The inscription on the reverse reads as follows:—
THE GREAT BRITAIN.
LENGTH 322 ft; BREADTH 50 ft. 6 in.
DEPTH, 32 ft. 6 in.
WEIGHT OF IRON, 1,500 TONS.
1,000 HORSE POWER.
LAUNCHED, JULY 19,
1843,
by H. R. H. PRINCE ALBERT.
The vessel was built entirely of iron, and was the largest ever constructed at the time of the launch. On that occasion a great banquet was given, and one of the guests carried away the medal, which was destined to be found so many thousand miles away.
Lieutenant Irving's remains were the only ones that could be sufficiently identified to warrant their removal. Had there been others we would have brought them away.
It was a beautiful though saddening spectacle that met our eyes at the only grave upon King William's Land, where the dead had been buried beneath the surface of the ground. Near Point le Vesconte some scattered human bones led to the discovery of the tomb of an officer who had received most careful sepulture at the hands of his surviving friends. A little hillock of sand and gravel—a most rare occurrence upon that forbidding island of clay-stones—afforded an opportunity for Christian-like interment. The dirt had been neatly rounded up, as could be plainly seen, though it had been torn open and robbed by the sacrilegious hands of the savages; and everywhere, amid the debris and mould of the grave, the little wild flowers were thickly spread as if to hide the desecration of unfriendly hands. The fine texture of the cloth and linen and several gilt buttons showed the deceased to have been an officer, but there was nothing to be seen anywhere that would identify the remains to a stranger. Every stone that marked the outline of the tomb was closely scrutinized for a name or initials, but nothing was found. After reinterring the remains, which were gathered together from an area of a quarter of a mile, and erecting a monument, Lieutenant Schwatka plucked a handful of flowers, which he made into a little bouquet, and brought home with him as a memento.
INDEX.
A.
Abbott Lawrence, The
Adelaide, Peninsula
Adlekok
Admiralty, British
Agloocar
Ahlangyah
Akkolear
"Albert, Prince"
Albert H. R. H. Prince
America, United States of
American Geographical Society
Amitigoke
Anderson, Captain
Anookjook
"Ansel Gibbs, The"
Armow
Arctic
Asia, Northern-Eastern
B.
Back's River
Back's Great Fish RiverBack, Lieut.
Baker, Captain
Banks of Newfoundland
Barry, Capt. Thos. F.
Barry's Rock
Bay, Baffin's
Bay, Cockburn
Baffin's Bay
Bay, Chesapeake
Bay, Daly
Bay, Erebus
Bay, Hudson
Bay, Irving
Bay, North
Bay, Pelly
Bay, Repulse
Bay, Shepherds
Bay, Terror
Bay, Wall
Bay, Washington
Bay, Wilmot
Beechy Island
Bellot Strait
Best, Cape
Big Lake, The
Blucher
Boothia, Gulf of
Boothia, Isthmus
"Bradford, The Abbie"
Bristol
Brevoort, Lake
Brevoort, Jas. Carson
British Admiralty
Brooklyn
Brown, Morrison &
Button Island