The pemmican for my last expedition was a preparation of lean beef, dried until nearly all water was expelled from it, then ground fine and mixed with beef fat, a little sugar, and a few raisins. No more concentrated or more satisfying meat food can be prepared, and it forms the one absolutely indispensable item of any polar sledge-ration.
My hard-tack, pilot-bread, army-bread, whatever one chooses to call it, was made specially for my expedition as regards size and weight of the individual biscuit. The ingredients of the bread were essentially the same as those of regular hard-tack, being little else than flour, water and salt.
For convenience in issuing rations, these biscuit were made sixteen to the pound, which meant that, when we were on full rations, sixteen were issued to each man each day; if on half-rations, eight biscuit; if on quarter-rations, four biscuit. The biscuit were made square in the interests of reduced bulk, and they were packed in hermetically sealed, rectangular tins containing twenty-five pounds, with each tin just as long as the width of one of my sledges, so that they stowed compactly.
These biscuit, when perfectly dry, were as sweet and crisp and fresh as any cake, and in a division of four men one tin lasted a trifle over six days. This did not give the biscuit time to become moist or soft from the drifting snow.
Our tea also was compressed to save bulk.
A daily ration of one pound of pemmican, one pound of biscuits, four ounces of condensed milk, and half an ounce of compressed tea, with six ounces of alcohol or oil for fuel, will keep a man in good working condition for an indefinite period even in the coldest of weather, and this has been the standard ration on all my polar sledge-trips.
It is policy to keep the dogs as well, if not better, fed than oneself, and one pound of pemmican per day is sufficient to keep a dog healthy and strong. When necessary, an Eskimo dog can keep hard at work for some time on very little to eat. On the other hand, an occasional double ration, if conditions permit, produces good results.
In my expedition of 1891–92 I deliberately planned to use dogs for food for the first time in the history of polar exploration. As the dogs wore out, we fed them to those remaining or ate them ourselves, thus making our load of provisions last much longer. This has been the principle of all my subsequent trips, and results have fully proved it to be a sound one.
My parties in the field have had two meals a day, one in the morning, the other in the evening. On the polar trips the party which went ahead to break a way for the main party was allowed tea and a lunch at noon, so strenuous was the work.
Essential working-tools of a sledge-party over sea ice comprise pick-axes, ice lances, snow knives, hatchets, spades, and coils of walrus line. Every one of my sledges carried a light, special double-pointed pick-ax weighing five pounds, with a selected hickory handle. When we encountered a serious pressure ridge or a zone of rough rubble-ice, the sledges stopped, the dogs lay down and went to sleep instantly, and every man in the party pulled a pick-ax from the upstanders of his sledge and stepped forward to chop a trail for the sledges through this zone of ice. This trail had already been indicated by me or some member of the party scouting in advance. As a result, trails were very quickly made.