[2] Radmore, Jolliffe, and Maskell.
CHAPTER XXV.
RETURN OF ALL THE SLEDGE TRAVELLERS.
| “Now that the winter’s gone, the earth hath lost Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost Candies the grass, or calls an icy cream Upon the silver lake or crystal stream, But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth.” Carew. |
The hearty welcome we received from one and all on board the “Alert,” together with the indescribable pleasure of a warm bath, followed by a champagne supper for those whom the doctor reported well enough to indulge in such a luxury, made us all supremely happy; the feeling being increased by the knowledge that our suffering companions were under the tender care of kind and skilful hands, and that all responsibility connected with their treatment had, so far as we were concerned, ceased. Our late hardships and the anxiety we had felt regarding the safe return of the party were almost forgotten, and were it not for the number of cots hanging up outside the ward-room, and the row of beds along the lower deck, each occupied by a sick man, we should almost have felt inclined to regard our late sledging expedition as a dream from which we had suddenly been awakened.
A more thorough break-up of a healthy and strong body of men it would be difficult to conceive. Not only had the men engaged in the extended party under my command been attacked with scurvy, but also those who had been absent from the ship only for short periods, and some, who may be said never to have left the ship at all, or if they did, only for two or three days! The disease then could not be attributed to any special circumstance connected with sledge travelling.
The seeds must have been sown during the time, nearly five months, that the sun was absent, and we were in darkness. Fresh animal and vegetable food is undoubtedly necessary for the preservation of health, and its absence is the originating cause of scurvy. To this originating cause all Arctic Expeditions have been equally exposed. The predisposing causes of scurvy, which actually lead to an outbreak when the originating cause exists, are the long absence of the sun, entailing darkness, damp, intense cold, and bad ventilation. To these predisposing causes our expedition was exposed for a very much longer period than any other which sent out extended travelling parties. For this reason other expeditions were exempt from scurvy while we were attacked. In short, the different result was caused by the difference in latitude. As our winter arrangements, and our scale of diet, both on board and while travelling, were identical with those of former expeditions, the cause of the outbreak could not have had anything to do either with diet or winter routine. Lime-juice, though most useful in warding off for a time and delaying an attack of scurvy, and as a cure, will not, with other circumstances unfavourable, prevent an outbreak. This is the opinion of all the best medical authorities; and our experience proved it to be an undoubted fact. Some of our men had scurvy who never left the ship and never ceased to take their daily rations of lime-juice, and others were attacked who went away travelling at a time when daily rations of lime-juice formed a part of the sledge dietary.[1]