The Arctic World

by Anonymous

On the 7th our homeward-bound ships reached Norman Lockyer Island, on the margin of Princess Marie Bay. The season was now far advanced, and as the slightest mistake might have led to the vessels being ice-bound for the winter, the two captains ascended to the highest point of the island to obtain some idea of the prospect before them. They were much relieved by seeing a large area of open water some twenty miles distant, which they conjectured would extend to the mouth of Smith Sound. No time was lost in getting under way; and the ships crossed two-thirds of the distance before they fell in with ice. By charging it under full steam, they cleared the obstacle, and then, through an open-water channel, ran on to Cape Sabine.

On the 9th of September they arrived off Cape Isabella, where they found a small packet of letters and newspapers which had been left at the depôt by the Pandora. The weather was now calm, and the wind favourable. Sail was hoisted, therefore, as the supply of coal began to run short, and on the evening of the 12th the expedition reached Bardin Bay. During the 13th and the 14th they worked southward into Wolstenholm Sound; and thence, with a south-easterly wind, crossed to Cape Byam Martin, which they reached on the 16th. Two days later they entered the well-known waters of Melville Bay; on the 25th they arrived at Disco, where, and afterwards at Egedesminde, they obtained some small supplies of coal.

Egedesminde was left behind on the 2nd of October, and on the 4th the two ships recrossed the Arctic Circle—exactly fifteen months from the time of crossing it on the outward voyage. Experiencing adverse winds, they made but slow progress to the southward; and as the weather became warmer and damper, a few of the men suffered from rheumatism and catarrhs. During a heavy gale on the 19th, the two ships separated; but both, as we have seen, reached the shores of England in safety, where their gallant officers and crews met with the hearty welcome so thoroughly merited by their courage, perseverance, and heroic industry.

Some notes on the general results obtained by the expedition in zoology, botany, and geology, have appeared in the Academy. The two naturalists under whose care these departments were placed,—Captain Feilden, in the Alert, and Mr. Hart, in the Discovery,—worked with unflagging energy and no small success.

Of mammals, the species found farthest north were the Arctic fox, the wolf, the ermine, the Polar hare, the lemming, and the musk-ox,—all of which were seen on the shores of the great Polar Basin or Palæocrystic Sea. No cetaceans were sighted north of Payer Harbour, near Cape Sabine; a fact which renders all the more serious the gradual process of extermination of the Greenland (or right) whale in more southern latitudes. The only seal found beyond Cape Union, in lat. 82° 15’ N., was the little ringed seal or “floe-rat” (Phoca hispida).

So far as the land extended, bird life prevailed; the species being the snowy owl, the snow-bunting, and the ptarmigan. Full collections were made of all the birds frequenting Smith Sound; and our naturalists had the satisfaction of discovering the long-sought-for breeding-haunts of the knott and sanderling.[13]

Few species of marine fish were obtained, but “an interesting small salmonoid” was met with in fresh-water lakes as far north as lat. 82° 35’. A fine collection of marine invertebrates was secured by dredging and trawling; and the character of the sea-bottom from Baffin Bay up to lat. 83° 19’ N. was accurately ascertained by a series of careful soundings.

In the department of botany our naturalists were rewarded by the discovery of between twenty and thirty species of phanerogamic plants between the parallels of 82° and 83°. Much richer and more varied results were obtained in the cryptogamic flora.

Geologically, the facts arrived at were of the utmost value. “The whole west coast of Smith Sound, from Cape Isabella to Cape Union, has been fully surveyed and mapped, and large collections have been made both of fossils and rock-specimens; while the sledge-parties which explored the shore of the Polar Basin, both to east and west, brought back sufficient material to determine the geological character of the country. Silurian limestones, richly fossiliferous, were the prevailing rocks along Smith Sound. Miocene deposits, including a twenty-foot seam of coal, were found as far north as lat. 81° 44’. From the shales and sandstones of this formation a beautiful series of leaf-impressions were collected, illustrating the characteristic flora of the epoch, and presenting a remarkable demonstration of the existence of a temperate climate within five hundred miles of the present Pole at a comparatively recent geological time. Not less important are the indications of great recent changes in the elevation of the land afforded by the discovery of thick post-pliocene deposits, lying at a considerable elevation above the sea-level, and containing fossils similar to the existing marine fauna. Lastly, very interesting and suggestive observations have been made on glaciation and ice-action in general.”

This, of course, is but a summary, and a very brief and condensed one, of researches which have evidently been of the highest importance. And it might almost be said of the late expedition, that even had its geographical discoveries been less valuable, its scientific results would have entitled it to a foremost place in the annals of Arctic Enterprise.