The Portland daily press., 1876-10-30
GREAT BRITAIN.
The Arctic Exnedifinu.

LONDON, Oct. % Capt Mares, commander
of the Arctic expedition, has sent telegram
to the admiralty announcing his return. His
despatch contains only the following additional
particulars of the voy age:
The Polar Sea is never navigable. The ord-
nary ice averages so feet in thickness. Animal
life and the northerly migration of birds ends
south of Cape Columbia. a memorial tablet
was erected to Capt Hall of the Polaris eXpe-
dition at Polaris Bay. Esquimaux traces cease
on the west shere in lat 01.52, whence thes
cross to Greenland. The lmpracticability of
reaching the North pole was proved, and all
neigbbOrlng lands were examined.
The telegram confirms all the details of the
expedition transmitted yesterday.
The ships wintered behind a barrier of ground
ed ice close to land. The floating masses of
thick Polar ice had in meeting pressed up quan
titles of intermediate ice into blocks frequently
mile in diameter and varying in beight from
ten to fifty feet. Obstacles OF this kind des-
troyed all hope of reaching the pole by sledges
Before the attempt was made the sledge party
was obliged to make road with pick-axes
nearly half the distance travelled. As it was
always necessary to drag the siedge loads by in
stailments, the party really traversed 276 miles,
although it only progressed Is miles. All the
cairns erected by the POlaris expedition were
visited at the boat depot in Newman's Bay. A
chronometer was found ia perfect order. The
wheat left by the Polaris was successfully grow n
aboard the ships. When at Polaris bay the
Discovery hosted the American flag and fred
salute. A tablet with The following inscrp-
ton was fixed on the grave of Captain Hall:
''Sacred to the memory of Captain Hall, of the
Polaris, who sacrificed his life in the advance
ment of science; this tablet is ierected by the
British Poaris expedition, who, following his
footsteps, have profted by his experience
Two sailors of the Greenland sledge party
were buried near Capt. Halls grave. The suf-
ferings Of the sledge parties from scurvey were
frightful. The expedition under Markham and
Parr which endeavored to reach the pole con-
sisted of seventeen persons. Nine became ut
terly helpless and had to be carried on sledges.
Three could barely walk and were unable to
pull.
Another Account of the Expedition.
LONDON, Oct. 80 "A narrative of the Arctic
expedition is published. 1t relates that after
first encountering ice the expedition was de-
tanned several days in Port Payer. Ii started
thence on August 8th, but before reaching the
shore of Grinnell Land the vessels were caught
in an ice pack. After this their progress north.
ward was an incessant struggle through chance
openings made in the ice by wind and current,
through which the ships moved constantly it
closing behind them. The Discovery wiptered
in we'll sheltered haIbor on the west side of
Halls Basin, few miles north of Polars
Bay. The Alert pushed forward and roun ded
the northeast point of Grants Land, but in-
stead of finding as expected, a continuous
coast hundred miles toward the North, she
found herself on the burder of an extensive sea
with impenetrable ice on every side and no
harbor.