The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-11-04 00:00:00

STOURI3RIDGE OBSERVER

which they eventually did. On the 10th of September, when
they arrived at Cape Isabella, they found the paper and
cache left by the Pandora. They also received some
letters, but the greater part of the letters, &c. had been
left at Littleton Island, on the east side, and had
been missed. The expedition got to Port Lively, in Disco,
on the 25th of September, and the Governor then informed
them of letters having been left at Littleton Island and of
the departure of the Pandora five days previously. The Alec
coaled with 30 tone, and after a short delay there both ree.
eels again sailed on the 28th of September. They Rave
the Inspector of North Greenland a !manage as far as Eges-
leen:theta, a small settlement of about 140 inhabitants.
Her they remained a couple ef days. during which the
Discovery took in a supply of coal. Here the monotony
of the voyage was broken; the men were allowed
ashore, and there was a dance with the natives in the
evening. They left this place in a few days and proceeded
southward, meeting icebergs on the way, and experienclug
some dead weather They picked up the Pandora in about
a fortnight, and all parted company on the loth of October.
A week ago they encountered severe weather in the Atlantic,
and had one of their boats stove in. In the Spring, while
the vessel was in winter waters, some shooting parties were
sent out from the Discovery; the lakes inland were visited,
and large quantities of Ittent geese were met; musk ox were
also shot on the hills, and hares were taken in abundance.
In some of the lakes they found salmon and trout, and they
obtained 50 specimens of plants. Vegetation was very
scanty, but on the slopes which were watered by the moun-
tain snow from the heights red and green moss was to be
found. Dwarf willows were seen, and saxifrage grass was
scanty and dead cooking."
"Lieutenant Beaumont, First Lieutenant of the Dia-
cevery, states that the travelling was during the Spring, no
one could live during the Winter. The Aurora Borealis was
not distinct in that latitude, the latitude being too high.
Whenever they saw it it came from the south, and
can be seen more distinctly in England. One of the
great difficulties they experienced in travelling on land was
that the ground was covered with snow, which was in some
places bard and in others soft. The obstacles that pre-
vented them pursuing their inquiries by laud were the
mountains, which rose to the
.height of 4,000 and 6.000
feet. The expeeitien that took in the northern coast
of North America followed the coast line as much
as possible. After they left lat. 31 deg. 7 min., they had to
travel on sea where the ice was- at least 1601 t. thick. They
found ridges of ice, and the sleighing party had to break
their way through there with pickaxes. In one place they
found a ridge of seven miles, and they had to cut their way
through. It was known before the starting of the expedition
that with the difficulties before them the Pole could not be
reached ; but; the sleighing party had intended to reach the
place, went strati; ,t at their work, and were only stopped by
the immense barrier of ice. The explora!ion party !rem the
Discovery explored the north coast of Greenland, and a party
from the Alert explored the northern part of Grant's Land.
The configuration of the mountains was not more difficult
than that of the Swiss mountains; but there was this in-
surmountable obstacle, that they were covered with snow
from the base to the summit. They vary 4,000 to 5,000 feet
high. The present expedition went 100 miles higher than
Sir John Franklin's expedition. The whole of the ship's
company Joined in the expedition except a few who had to
look after the ship. A short time before the close of their
winter quarters they discovered a vein of coal nearly 45ft
thick. They did not, however, avail themselves of it during
the winter. The snow covered the coal, which would then
have proved valuable. They saw no evidence of volcanic
eruptions. Lieutenant Beaumont's party had been absent from
the ship 131 days, and reached 82 deg. 20 min. N. lat., 12 deg.
W. long. The country through which they passed was cut up
into fords, and land existed to the northeast, probably
reaching 83 deg. Lieutenant Aldrich's party wentets far as
lat 83 deg 7 min., long. 30, but west of that traced land as
far as 84 deg. 56 min.

"The Alert, after parting with the Discovery In lat. 81 deg
44 min., steamed due north, as it was determined that she
should get as near the Pole as possible. The water was fairly
open at the commencement, but the ice began to gather more
thickly every day, and in the beginning of September the
Alert entered an indentation on the coast, lat. 82deg 27min.,
which was the highest latitude the could reach An ocean
of ice presented itself before them This nook was called
by them Floebtug Beach, because during the remaining por-
tion of the autumn and in early winter huge floes drifted
along by the currents came together, and knit in the water
on,side the Alert, and formed for her a very considerable pro-
tection, though a remarkably gripping one. Here the ship
was bound up for seven months, and for nearly 50 of those
days light was never seen. It was a terrible time for those
on board. The cold was the most intense ever registered,
and when It was 104 deg. below freezing point life outside
the ship could not exist, especially if the slightest wind was
blowing. Ditiing those months the deck was banked up with
.16 inches of snow, in order to keep in the heat, and around
the sides of the ship it was piled to the depth of some feet
every fortnight. The welcome light of the moon came to
cheer the icebound voyagers with some evidenoe that their
breath still existed, and its light reflected by mile alter Mile
Of glittering ice and snow was of dazzling brilliancy. Land-
wards from the Alert were large mountains, which from the
base upwards, looked like cones of snow; and outwards
towards the ocean ice-ridges rose in such long and intermin-
able lines that the ship seemed for ever fixed in those dreadful
solitudes. During this terrible period the men on board were
neves, allowed to lose heart. Such a failing they never
evinced, for men could not have borne up with braver
hearts against dangers than they. But the admirable pre-
parations which had been made on board enabled them to
pass their time as agreeably as mortals could under such cir-
cumstances. They could engage in bouts at the manly art
of self-defence. All possible games that could be played
in such close quarters were available for them. They also
had a printing press, in which to print their journals, and
theatricals came off once a week. Yesterday, when visitors
were looking for curiosities from the Arctic regions on the
vessel's deck, the most remarkable reminiscences of the
voyage they could discover were sets of boxing gloves,
and some reams of tin foil paper, the remnant of the
supply that was needed to Make the breast plates for the
cavaliers who appeared in the exciting dramas which were
represented on board. Before the cold of the weather
became so dangerous that the offieers and men were kept con-
fined to the ship, many expeditious were made on foot over
the ice in her neighbourhood. A large Ilse, 7511. high,
settled down a short distance from her bow, and the men
set themselves, while the weather would allow them, the
task of cutting a stairway to its summit, whlch they rapidly
succeeded in doing. The top of Look-out Floe, as tkey
called it, was generally the termination of those excur-
sione, and on one occasion they carried on a performance
on it which made the piles of bergs flare as they never
had done before. It was when, on tne 6th of November,
the crew of the Alert, with all due ceremony, burnt
Guy Fawkes's effigy on its top. At the same moment,
and without any preconcert, the crew of the Discovery were
carrying out the same old practice on a smaller fl e, in s.
degree of latitude to the south. Whenever the weather per-
misted of existence outside the ship, there was some skating
to be bad on the smooth floes, but the great excitement was
shooting, and the principal quarry was the musk ox, an
animal never before known to inhabit such latitudes.
During the winter months about 18 of those animals were
shot, and in the Spring about ten more, and their skins have
been brought home. The hoofs are small and nicely formed,
and the hair which clothes the animal is long and
of a dark brown colour. The ermine—an animal
never before known to live so far north—was also
killed. The Greenland shore off which the ships lay
was infested with owls, whose nests the sailors were very
quick in discovering. When the spring set in they laid
snares for the old ones, and they determined to carry home
a large consimment of owlets; but when the young ones
were all but fully grown, wolves descended on them in nearly
every instance and ate them This was very strange, as
there were not more than a couple of wolves seen in the
neighbourhood of the ship. The robbing of the nests that
were left untouched was in itself a work of great danger,
because the old owls descended on the men and darted at
their eyes, and, It required no ordinary wariness to keep them
off. Tne owls were treated with the greatest care, and they
lived until the Alert was caught in the fearful storm she
encountered In her passage home, during which they died."