eighty feet in 
thickness, aground in twelve fathoms of water. 
The autumn sledge-travelling was begun on September 9th, 
and on the 27th of that month Lieut. Aldrich reached 82° 48', the 
highest latitude hitherto attained, and ascending a mountain 
2,000 feet in height, was not able to discover land to the north. 
The sun disappeared on October 12th, only to reappear on March 
1st. The winter passed cheerfully, and on the approach of spring 
officers as well as men were apparently in the finest condition for 
undergoing the hardships of sledge-travelling. The 3rd of April 
was fixed upon for the departure of the Alert's travelling parties, 
and on the morning of that day seven sledges with fifty-three 
officers and men started for the north. On reaching the vicinity 
of Cape Joseph Henry the sledges separated, some returning to the 
ship, others proceeding to the north or west. Captain Markham 
had command of the northern division, whose task it was to pro- 
ceed over the ice due north in the direction of the Pole. Captain 
Hares certainly did not expect that this journey would prove a 
success, as far as reaching a high latitude was concerned, but 
an effort had to be made. It was by no means certain that the 
ice, at some distance from the land, would not be found to be 
in motion, and hence it was necessary that this party should be 
provided with boats, which had to be carried on the sledges. 
Captain Markham, with his subordinate, Lieut. Parr, started on 
the 11th, and in spite of the ruggedness of the ice which 
necessitated clearing the road with picks and shovels, the 
intense cold, and the visitation of scurvy, they and their men 
struggled on until May 12th, when they planted their flags in 
lat. 83° 20' 26", the highest latitude ever attained by this or 
any other expedition. The progress made good daily only 
averaged 1 J mile, and never exceeded 2-| miles, and when the 
party again reached the land, on June 5, only the two officers 
and six men were able to drag the sledges. It was then Lieut. 
