| Pemmican | 1 lb. |
| Boiled pork | 6 oz. |
| Biscuit | 12 oz. |
| Rum, concentrated | ¾ gill. |
| Tobacco | ½ oz. |
| Biscuit dust | 1 oz. |
| Tea and sugar | ¾ oz. |
| Chocolate and sugar (alternate days) | 1¾ oz. |
| Lime-juice (for 10 days) | ½ oz. |
The fuel allowed to cook this, for a party of seven men, amounted to one pint and one gill of spirits of wine, or one pound eight ounces of tallow.
A little calculation soon showed that about forty days' provision was as much as any one sledge could take with it, or for an outward journey of about twenty days; which, at an average distance of ten miles per diem, would only give an extent of coast-line examined by any one sledge of two hundred miles.
Before I endeavour to show how, by a system of dépôts and relays, greater distances were achieved, the complete load of a long-party sledge may as well be shown.
| lbs. | ||
| Total dead weight | 440 | |
| Pemmican and cases | 330 | |
| Biscuit and dust, &c. | 278 | |
| Pork and packages | 123 | |
| Tea, sugar, chocolate, tobacco, &c., in a case | 47 | |
| Lime-juice and rum | 67 | |
| Spirits of wine and tallow | 78 | |
| Sundries, tins, &c. | 45 | |
| Number of men to drag, 7 | 1408 | |
| 201 | lbs. per man. |
The officer's load consisted of a gun, powder and ball, telescope, compass, and note-book; and as all the party, in anticipation of cold weather, had to be heavily clad, it may be supposed that the total weight to be dragged through snow and over rough ice was quite as much as the stoutest physical powers were capable of. Several days previous to departure we had travelled short journeys, in perfect marching order, and sledges ladened,—an arrangement which was highly beneficial; and from the way the sledges went over the floe, they gave us high hopes of answering our expectations in the forthcoming march.
From head-quarters the following arrangement of sledges was made public:—
Capt. Erasmus Ommanney was to cross Barrow's Strait to Cape Walker, with the following sledges and officers under his orders: he there was to use his own judgment as to the disposal of the force, it being required, in the event of two routes showing themselves, viz., one to the S.W., and the other W., that Lieut. Sherard Osborn was to be ordered to take up the latter.
GRAND SOUTHERN SEARCH.
| CAPTAIN OMMANNEY'S COMMAND. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Long-party sledge | Reliance | Domine dirige nos | Captain Ommancy, six men. |
| Ditto ditto | True Blue | Nil desperandum | Lieutenant Osborn, seven men. |
| Supporting sledge | Succour | Sequor juvare | Lieut. G. F. Mecham, six men. |
| Ditto ditto | Enterprise | Gaze where some distant specka sail implies, With all the thirsting gaze of enterprise. | Lieut. W. H. Browne, six men. |
| Ditto ditto to Lieutenant Osborne | Adventure | Nothing adventure, Nothing win | Mr. Vesey Hamilton (mate), seven men. |
| Ditto ditto | Inflexible | Respice finem | Mr. Charles Ede (assist. surg.), six men. |
| Ditto ditto | Success | One and all | Mr. F. S. Crabbe (2d master), seven men. |