The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1876-12-01
THE ENGLISH ARCTIC EXPEDITION.
a Winter iii the Polar Rc=ious.

n sDLeF tNc AACSioVSs
A correspondent Of the London
Times at Valentia gives the following
particulars of the English Arctic En-
pedition:
"rhe Alert, after parting with the
Discovery in latitude 81 degrees Al
minutes, 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 !hickly
every day, and IN the beginning of Sep
tcmber the Alert entered an indenta
tion on the coast, latitude 50 degrees -
minutes, which was the hi CHEST latitude
she could reach.
can ocean of ice presented itself be-
fore them. This nook was called by
them Fioelers Beach, because during
the remaining portion of the autumn
and in early winter huge floats drifted
along by the currents came together,
and knit in the water outside the Alert,
and formed for her a very comfortable
protection, though Il remarkably grip
ping one. Here the ship was bound up
| tor seven months, and for nearly fifty
| OF those days light was never seen. Ii
| was Il terrible time for those on board.
| The cold was the most intense ever re-
! gistered, and when it was one hundred
| and four degrees below freezing point
| life outside the ship could not exist; es-
pecially if the slightest wind was blow
| ing. During those months the deck
was banked up with sixteen inches o.,
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 fort
night.
| "The welcome light OF the moon
came to cheer the ice-bound voynye:S,
with some evidence that their breath
still existed, and it's light reflected l,y
mile after mile of glittering ice a,,
snow was of dazzling briiliancy. Land
ward from the Alert We're large noun
t;,ius, which, from the base upward,
looked like cones OF snow ;; and outward
toward the ocean iccbergs rose i'll such
long and interninable lines that the
ship seemed forever fixed in those
dreadful solitudes. During This terrible
| period the men on board were never
| allowed to lose heart. Such Il fuilinS
they never evinced, for !ne;l could not
have borne up with Drawer hearts
against dangers than they. But the
admirable preparations which had
been made on board enabled them to
pass their time as agreeably as mortai-
could under such circumstances. They
could engage in bouts ut the manly art
Of self-lefence. All possible games that
could be played in such close quarters
were available for them. They also
had 4 printing press in Which to print
their journals, and theatricals came of
once Il week.
"When visitors were looking for curl
.,sities from Arctic regions on the YES
>Ci's deck, the most remarkable remin-
iscences OF the voyage they could dis
cover We're sets of boxing gloves, and
some rcamS Of tin-fOil paper, the REM
nant OF the supply needed to make I'll"
breast plates for the cavaliers who APP
peared in the exciting dramas which,
were represented on board. Before the
cold of the weather became so danger
Gus that the officers and men We're kept
confined to the ship, many expeditions
were made on foot over the ice in her
ncighborhood. a large foe, seventy
five feet high, settled down Il short dis
tauce from her bow, and the men set
themselves, while the weather would
allow them, the task of cutting a stair.
way to its summit, which they rapidly
succeeded in doing. The top of tho
Look out E'loe, as they called it, WAS
generally the termination of those eN
rursions, and on one occasion they Car.
ricd on u performance on it whic!
made the piles OF berss ilare as they
never had done before. 1t was when
on the 9th of November, the crew o
the Alert, with all due ceremony, burn
cd Guy Fawilcs's ettigy on its top. Al
the same moment, and without precon
cert, the crew of the Discovery were
carrying out the same old practice on 3
smaller foe, in a degree of latitude tt
the south. Whenever the weather per
nlitted of existence outside the ship
there was some skating to be had OF
smooth iloes, but the great cNcitcmen;
was shooting, and the principal quarry
was the musk OK, an animal never be
fore known to inhabit such ATTITUDES
During the winter months about TWEEN
ty-eight of those animals were shot,an,
in the spring about ten more, and tnCil
skins have bccu brought homo. The
hoofs are small and nicely formed, and
the hair which clothes the animal i
long and of Il dark brown color. The
crmine, an animal never beirr. known
to liveso far north, was also killed.