Year: 1877

A Winter in the Polar Reglon'


The Rev. Charles Z. Hedson, chaplain
of the Arctic exploring vessel Discovery,
has written an account of the voyage, from
which the following is an extract:


"When the sea was completely frozen
over the sleighing parties set out on their
expeditions, but not much was done this
way during the autumn by our ship. The
harbor was, however, surveyed by some
officers in dog sledges. may say that
of all the dogs we had, but one remains
alive with us at present. AS soon as the
ice could bear it we commenced building
houses upon it. We also built mag
ni6cent observatory and an ice theatre,
but first of all smithy was built on the
10Th of November, 1875, 1t had roof
made of coal bags cemented with ice, and
our stoker, who worked as blacksmith,
had very nice place of it; but he made
a good many holes in the wall, as when
ever he wanted to cool the iron he had
only to thrust it through the ice.


"The theater was sixty feet long by
twenty-seven broad. 1t had a green.room
and stage. We called it the Alexandra
Theater, in honor of the Princess of
Wales, and it was opened on the 1st of
December, her birthday, when we pro-
duced the farce MY Turn Next Some
songs were afterward sung by the men.
Mr.. Miller, one of the engineers, was one
of our best actors and great support to
our theater From time to time during
the winter plays were produced by Off
GERS and men alternately. The entertain
ments were varied by songs and reclta-
tons, not few of these being original.
On the 9th day of November we had a
bonfire on the ice, and burnt the Guy
according to the usual custom. We had
rockets, blue lights and different other
things, and enjoyed ourselves in every
possible way.


81 forgot to say that we saw the last
sun about the 18th of October. There
were splendid effects in the sky about
that time, and the hills were tinged with
purple and gold. While the sun disap-
peared the men had an extra glass of
grog served out to them. AS soon as the
ice was sufficiently firm, a walk of mile
in length was constructed by shovelling
away the snow. This place was generally
used as an exercise ground. During the
winter we also constructed a skating rink.
We made it in this way: We cleared
away the snow in circle Of six or seven
feet in diameter, and made bole in the
ice, through which we drew the water in
buckets and poured it on the rough ce
We always kept fire hole in the ice near
the ship. From time to time this grad
ua'ly closed, and it had then to be sawn
with ice saws or blasted with gunpowder.
The dogs lived on the open foe all the
winter. The changes in the temperature
are very rapid and remarkable. | have
known it to vary sixty degrees in few
hours. The coolest weather was in March,
when one Hight the glass showed minus
70 1-2 degrees Fahrenheit; that is, over
one hundred degrees below freezing point
the greatest cold ever reached by any
expedition. We wore very thick warm
clothing, and never was it more needed.


sand now few words as to the man
nsr in which we kept Christmas. First
OF all, we had in the morning the Christ
mas waits in the usual manner. A SER
geant Of marines, mate, and three 9TH
ers, went around the ship singing carols
suited to the occasion, and made special
stay outside the captains cabin, ON the
lower deck. In the forenoon there were
prayers, and after that the captain and
officers visited the mess in the lower deck,
tasted the pudding, inspected the deco
ratiOns which had been made, and 50 on.
Then the boxes Of presents given by
friends in England were brought out, the
names of those for whom each box was
intended having been previously affixed
to each box. The presents were distrib-
uted by the captain. Ringing cheers,
which sounded strange enough in that
lone place, were given for the donors,
some of them very dear to the men who
were far away from their home. Cheers
were also given for the captain and absent
comrades. In the Alert q choir was
formed, and the "roast beef of old Eng
land" had its virtues praised again. The
men had their dinner at twelve o'clock,
and the officers dined together at five.


with regard TO absent comrades I
may explain that when the Alert left Us
an officer, Mr.. Rawson, with seven of our
men, went in her with sledges in order
to bring US back news of her whereabouts,
if possible, but they were prevented from