INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
3 
effective in war. Captain Sherard Osborn lias re¬ 
peatedly dwelt upon this in his many spirit-stirring 
addresses advocating a renewal of Polar Exploration. 
In one of these addresses, read by him before the Eoyal 
Geographical Society on January 23, 1865, he says: 
“ The Navy needs some action to wake it up from the 
sloth of routine, and save it from the canker of pro¬ 
longed peace. ... You are not going to educate us, 
work us up to the point of nautical perfection, awaken 
hopes and ambition, and then give us oakum to pick; 
or run us over the mast-head after top-gallant yards, 
to keep down the spirit which intellectual progress has 
evoked. The Navy of England cries not for mere war 
to gratify its desire for honourable employment or 
fame. There are other achievements, it knows well, 
as glorious as victorious battles: and a wise ruler and 
a wise people will, I hold, be careful to satisfy a crav¬ 
ing which is the life-blood of a profession—indeed, I 
hold that it ought to be fostered and encouraged.” 
There are few ways in which this spirit can be better 
fostered than by Polar Exploration, and so popular is 
such service amongst our sailors, more especially Arctic 
sailors, that hundreds of them volunteer to go when 
any project of this kind is afloat. From this point of 
view, the exploration of the higher latitudes is a 
matter for government, and not for private enterprise. 
