Early in August an officer arrived from the Alert, to report that she had moved southward, and was only about ten miles distant; and that Captain Nares, considering the main objects of the expedition secured, had decided on returning to England. About the same time returned the North Greenland party, their provisions having failed them. A few days later, and, having made her way through the broken ice, the Alert joined the Discovery in Discovery Bay. Mr. Beaumont’s party next arrived; and both vessels prepared for the homeward voyage. They left Discovery Bay, as we shall see, on the 28th of August.
Let us now return to the Alert, which we left embedded in the ice of the North Polar Ocean.
Her crew made shift to spend a tolerably merry winter, availing themselves of the usual resources of Arctic explorers under similar conditions. The day’s order was much as follows:—At 6.45 A.M. the commander was called, and all hands were piped up on deck; and the hammocks having been previously stowed away and the decks cleansed, everybody sat down, with vigorous appetite, to breakfast. The steerage and lower deck were afterwards cleared up, and soon after 9 A.M. the men were told off for their respective daily duties. At 10 A.M. another general parade of the crew was summoned, and, as a preventive against scurvy, the day’s dose of lime juice was administered. Then the crew went to quarters; the usual careful inspection took place; and the chaplain read prayers. At one o’clock the deck was cleared, and “dinner smoked upon the board.” On days when the darkness was not too intense the crew turned out to work upon the ice, or took their turn at walking exercise and amusements. They were thus occupied until supper, which was served at about five o’clock; and followed by evening school, the duties of which proved equally agreeable to the officers who taught and the men who learned. Soon after nine the officers in charge inspected the ship to see that all was quiet for the night. At ten out went the lights of the chief petty officers, and at eleven those of the wardroom.
This daily routine was freely interrupted on festival occasions. Guy Fawkes’ Day was celebrated as hilariously as by the men of the Discovery; and it is a curious illustration of the strength of old English traditions, that the merry-making customs of the Fifth of November should be thus closely observed by both the ice-bound vessels. Due honours were also paid to Father Christmas; nor was New-Year’s Day forgotten. Dramatic talent existed among the men of the Alert in sufficient force to provide a regular dramatic company. The “Royal Arctic Theatre” was erected in Funnel Row, and entertainments given weekly. The programmes of the “Thursday Pops,” as they were commonly called, were thrown off at a printing-press established in Trap Lane by Messrs. Giffard and Simmons; and from one of these we gather that the Royal Arctic Theatre opened for the season “under the distinguished patronage of Captain Nares, the members of the Arctic Expedition, and all the nobility and gentry of the neighbourhood,” on the 18th of November 1875. The orchestra consisted of one eminent pianist, Signor Aldrichi (Lieutenant Aldrich); and the scenic artist was Dr. Moss. The performances commenced at 7.30; and “sledges” might be ordered at nine o’clock. They were by no means wholly dramatic. The bill of fare included scientific and historical lectures, readings and recitations, songs and instrumental music, ranging from grave to gay, from lively to severe; and now and then, to draw a bumper house, some such attraction as feats of legerdemain by “the real Wizard of the North, on his way to the Hyperborean Regions;” acrobatic feats by “the Bounding Brothers of the Frigid Zone;” or the vocal performances of the “Pale-o’-Christy Minstrels,” who “never sing in London.” The plays produced were an original burlesque operetta, “The Vulgar Little Boy; or, Weeping Bill” (founded on Barham’s popular “Misadventures at Margate”), written expressly by the ship’s chaplain, the Rev. W. H. Pullen, author of the well-known political squib, “Dame Europa’s School;” “Aladdin; or, The Wonderful Scamp;” “Boots at the Swan;” and “The Area Belle.” The last and grand night was March 2nd, 1876,—when Captain Nares lectured on “The Palæocrystic Sea, and Sledging Experiences;” and after a variety of songs and readings, the company and audience sang a grand choral strain, “The Palæocrystic Chorus,” which we borrow from the pages of the Graphic:—
“Not very long ago,
On the six-foot floe
Of the Palæocrystic Sea,
Two ships did ride
’Mid the crushing of the tide,